I've been looking for posting on brew blogs trying to get some advice on that most idiosyncratic of yeasts...Wyeast 3724. I brewed a 1.061 OG Saison coming up on four weeks ago tomorrow. I talked to my club members (MECA Brewers) and the staff at Wyeast prior to my brew day and Wyeast Tech Support recommended pitching at 90F and holding at 90-95F which is what I have done. I made a 2L starter, pitched at high krausen and hit the wort with O2. The yeast took off like crazy for 18 hours and then slowed to a crawl. In 18 hours it dropped from 1.061 to 1.042. Two weeks later it was down to 1.032. And now she's at 1.024. Since I've held this beer at 90-93F for 4 weeks I'm starting to get concerned about potential off-flavors such as autolysis or oxidation. I talked to Greg Doss at Wyeast last week and he said he'd be more concerned about oxidation that autolysis and would rack the beer if it were his...but he also said he had just tried a Saison brewed with 3724 that was on the primary yeast cake for 6 weeks and it tasted great. At two weeks the fermenting beer tasted great, albeit worty, but still with awesome Belgian character like candied pineapple and mangoes with some peppery notes. I'm wondering about the next best course of action:
1.) rack off the 3724 primary yeast and allow to finish with the yeast still in suspension in a new fermenter
2.) rack off 3724, cool to 68-70F and repitch with 1056 or some other neutral profile strain and finish
3.) add some yeast energizer to the 3724 strain and allow to finish on the primary yeast cake
4.) something I haven't thought of
5.) leave it alone, don't worry, relax, have a home brew!
Lots of mixed advice concerning this strain. After all of this work, I'd hate to lose the beer now. Any thoughts?
