Beer Forum

Decided to brew Jamil and John BCS saison on 3/15. I did an all grain batch got all numbers just right. Pitched a 2L starter of WLP565 and kept it at around 68 for 3 days. On the forth day took it out of the water tub and put a sweat shirt on the carboy. Every thing looked good had airlock activity for almost 2 weeks. Checked the FG on 3/29 1.012 checked again on 4/4 still 1.012, got impatient on 4/6 and pitched a 2L starter that was rocking of WLP001. FYI a little over 5 1/2 gallons of beer and a 2L starter does not quite fit in a 6 gallon carboy Had what looked like active fermentation for 3 days. Checked the FG today 1.011

So should I let it sit on all that yeast till it drops, transfer and add another starter, or throw some bugs in it (WLP560, WLP677 or something else?)

This will most likely be the last beer I make till this fall unless I get a raise or the fridg fairy drops by

How does it taste? If you're hoping to get to 1.008 I'd say don't sweat it, let it condition for a few weeks and it'll probably turn out great.

jeffbones wrote:...kept it at around 68 for 3 days...

I'm guessing that this may have had something to do with it. All the saison strains are really temperamental and need to be warmed up during fermentation, particularly at the end. Try gently swirling the yeast back into suspension, warming it up, and letting it sit another couple/few days. It might drop some more. I guess it depends exactly what you did with the wet t-shirt....did it have a fan on it to keep it cold? Also depending on time, it might be too late.

As Sheen said, if it tastes great don't sweat it too much and make so,e changes next time you brew.

If we had a nickel for every "My Saison Yeast Quit Before Desired FG Reached" post

I only brew these in the summer so that ambient never goes below 72F in the basement. I'm tempted to try my "whole fermenter on the stir plate with the bar thrown in at pitching" idea this year... last year's lavender saison was a touch too sweet (and more than a touch too lavendery ).

has anyone ever tried adding amylase extract when pitching yeast to get the fianl gravity down?? Ive been reading some interesting stuff seems like it would work.

from what ive read beano is a bad idea, it keeps going all the way down to 1.000, the one that people are recommending has both alpha & beta enzymes and helps make the last few sugars fermentable.

I did the exact same recipe and had the exact same thing happen. Finished at 1.013, pitched some us-05 and it got nowhere. I blame Jamil.

If I had it to do over, I'd let it sit on the yeast for a couple more weeks. I remember a show where Chris White said that saison yeast will finish if you're patient enough to leave it on the yeast for a long time.

The 565 should come with a warning label! I love Whitelabs, but their saison strain just doesn't do the duty. It always finishes too high! If you listen to the original pocast Jamil says the same thing, Wyeast 3724 does a much better job, even though it goes very slow.

Both will stall out if you let them get into the low 70's, so I'd echo the other comments to warm and swirl. An RDWHAH.

Chupa LaHomebrew wrote:The 565 should come with a warning label! I love Whitelabs, but their saison strain just doesn't do the duty. It always finishes too high! If you listen to the original pocast Jamil says the same thing, Wyeast 3724 does a much better job, even though it goes very slow.

Both will stall out if you let them get into the low 70's, so I'd echo the other comments to warm and swirl. An RDWHAH.

The thing about this strain is it doen't stall out it just starts and stops a few times during fermentation. It takes a bit of patience IMO. It will finish but you have to coax it along...play some speed metal for it or rub your pantless ass on it..either way it's worth the wait.