Beer Forum

i have a saison that i fermented with white labs saison yeast and i know it wont get down to 1.08 and i was going to add a secondary yeast to dry it out. I am keeping it at 68 degrees currently and planned on bringing the temp up to 75 but didnt know if i should do that after adding the new yeast.

Ramp the temp up now, 68 is on the low side for that yeast, you might be able to get it down decently far with the yeast you have.

spiderwrangler wrote:Ramp the temp up now, 68 is on the low side for that yeast, you might be able to get it down decently far with the yeast you have.

+1

To get that yeast to finish out you will definitely need to raise the temps up to 80F or so. Bump those temps up 3-4 degrees per day and then hold it at 80F until it finishes properly. Don't be afraid to swirl your fermenter to rouse the yeast every few days either. This helps to keep them active as you raise the temps up. The last tip I can give would be to leave it in the primary on top of the yeast cake and be patient. I have had 1.060 OG saisons (with added cane sugar) take upwards of 5 wks in primary at 80F with this yeast.

Be patient, rouse the yeast, and raise the temps! Providing you mashed fairly low (147-149F) and used some simple sugars then you should reach a proper attenuation with this yeast. Good luck and when you find that you just can't take it any longer and you want to pitch another yeast to finish it, just be sure to pitch that yeast when it is highly active (high krausen in a pint starter) right into the primary. At that point you could drop the temps to the mid 70's or so for the new yeast to work efficiently.

+1

Don't give up on it.

That yeast <vietnamese hooker voice>"love you long time, joe"</vietnamese hooker voice>.
Give her the time she needs.

yea i mashed low (149 for 1.5 hours) and got enough fermentables i just heard that wl saison yeast doesnt attenuate fully but i will be patient then thanks guys

hummpledinger wrote:yea i mashed low (149 for 1.5 hours) and got enough fermentables i just heard that wl saison yeast doesnt attenuate fully but i will be patient then thanks guys

It can be a bit finicky, but the warmer temps will keep it active longer.

Some of those White Labs strains (especially 565) are particularly finicky. For what seems to be no reason at all the yeast will suddenly stop all activity for 3-4 days and then start back up again only to take another vacation a few days later. They also don't like quick temperature changes but do like higher temperatures. I've done my saisons as high as 90° and they have come out great.

Wayne