saison finished below 1

[mgregg]

I decided about 2 months ago to brew my first saison. I followed a pretty simple recipe I found and wound up with a starting gravity of 1.05. Pitched a packet of danstar belle saison and brought it down into my basement to ferment.
It fermented at about 66 degrees for 2 weeks, then I plugged in a seed heater I use in the winter to keep my beers warmer and got the temp up to about 74 to finish. Then life got in the way. Work got crazy, wife got pregnant and my brewing got left on the back burner. 6 weeks after plugging in my seed heater I finally got a chance to keg my beer(I know I should bottle condition a saison, but time and lack of bottles prevented this).
Took my final gravity reading after 2 months in a primary that started at 66 and then bounced around in the mid to upper 70's and my hydrometer was reading about .996. Temp of the sample was about 75.
I know there's a chance my hydrometer is out of whack, but i've never had a reason to suspect it before today. The sample tasted awesome. Really clean, no sign of any infection. Maybe just a touch of banana flavor.
I just don't understand my super low gravity reading. I was expecting to finish around 1.008, maybe even 1.004, but .996? Is that even possible?

 

[RM-MN]

I decided about 2 months ago to brew my first saison. I followed a pretty simple recipe I found and wound up with a starting gravity of 1.05. Pitched a packet of danstar belle saison and brought it down into my basement to ferment.
It fermented at about 66 degrees for 2 weeks, then I plugged in a seed heater I use in the winter to keep my beers warmer and got the temp up to about 74 to finish. Then life got in the way. Work got crazy, wife got pregnant and my brewing got left on the back burner. 6 weeks after plugging in my seed heater I finally got a chance to keg my beer(I know I should bottle condition a saison, but time and lack of bottles prevented this).
Took my final gravity reading after 2 months in a primary that started at 66 and then bounced around in the mid to upper 70's and my hydrometer was reading about .996. Temp of the sample was about 75.
I know there's a chance my hydrometer is out of whack, but i've never had a reason to suspect it before today. The sample tasted awesome. Really clean, no sign of any infection. Maybe just a touch of banana flavor.
I just don't understand my super low gravity reading. I was expecting to finish around 1.008, maybe even 1.004, but .996? Is that even possible?

Yes it is possible, I've seen it with one of my Saisons that were fermented with Belle Saison. That yeast is a beast and can ferment more of the difficult to ferment sugars. I bottled mine a bit earlier than yours and it took a while in the bottle before it got really good. Yours may be ready to drink sooner due to the longer time in primary. If it tastes good, go ahead and drink it. If it is a little rough around the edges, warm up the keg for a few days and see if that smooths it out.

 

[catdaddy66]

I have had one beer finish below 1.000 and it was using Belle Saison! That yeast is a sugar glutton. I mean it's darn near impossible to slow it down.

If you mashed with 5# of crystal grains at 160° you may get 1.010 but I wouldn't bet on it. It's a beast, for sure!

 

[Qhrumphf]

I've used Belle Saison once and it went very dry (1.001 or 1.002 IIRC), but I've heard of it doing that. I've had 3711 hit 0.999 or 1.000 before. So yes, it's certainly possible. Remember that alcohol has a specific gravity far lower than water, so something like wine or cider with no dextrins whatsoever will often dry to <1.000. Few beer yeasts will consume so many of the higher chain sugars, as to drop that low, but some Saison yeasts can do it. Also possible when using Brett/bugs, although even then my sours don't usually drop that low (again usually settling in the 1.001-1.004 range).

 

[arnobg]

Sounds like an awesome Saison. They should be DRY. I assume you mashed at 148, that's what I usually mash Saisons at.

 

[ArkotRamathorn]

To add to others and what's been said.

A while back I did a big dark saison, I think it was above 1.090. Double decoction 154F mash temp. I also know I didn't have the perfect pitch rate (maybe 80% of needed I couldn't squeeze out a bigger starter).

Did belle saison care? Nope. Still dropped it down to 1.005.

So a simple straight up 1.05 saison, to belle saison it's like Mike Tyson fighting a classroom of preschoolers.

Edit: want to add that I didn't put any fresh yeast in the beer at bottling day, it barely took 2 weeks to show carbonation. Belle Saison basically hulks out each time it's used.

 

[Bosh]

To add to others and what's been said.

A while back I did a big dark saison, I think it was above 1.090. Double decoction 154F mash temp. I also know I didn't have the perfect pitch rate (maybe 80% of needed I couldn't squeeze out a bigger starter).

Did belle saison care? Nope. Still dropped it down to 1.005.

So a simple straight up 1.05 saison, to belle saison it's like Mike Tyson fighting a classroom of preschoolers.

Edit: want to add that I didn't put any fresh yeast in the beer at bottling day, it barely took 2 weeks to show carbonation. Belle Saison basically hulks out each time it's used.

Two weeks? I've gotten good carbonation in three days.

 

[Kiichi]

I brewed a 4% saison with Belle and that was drinkable in less than 2w after brewday. Bottle conditioned. I should start calling it Terminator yeast this freaking juggernaut thing...

 

[eadavis80]

I used Bell Saison for NB's all grain saison kit and mine finished at 1.005. I hope yours turns out better than mine. I will bottle it Wednesday, but I found my flavors to be a little tart - kind of lemony. I fermented it pretty warm though - mid/upper 70's as from what I've read on that yeast there was not really a limit on its upper end ferm temp, so I let it get pretty warm. Maybe it got better in secondary over the last few weeks, but on racking day I was not all that pleased with its taste.

 

[RM-MN]

I used Bell Saison for NB's all grain saison kit and mine finished at 1.005. I hope yours turns out better than mine. I will bottle it Wednesday, but I found my flavors to be a little tart - kind of lemony. I fermented it pretty warm though - mid/upper 70's as from what I've read on that yeast there was not really a limit on its upper end ferm temp, so I let it get pretty warm. Maybe it got better in secondary over the last few weeks, but on racking day I was not all that pleased with its taste.

Mine improved greatly in about 3 months. I had considered dumping it when I drank the first sample bottle.

 

[kiwipen]

Why do you say saisons should be bottle conditioned rather than kegged? I've never heard that before.

 

[Qhrumphf]

Some say that you can tell the difference between force carbed and bottle conditioned beer. While there's a logic to it (there are other compounds beyond CO2 and ethanol produced even in fermentation of priming sugar), I'm skeptical that in properly executed examples of both that you could tell the difference unless side by side. Bottle conditioned beers will resist aging a bit better as the yeast will scavenge any available oxygen during carbonation. But in fresh beer that difference is negligible at best.

 

[eadavis80]

Ugh - I was hoping it would be a good summer beer - sounds like it will now be a good fall beer. Note to self - brew Saisons on St. Patty's so there's golden by the 4th of July...

 

[eadavis80]

Well, I'm happy to report that I just took a gravity sample of mine after almost a 2-week secondary (will be bottling later this week) and it has improved in all respects - aroma, clarity and most importantly, taste. Also, the gravity dropped to 1.001 so mine finished up at 6.6%.

 

[mgregg]

Just got back from vacation and poured a glass after it's carbed for a week. It's pretty good. A nice easy drinking summer beer, although having it drop from 1.05 to .996 puts it at 7% abv which is stronger then I want my light summer sipping beers. Oh, well I guess I can man up and drink it anyways.