When to add Champagne Yeast

[Saboral]

I’ve got a Saison, it’s at day 9 and has gone from a starting gravity of 1.086 to 1.032. It’s still putting along but isn’t very vigorous at this point. Not that I’m throwing in the towel yet, but at what point would y’all consider adding champagne yeast to dry it out?

[edit] I should mention that it’s temp controller by brewpi and has ramped from 75 to 80 over the last week and is currently holding at 80 until day 12 at which point it’s set to ramp to 85.

 

[Steveruch]

I wouldn't.
More information please: extract or all grain, yeast variety, mash temp?

 

[Saboral]

Mash Temp 150F

 

[lump42]

I wouldn't. Which saison yeast did you use?

Is this a closed or open fermentation (i.e. did you add an airlock or just covered the opening with foil)? Some saison strains are sensitive to back pressure and dissolved CO2.

 

[Legume]

You can add a packet of Belle Saison yeast, it will ferment anything to dryness (and it makes good beer).

 

[Saboral]

I wouldn't. Which saison yeast did you use?

Is this a closed or open fermentation (i.e. did you add an airlock or just covered the opening with foil)? Some saison strains are sensitive to back pressure and dissolved CO2.

I believe it’s WLP590. It is in a brew bucket fermenter with a blow off. It came from the nearby farm brewery where it previously fermented a beer in a unitank successfully.

 

[lump42]

Have you tried rousing the yeast to get back in suspension? Pick the bucket up by the handle and just give it a few spins to gently get the yeast back up in the wort. This might also help gently knock CO2 out of solution.

If it came from the bottom of a unitank it could have been tired/ poor health, if you didn't make a starter first.

If you decide to add more yeast, I'd take @Legume advice and add a pack of dry saison/belgian yeast instead of champagne yeast

 

[mirthfuldragon]

Related side note: champagne yeast is a "killer factor" yeast, which kills non-killer yeasts, so once you go Champagne, beer yeasts are no longer an option. Belle Saison is a better option here, but is var diastaticus, so it is technically a contaminant (i.e., treat it akin to a sour and thoroughly clean and disinfect your gear afterward). From what I have read, Belle Saison will take you down close to 1.000.

That's a big saison, so if you are still seeing even minimal gravity changes, I would let it keep going.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Isn't Belle closely related to 3711 and WLP590? Certainly WLP590 is diastaticus. There are non-killer wine yeasts available, and in this case you don't care if they're POF+ as that's typical of saisons - in fact wine yeasts and saisons are closely related.

However, I'd give it plenty of time yet. Saisons have a tendency to stall around 1.030, 3724 is notorious for going to sleep around that gravity and then waking up 2 weeks later. You've stressed it plenty with a big wort, so I'd just give it a bit of a rouse, maybe cut the cooling and leave it for another 2 weeks.

 

[SteveH aka shetc]

Assuming this is based on the BCS recipe, Jamil specifically states that champagne yeast may be required to finish the job. I made this recently and it did make to the final gravity, but I did give a good shake around 10 days in.

 

[Saboral]

So I set the BrewPi to ramp over the course of this week to 85. It’s still putting along and looks to be doing about .005 points a day at the moment. Just never really got the strong fermentation in the beginning I figured I’d see from a big Beer like this. I think it’ll dry. Initial tasting of samples shows a nice Saison character, I think it’ll need to age a bit as it’s definitely hot right now.