First Saison (BE-134) did I screw it up?

[DVCNick]

I pitched one pack 9 days ago at about 70 degrees and have keep it at normal ale temps (64-68 in my swamp cooler depending on the time of day). Everything about the fermentation so far has looked normal; standard amount of krausen and it was bubbling away, and was slowing down considerably the last couple days. Again, everything looked "normal" to me.

So I was googling around for some other info on this yeast just a few minutes ago, and see that a "normal" temp for this yeast and other Saisons can be in the 80's or as high as 90+? Doh.
Somehow I completely missed that.

Should I heat it up that hot now? Is this beer going to be bland or otherwise nasty? Per the Safale specs, I was right at the borderline minimum temp that they specify.

 

[Steveruch]

Take a gravity reading and a taste.

 

[cswant88]

Is that swamp cooler temps or beer temp? If the former, the actual beer probably rose a bit higher. I agree, take a gravity reading. If it stalled, warm it up, and you won't know the flavor until you taste it.

 

[DVCNick]

It is beer temp as measured with a probe in a thermowell.
I don't have any reason to believe the fermentation is not going well in terms of getting to a desirable FG, was just really surprised when I read most people ferment these in the 80s or even higher. Wondering if that was mandatory.

for now I've moved out of the cooler so it will be creeping up a bit but I can put heater on it if needed. I assume it would be too late to save the flavor if that is what you're getting out of the higher-temperature though?

 

[DVCNick]

So, I ramped to to 80 for a few days, then 85 for a few days and kegged it Saturday. I didn't note any increase in airlock activity from ramping up the temp. Measured 1.002 so I don't think attenuation was an issue; calculator says over 96%. The sample tasted a little bland, but I find it hard to tell all that much from a pre-carbed warm sample so I guess we'll see after it carbs up for a few days.

 

[thehaze]

You will still find many brewers that unfortunately ferment everything at 60F, no matter if American IPA, Belgian, Hefe, etc. So you haven't done anything wrong. A bit of research might have revealed that Saisons - to get a bit of that character you are searching for - need to be fermented warm. But at the same time, you will find so many threads with brewers that ferment under 68F for the fear of ... esters*. Which is counterproductive, as specific beer styles rely on ester and phenol production from the yeast.

BE-134 is different than say Belle Saison, but not by much, and no near as complex as Dupont, De Blaugies, etc.

 

[DVCNick]

Tapped it yesterday.
It tastes pretty good. Still cloudy, I'm guessing it will clear up a bit in a few more days.

I would be interested to see the difference if the same batch had been fermented hot, but this one is very drinkable as is.