Re-fermenting bottled saison?

[rupert130]

I made a 5 gallon batch of saison using Wyeast 3724 Belgian Saison around Christmas. My hydrometer was broken at the time so I do not have SG readings to share. The beer was allowed to ferment in the primary for 2+ weeks at around 70F. Then transferred to secondary after all signs of fermentation had subsided. It was in secondary for nearly 1 month and then bottled. It had long since stopped showing any signs of active fermentation. After being in bottles for 1 month, I popped the top on my first one and it is incredibly over-carbonated. I can only assume that fermentation, despite all signs, was not complete.

My question is: Is this beer still salvagable? I was thinking that I could potentially get all the bottled beer back into a fermentor and pitch Wyeast 3711 French Saison, which I have read is a less tempermental strain. Assuming I could accomplish this without introducing too much additional oxygen, will this work or will I end up with an off tasting beer?

Thank you for your advice...

 

[flars]

I do not think it would be possible to pour the beers out without causing major oxidation.

Try the simplest first. Carefully uncap an undisturbed bottle. Set it in the frig for a half hour. Do a careful pour down the side of a glass to check if carbonation has diminished.

or
http://forum.northernbrewer.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=121202&sid=f7bbe5e876390437369c5e0cf28d63fc

 

[Yooper]

You definitely don't have to add more yeast- it sounds like the yeast you have in the beer is doing just fine with fermentation. Maybe too well!

I wouldn't want to pour the beer into a fermenter and risk oxidation either. I like the above suggestion of opening the bottle gently and slowly, allowing some gas to escape and recapping.

 

[Coff]

Unfortunately without gravity readings we are all kind of guessing. That strain is known to stall at 1.020 so that may have happened, or you have some sort of infection, bacteria or wild yeast, causing the over carbonation.

How does it taste?


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[GTG]

Yep, sound s like the 3724 was not done yet. It likes more heat after a few days, and I'm not sure I would run that strain less than a month before bottling.


Thanks,
GTG

 

[rupert130]

Unfortunately without gravity readings we are all kind of guessing. That strain is known to stall at 1.020 so that may have happened, or you have some sort of infection, bacteria or wild yeast, causing the over carbonation.

How does it taste?


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

It tastes as I would expect, no off flavors. Just overly sweet/malty, not dry like I was expecting.

 

[Coff]

Yea deff stalled Dupont, that a shame. Lesson learned, take your FG readings! Store them cold and open carefully, Ive tried the uncap and recap method in the past and had some oxidation issues. But I probably goofed it up somehow, ymmv. I would try it with half the bottles then the other half leave as is and store in the fridge, at least you'll learn if the recapping method works for you in case you need it in the future. Every batch is a learning experience imo, good or bad.

 

[avm221]

If you keg you could use the CO2 to fill up a carboy then slowly add them back into the fermentor, doing this you have a high chance of it oxidizing but I have done it when I had a over carbonated porter and it worked fine. Its a risk but it can work.

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[rupert130]

Thanks for the advice, I'll update on how it turns out.

 

[rupert130]

So I ended up pouring the bottles back into the carboy. Extremely foamy and I ended up losing about half of the original volume to foam down the drain. I added some Lallemand ICV D-47 white wine yeast to kick start the re-fermentation and it has brought the gravity down nicely. At the end of "re-fermentation" it is now much drier tasting with no oxidation flavor. Bottling will take place soon and I will update again after bottle conditioning.

 

[rupert130]

I took a gravity reading about 5 days ago, still 1.020. I put a heat belt on the carboy and brought the temp up to 78 degrees and fermentation started once again. I will be taking another reading tomorrow and I hope to be able to bottle at that time as well. No matter how this turns out, I will not be using Wyeast 3724 ever again. Too finicky for a hobby that is supposed to be fun.

EDIT- 4/21 gravity down to 1.012 Still waiting for it to approach 1.004 or no movement in the reading.

EDIT- 4/29 gravity stabilized at 1.012. Bottled on 4/28. Primed to 2.0 vols of CO2. Hoping for the best.

 

[rupert130]

**UPDATE 5/07** Put one in the fridge this morning and popped the top tonight. Flavor is great. A little under carbonated as of yet, but that is to be expected after only 1.5 weeks of bottle conditioning. I really appreciate all the input from those on this thread and I hope that this may encourage others not to give up on a batch that is all but spoiled.

 

[rupert130]

08/2014:

Aroma- Citrus and malt
Flavor- Pleasantly fruity and silky mouthfeel