Fermentation Schedule Help — Saison

Discussion in 'Homebrewing' started by JackRWatkins, May 25, 2021.

Tags:
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. JackRWatkins

    JackRWatkins Maven (1,472) Nov 3, 2014 Georgia
    Trader

    I’m fermenting a saison right now, and it’s nearing the end of its two week primary fermentation.

    I am going to subject it to a 5 day lagering period at 40F with about 10 degrees of variance either way, my temp control capabilities are good but not perfect (I have read that this is what blaugies does with saison d’epeautre, though obviously with more stable temperature control I imagine).

    Here’s my issue/question: historically I have done two weeks in primary, a month in secondary and then bottle conditioning for two weeks, do i even need the secondary before bottling, or can bottle conditioning be my secondary, and what do I risk by skipping a secondary fermentation in a fermentor?

    side notes:
    primary has been at around 70 degrees the vast majority of the time although it has varied occasionally.

    I am using wyeast 3711.
     
    #1 JackRWatkins, May 25, 2021
    Last edited: May 25, 2021
    Lukass likes this.
  2. JackHorzempa

    JackHorzempa Grand Pooh-Bah (3,375) Dec 15, 2005 Pennsylvania
    Society Pooh-Bah

    There is no "need" to conduct a secondary for brewing a Saison just using 3711. I will discuss more later.
    Bottle conditioning is a true secondary fermentation and yes that is all that you "need".
    Absolutely nothing and in fact there are risks for transferring the beer from a primary to a secondary vessel:
    • Increased exposure to air (oxygen) which increases the risk of oxidation
    • Increased risk of contamination if sanitation is imperfect (which by definition sanitation is never perfect).
    I recently brewed a clone of Orval where the primary fermentation was done via WLP510 and after primary fermentation was complete I conducted a secondary fermentaion with Brett (WLP650). I personally chose to not transfer the beer to a secondary vessel which would be the conventional manner to ferment this beer but instead just add the Brett to the primary and permit the secondary fermentation to take place within the primary vessel.

    I have fermented a few batches of Saison with 3711 and FWIW every one of those batches completed primary fermentation in less than a week.

    Cheers!
     
    #2 JackHorzempa, May 25, 2021
    Davl22 likes this.
  3. MrOH

    MrOH Grand Pooh-Bah (3,995) Jul 5, 2010 Virginia
    BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah

    If gravity readings say that it's done, it's done. If you want to give it a bit of lagering, just do it in the primary vessel
     
    #3 MrOH, May 25, 2021
    Fermented-nate, Davl22 and JrGtr like this.
  4. Davl22

    Davl22 Maven (1,341) Sep 27, 2011 New Hampshire
    Trader

    Agree with the above statements. I typically ferment for 2-3 weeks, cold crash 24 hours, then bottle condition. There’s definitely no rushing saison. Even when they finish fast they always taste better to me a couple months in the bottle. I just cracked a saison I bottled at the end of Feb that hit its stride.

    That’s interesting what you mentioned about Blaugies lagering the last 5 five days. Makes me want to experiment...
     
    #4 Davl22, May 26, 2021
    MrOH likes this.
  5. JackRWatkins

    JackRWatkins Maven (1,472) Nov 3, 2014 Georgia
    Trader

    This is what I’m doing, 5 days at around 41°. Thanks!
     
    #5 JackRWatkins, May 26, 2021
    MrOH likes this.
  6. JackRWatkins

    JackRWatkins Maven (1,472) Nov 3, 2014 Georgia
    Trader

    I’ll share how that goes for me. By the way, that note about Blaugies lagering for 5 days came from Farmhouse Ales by Phil Markowski, it’s a fairly well known book I know, but just in case you wondered what my source was.
     
    #6 JackRWatkins, May 26, 2021
    Davl22 likes this.
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.