BlackDuck wrote:So I did another temp check this morning. It's now at 66F and bubbling away. I know that the 3711 can benefit from warmer temps. So my thought is to bring this out of the basement to let warm to the low to mid 70's tonight, which would be just a little more than 48 hours after pitching.
Here's my question: If I do this, should I leave it at the 70 degree temp until it's cold crashed, or can I bring the temp up for a week or so, then put it back into the basement at the mid 60 range. The reason I would put it back in the basement would just to get the bucket out of the way of everyday life with a 4 year old!!!
You can do it either way Chris... (just insure it doesn't get toddled!)
Regardless of which you choose to do, I would be sure to give it three days of the warmest you can achieve at the end of fermenation for clean up.
I have had my Black Saison (w/ Belle Saison dry yeast) at 66-70 for two weeks now...
It keeps fluctuating as the weather changes as it's in a non-temp controlled hallway right now.
Plan for me is to bring it into the house this week for warm up, bottling, carb before storing it.
Thanks Papa. Temp was stable at 66 again this morning, so I brought it out of the basement. Ambient temp is appx 70 degrees so I'm expecting this to raise to 72. My fermentation temps seem to always run 2 degrees higher than ambient.
I don't think it will get toddled either. I showed her the airlock this morning and she thought that was the coolest thing. I told her it was OK to come watch it, but she couldn't touch it.
ANTLER BREWING Drinking
#93 - Gerst Amber Ale Conditioning and Carbing
This sounds good. The nice thing about 3711 (or Bella Saison) is that it doesn't *need* really high temps to make good beer, and a bit of fluctuation in temps will not make bad beer either. I like to have mine start in the mid 60s, and finish in the mid 70s with it. But you can ferment the whole time in the 70s and make great beer too.
mashani wrote:This sounds good. The nice thing about 3711 (or Bella Saison) is that it doesn't *need* really high temps to make good beer, and a bit of fluctuation in temps will not make bad beer either. I like to have mine start in the mid 60s, and finish in the mid 70s with it. But you can ferment the whole time in the 70s and make great beer too.
Thanks for the vote of confidence. This is my first Saison.
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#93 - Gerst Amber Ale Conditioning and Carbing
It's one week ago today when I pitched the yeast on this. And it is still fermenting. I'm getting a bubble in the airlock about every 10 to 15 seconds. I think this is the first batch that I've done that still showed signs of fermentation a full week later. I'm really stoked to see how low this FG gets.
ANTLER BREWING Drinking
#93 - Gerst Amber Ale Conditioning and Carbing
I just received the acid malt and the Sorachi Ace this morning. I'll be brewing this up next week.
"Filled with mingled cream and amber
I will drain that glass again.
Such hilarious visions clamber
Through the chambers of my brain
-- Quaintest thoughts -- Queerest fancies
Come to life and fade away;
Who cares how time advances?
I am drinking ale today."
Today is my scheduled dry hop day.....BUT, I'm not so sure I should do it yet.
I'm still getting some slight action in the airlock. One bubble every 20 to 30 seconds. It's been about a week and half since I pitched the yeast.
I'm thinking I take a gravity reading tonight to see where it's at, then wait a couple more days for another reading and dry hopping. This is taking a lot longer than just about everything else I've made. And since this is my first Saison, I'm just not sure. Any recommendations from you Saison guys???
ANTLER BREWING Drinking
#93 - Gerst Amber Ale Conditioning and Carbing
BlackDuck wrote:Today is my scheduled dry hop day.....BUT, I'm not so sure I should do it yet.
I'm still getting some slight action in the airlock. One bubble every 20 to 30 seconds. It's been about a week and half since I pitched the yeast.
Wait, it's still bubbling?
Chris man, sounds like you have created a cesspool of bugs...
You need to immediately bottle it up and send it to me for proper disposal!
I am an Authorized Post-Fermentation Wort Disposal Contractor.
Seriously though... I usually dry hop during the three days at the end of fermentation that I allot for cleanup time. This way I only have the hops in there for 1-3 days.
Thanks....I created a cesspool of something, we'll see when I open it up tonight for a gravity reading. I hope some alien type yeast creature doesn't jump out at me. That would scar me for life!!!!
The schedule I was originally going on had the dry hops in today, the into the fridge to cold crash on Tuesday, which would be a 5 day dry hop, then bottle on Saturday the 17th. I have a feeling that this schedule is no longer going to apply to this batch.
Unless anyone has more thoughts, I'll check gravity tonight, then may again on Sunday to see if it changed, then go forward with the hops.
ANTLER BREWING Drinking
#93 - Gerst Amber Ale Conditioning and Carbing
I took the gravity reading last night. It was 1.006 and temp corrected to 1.008. All of the Kraussen has fallen, but there was some yeast rafts floating around. I was expecting this to be a little lower in gravity than it was. It has gotten pretty warm up here over the last couple days so them fermenter got up to about 77. I'm still confused a bit on this one. I guess I'll let this sit for a couple more days and see if the gravity drops anymore. By the way, there is still activity in the airlock and I could see very small bubbles on the surface of the wort when I opened up the fermenter.
Here's a pic of the sample. The tatse was pretty good. Very mild with a hint of the spiciness to it. Not much lemon to it, but it was there very slightly.
image.jpg (105.47 KiB) Viewed 679 times
ANTLER BREWING Drinking
#93 - Gerst Amber Ale Conditioning and Carbing
In theory it should be done, but yeah it won't hurt to wait.
The extra handful of gravity points are perhaps due to the 1# of carapils, because that's probably one of the few things that Bella won't eat. I count something like 4-5 points of added FG from them as a guestimate assuming it didn't find a way to eat it.
Thanks guys for the input. Never thought of the Carapils as part of the issue. But Mashani, I used Wyeast 3711 French Saison and not Belle Saison yeast, not sure if that matters much.
I will definitely give it a couple more days. It's not going to hurt a thing to let it sit some more. The hydrometer readings are really the only way to tell if it's done. And I still have to dry hop this for a few days. So it's going to be about another 5-7 days before it gets cold crashed.
ANTLER BREWING Drinking
#93 - Gerst Amber Ale Conditioning and Carbing
brewed mine up Sat. and got way better efficiencies than expected. what I expected was a OG of .065 got .073 . I used Belle Saison got the fermentation chamber set for 21.1c + or - .5c and have the probe taped to the saison bucket so it's "driving" the chamber.
"Filled with mingled cream and amber
I will drain that glass again.
Such hilarious visions clamber
Through the chambers of my brain
-- Quaintest thoughts -- Queerest fancies
Come to life and fade away;
Who cares how time advances?
I am drinking ale today."
I showed her the airlock this morning and she thought that was the coolest thing. I told her it was OK to come watch it, but she couldn't touch it.
. I used Belle Saison got the fermentation chamber set for 21.1c + or - .5c and have the probe taped to the saison bucket so it's "driving" the chamber.