I started a Saison using the dry Belle Saison yeast on Sunday. Based upon what I have read, using sanitized aluminum foil over the top of the carboy is better than an airlock. I guess this yeast doesn’t like pressure. I had a rocking fermentation by the next morning. I’ve also read to start it in the low 60’s and let it free rise. It’s fermenting at 64 degrees now, but my house doesn’t get much warmer than 65. Should I at some point wrap a heating blanket around it, or will it ferment fine at 64? What’s the advantage of letting it go warmer? Better attenuation?
Warm it . Need to get it up to around 80 if you want those funky flavors
Belle saison doesn’t care about pressure, it’s a beast! It’s the DuPont strain (565) that reportedly does better without an airlock.
I doubt that belle saison is going to attenuate much better at 70 than 64-65°F, but letting it ferment warmer will bring out more yeast character. Warming it up won’t hurt anything, but you probably won’t bring out much more yeast character at this point.
Ah shoot! Brew and learn, I guess. Any idea what percentage of the spicy funkiness I’ll get at this colder temperature versus the warmer end of the range? The smell coming out of the fermenter sure smells interesting. Thanks for the replies.
Use a blow over hose. For the first. Few days. Once its slows down. Use the airlock. See if you can raise the temp a bit. To cold your yeast goes dorment. Not sure. But this kind of yeast leaves bit of orange flav. Behind.
It’ll still be good, just maybe a little more subdued. It’ll still be a good saison. I like to pitch the yeast at around 75-80°F and let it free rise, and it usually maintains a temperature in the mid 70’s until fermentation is complete.
I also like to underpitch and over-oxygenate the wort when making a saison, which brings out a bit more yeast character. Just finished bottle conditioning a saison where I did this with Yeast Bay’s saison 2 blend, and it came out great. Bone dry, lots of citrus and earthiness… really happy with that yeast.
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Check out YouTube Brewing TV episode 37.
Thanks for the advice. I’ll be sure to keep this one warm next time. I switched over to an airlock this weekend. It’s been 8 days now, and the beer is still bubbling, and I can still see activity in the beer. I’ve never seen a krauzen so thick. It is falling, but I doubt it will go away entirely.
