I am thinking that I want to brew the Farmhouse Saison but I am concerned about the fermentation temps. The instructions say that the temp should be 70 - 85 and my basement stays right around 70 - 72 so I do not know if it is going to work. How important is the temp? If I wrap a blanket around it, how much will that warm it up?
I brewed one this summer. My basement was around 65 degrees. Came out great.
Chill the wort into the mid 60s and pitch, then set the fermenter in your basement. The heat of fermentation will add probably 4-6F to the ambient temp (depending on the OG). Once you see activity starting to drop off, you can either let it go or wrap a heating pad and blanket around the fermenter and warm it up. You get a little more funk with the second option.
My Saison dropped krausen very quickly-and long before fermentation was finished. I actually pitched a blend of whitelabs and duvel yeast to help finish out fermentation.
With temp boosting i finished out fermentation in good time.
Use WY3711 and lower temps will not be an issue. Tasty yeast and a great performer in the 60’s.
I start in the high 60s for a couple of days, and then I put it in the garage where it is 90+. 565 saison yeast can be slow even at this temp. Just let it ferment, and it will eventually finish. Sometimes I let it sit for 5 weeks before I even check it. You could probably find a warm place like a closet on an outside wall in the summer time. Just don’t bottle it until it goes below 1.010 or you will have bottle bombs. Mine almost always goes down to 1.006 even when I start it at 1.070+. Most of the time I start at 1.052 and it goes down to 1.004.
