Belle Saison Fermentation Advice

[colm89]

Brewing an 8 litre batch of saison tomorrow with belle saison and keen to hear others experience on pitch and fermentation temps.

Had a quick poke around the site and saw people mention 20 Celsius and ramping to 24 celsius, but how long should I hold it at 20 for? How long should I take to ramp to 24? and how long should I hold it at 24 for?

I’m toying with splitting it into two 4 litre batches and letting one do it’s job at ambient temperature (currently 12-15 Celsius), while controlling the other so see if I can taste the impact.

 

[Mash Monster]

Hi Colm89
I have exactly the same question but like you I too have drawn a blank. I did however find some advice from Zephyr259 who suggest pitching at 20°c and holding it there for a couple of days and then ramping up the temp a degree a day to 25°c.
I am going to brew a Saison and the recipe calls for pitching at 20°c and allowing it to free rise ( I’m not sure how to achieve this in a brew fridge)
How did you get on ? What did you do in the end ?
Cheers MM

 

[colm89]

What I ended up doing was pitching at 20 degrees and leaving it there for 6 days before raising it by 1 degree per day up to 24 degrees, and then left it there for 2 days before cold crashing for a day and bottling.

turned out very tasty and no bottle bombs yet!

Ive since spoken to others that have just held it at 25 degrees for two weeks and said that’s how it should be done, so I’ll try that next time!

 

[Mash Monster]

Many thanks I’ll give that a go
My last effort I kept the temp at a steady 21°c It turned out OK but not the real deal So will ferment hotter this time
Many thanks for the info

 

[Brewnaldo]

I have a saison waiting to brew with this yeast, from what I gather, this variable temp is due to some of the liquid saison yeasts (Awyeast one in particular) being prone to stalling. I've not managed to find anything to suggest Belle Saison does this

 

[colm89]

Yeah belle saison never looked like stalling in my brew, it went off like a rocket!

 

[samale]

I normally pitch at 20 then raise it a degree each day until I hit 25. Fermentation is normally over within the week.

 

[BassoonBrew]

I've brewed with Belle Saison a few times, nearly always at 25C throughout to make sure I get the characteristic esters - in fact I have one on at the moment at just that temperature. It always ferments out to over 90% attenuation. I love it!

 

[BassoonBrew]

STOP PRESS: the fermentation I mentioned above is going fast - 1045 -> 1003 in 2 days!

 

[Jim Brewster]

I've been reading mixed reviews on Belle Saison, some saying it's a bit too clean, but maybe they were fermenting too low?

 

[obscure]

I’m using it in a batch at the moment and it has hit and maintained a temperature of about 22°C (I just have a heat pad and some towels) so am hoping it will be high enough to avoid being too neutral but will see I suppose in a few weeks.

 

[samale]

I've been reading mixed reviews on Belle Saison, some saying it's a bit too clean, but maybe they were fermenting too low?

I really like belle Saison yeast. I normally pitch low and ramp up the temp each day. Hitting 27 by day 5. It's normally finished by then.

 

[MickDundee]

I've been reading mixed reviews on Belle Saison, some saying it's a bit too clean, but maybe they were fermenting too low?

I used it in my last saison and it’s definitely not clean. I can’t remember who I sent it to for the Secret Santa but they commented on how “funky” it was.

I did exactly what @samale did

 

[cushyno]

I had good results with starting at 22 leaving 4 days then raising. Notes from last year's batch:

...the Saison was down to 1.006 after 4 days and it's still bubbling away. I've been increasing the temperature 0.5°C every 12-18 hours since that point. Now up to 26.5°C. I'll keep raising this up to a ceiling of 30 if the little terror keeps bubbling away.

I recall I reached 28°C before deciding it was ready to bottle.

There was certainly some character, an earthy musty taste at first that was good then mellowed into the background. A peppery tingle on the tongue that was a little underwhelming at first then came to the fore and right through to the last bottle I had last week.
Got my starter on for a Saison. Starter has been stepped up from the dregs of that last bottle, and smells good.

 

[Hanglow]

I get a bit of pepper and lemon with belle saison. It also leaves beers with a very full mouthfeel, it produces more glycerol than any other beer yeast I've used

 

[samale]

My latest rosemary and lemon rye Saison is cold crashing. I used belle Saison yeast, 1.056 - 1.004 in less than a week.