French Saison - Fermentation

 

Saison F.G. 1.004

The French Saison brewed on 3/5/2022 has finished fermenting. It was fully fermented out in about 4 days. I used the Wyeast 3711 French Saison strain. I pitched at 70 degrees and cranked that up a couple degrees every 12 hours until we hit 77 degrees (the top end for that yeast strain). I wanted to encourage the ester and phenol production as much as possible and also to make sure this beer finished out nice and dry, which it did. It finished at the bottom end of the range for the style, that works for me.

Below is the tilt hydrometer chart for the fermentation. I checked the tilt before using in water and it read 1.000 and the correct temp but it seems to be about 3 points off in it's final reading. I found it to be 2 points off in the original reading as well, my hydrometer indicated 1.49 O.G. while the tilt read 1.047, as you can see.

You can see from the reading variances how turbulent the fermentation was. I did use a blow-off tube from the start, experience with this strain in the past indicated I should. 

The fermentation smelled of banana and bubble gum with some peppery hints. Tasting the hydrometer sample shows mostly spicy peppery notes, very, very nice. I'm excited to get this beer on tap. I plan to cold crash overnight then get some gelatin in there to help it clear up. I'm hoping to have it on tap by Sunday at the latest. 

Tasting notes to follow.