Honey Saison Update

I brewed a honey saison on Sunday and the fermentation has been good so far. The wort was chilled to 65 degrees Fahrenheit to start off with, which was pretty close to the temperature of my yeast starter. After aerating the wort for 30 to 45 minutes while I cleaned up the rest of the brewing stuff, I swirled the starter a few times and poured it into the top of my fermentor.

Note: sometimes the yeast runs down the carboy and due to the clarity of it, I can’t tell if it is running down the outside or the inside. There is always a short time of panic when I see this occurrence. I post this note as a reminder to take the time to ensure that the yeast will have no chance of going anywhere but the inside of the carboy. If you have to put the top of your yeast starter jug right on the edge of your carboy, do it. Now maybe I will remember next time.

I was happy to see the signs of fermentation between 12 and 18 hours after I pitched. The past few fermentations I have overseen have been messy. I have been waking up to yeast foam messes on the floor and elsewhere, but this saison fermentation has been tame in comparison. There was really ugly looking krausen going on but it wasn’t excessive.

I have been slowly playing with the temperature of the fermentation, raising it from the mid-60s to high 70s (as it sits right now). The intensity of the ferment has not changed much and now it appears that the krausen has died down and pretty much disappeared from the top of the beer.

I am going to keep the temperature where it is. Maybe mid-week next week, I will take a gravity reading and see how this beer is coming along. I am targeting a low final gravity so with the temperature staying higher than what I would have normally, I hope it is enough of a factor to push the yeast to their highest potential.