saison issues

[dickshindles]

I know I saw posts for this sort of thing before, but i would like some fresh opinions so I can sleep well tonight.
Brewed a saison that seemed to all but come to a dead halt @ 4.65 P. It is still fermenting, but at a snail's pace. Also, the yeast seems to have picked -up a SLIGHT off flavor (my palate tells me possible autolysis). Anyway, I don't have the time necessary to let it ferment for another month, so I blew in some active wort from another cone to give it a boost (at the reccomendation of White Labs.). I also set the glycol to 70, which I had not done before, letting it ferment at 90+ degrees.
When it comes to full attenuation, I would like to send it to my brite tank for conditioning. Should I
A) Filter it on it's way to the brite, and re-pitch my house strain along with the sugar. My hope is, it will reduce the off flavor from the yeast, consequently risking the removal of desired flavors.

OR

B) Wait it out, because the off flavor is possibly part of the fermentation of Saison ? I don't know, this is my first Saison, and it's been tricky.

OR

C) Spice the hell out of it, and call it a Christmas beer (prefer to do A or B)

[Hophead78]

Wait It Out!

Wait it out...I brewed a saison last year using the Dupont strain and it took 5 weeks to fully attenuate. I let it ferment free range in the 85-90 range the entire time and it really tested my patience, but the results were fantastic. The flavors of the beer really did change over time and I would just let move at a snails pace as long as possible. Yeast give a saison character, IMHO. I would ride it out with out introducing your house strain or filtering or over spicing and you will be rewarded for your patience. A saison is a finicky beer, but when properly brewed absolutely delicious.

Cheers!

Dave

[beauxman]

Dave is right, patience. I have not brewed that style but was researching yeast today and according to Wyeast, the strain kicks hard out of the gate but slows to a snails pace...a true test of brewers patience! Judging by Hophead Daves beer (had it, yummy), it was worth the wait. Keep it warm at this point from what I read on the Wyeast site.

"Use the force" -Beaux

[pbutlert]

I just put a saison on cooling today that I brewed with the Wyeast 3724. Just like their website says, it went from a 12.1 plato to 8.7 in one day, then took 13 more days to get to 1.9 plato. It was above 80 degrees the whole time. I panicked a little halfway through until I found this thread, and went to the Wyeast website. It was well worth the extra time, tastes great.

[mr.jay]

WAIT IT OUT! WAIT IT OUT! WAIT IT OUT! WAIT IT OUT! WAIT IT OUT! WAIT IT OUT! WAIT IT OUT! WAIT IT OUT! WAIT IT OUT! WAIT IT OUT! WAIT IT OUT! WAIT IT OUT! WAIT IT OUT! WAIT IT OUT! WAIT IT OUT! WAIT IT OUT! WAIT IT OUT! WAIT IT OUT! WAIT IT OUT! WAIT IT OUT! WAIT IT OUT! WAIT IT OUT! WAIT IT OUT!

My problem was IDENTICAL to yours, and the beer was absolutely beautiful when it finished. Honestly, it was one of the best beers I ever turned out at that brewery.

Be patient,
Jay

[mr.jay]

OOps!
Just realized this was posted last November. So Dick, how'd it turn out?

P.S. WOOHOO! Posts just broke 100!

[dabrewer]

Use American yeast to finish

We knocked out the beer around 88F with Saison yeast only and let it run as long as it could and then lowered to 78F and pitched our house yeast WLP-001. I heard New Belgium found that to worked too.