Saison ferment temps

[ccc]

By May our temps are pretty warm, but still very volatile. Going out on a limb here, but I am thinking best practice is still to keep the fermenter at a stable temperature, not 75-95 up/down each day as I expect for May/June. Without electricity (refrig/heater) how do you keep the fermenter at 90? 90 because 3724 might stick at lower.

Water bath in garage?

[apict]

Lightbulb in a box connected to thermostat

"Estufa"

[apict]

Estufa : a heated chamber in which Madeira wine is stored and matured

[mwedge]

Originally Posted by apict

Lightbulb in a box connected to thermostat

same here. small lamp connected to my temp controller in my fermenting fridge.

I know i asked about this on another thread... So saison is a great summer beer? What's the typical abv? is it lower thats why its a good summer beer

[ccc]

Originally Posted by Captainsbrew

I know i asked about this on another thread... So saison is a great summer beer? What's the typical abv? is it lower thats why its a good summer beer

No, saison is not a lower abv beer, in fact higher than average. The range is probably 5% - 12%, with few being at 5% or 12%. The yeast 3724 can go 12%. The big brew is looking 7.5%. Using S04 would make the same batch 6.7%, so saison yeast attenuate very well, crisply.


Back to temp, I was asking for non electric methods. Light bulbs are electric.

[Brandonovich]

90 degrees? That seems awfully hot.

[Zixxer10R]

Originally Posted by Brandonovich

90 degrees? That seems awfully hot.

From what I've learned about Saisons, the bold is what get's a lot of saison brewers in trouble. They're afraid to let it ferment so high because they're used to seeing temps in the 60s to ferment. What results is a beer that isn't dry enough and clearly under-attenuated for the style.

Remember saison's were traditionally fermented in the barn on a farm in the heat of the Belgian/French summer. Warm ferment temps are what make this beer so great!

[stan]

Just for the heck of it, here's BYO's Style Profile for Saison. I love this style, since it's truly all over the board. Originally, it was brewed with whatever they happened to have on-hand and ready to go; hence the mad variety on what "makes it a saison."

In terms of specifications, there seem to be few beer styles in the world that are more all over the map than the bière de saison. Bière de saison is a farmhouse ale, brewed originally in Wallonia, the French-speaking part of Belgium. The range of alcohol by volume alone fluctuates wildly: In current commercial examples it easily varies between 5% and 8.5%. Also, bière de saison can be brewed with or without spices, flavored with English or German hops, dry-hopped or not, and fermented with any number of yeasts, as long as they are top-fermenting. The finished beer can be pale or dark amber, full-bodied or thin, sweet or dry. Its flavor profile can be dominated by cloves, pepper and some banana, or by maltiness. There may be spicy, hoppy, acidic and alcoholic notes upfront and vanilla or liquorish in the finish . . . or not!

Oh, before my backdoor is ripped and bloodied for falling off-topic ...paragraph 10 of the BYO article discusses, in short, temperature ranges for fermentation. Outside of electric, either elec-blanket or light box, you could try getting wet blankets into the drier for several minutes of the high-heat cycle (although this also includes electricity...), then wrap the piss out of your fermenter with them, then plastic wrap that, then put in your high-heat fluctuating room (garage, etc). That ought to keep it up in warmth and down on surging fluctuations. <-- totally just brainstorming, as i use one of these.

[mwedge]

Originally Posted by Brandonovich

90 degrees? That seems awfully hot.

saison dupont ferments at 95