Saison - Summer brews - it`s time for Belgian beer.

[arkadiuszmakarenko]

Hi
It`s hot hot hot, so there is no way to ferment ale`s or lagers. The coolest place in my flat was just under 20C. So the only way to brew something decent is to brew something which require worm fermentation. I`ve heard that Belgian beers are fermented in temperature above 21. So question is what and how to brew?
I`ve been thinking about this. It`s copy of Dori`s recipe from piwo.org

SAISON

2,7kg pilsnen malt
0,8kg wiena malt
0,7kg wheat malt
0,2kg Carahell
0,2kg Caraaroma
0,1kg acid malt
0,3kg glucose

Mashing:
60 min in 64°C
20 min in 72°C

Hops:
30g Marynka (7%AA) begining of boil
20g Żatecki (ger.Saaz) +20g curacao - 20 min.
10g Żatecki (ger.Saaz) + glucose - 5 min

Yeast Wyeast 3724 Saison

What do you think about this?

[steve_flack]

Dupont (who make the archetypal saison) ferment at around 30C. Having used the WhiteLabs version of their yeast I can vouch for what a pain in the arse it is. It has a tendency to stop fermenting early. I ended up chucking a packet of US-05 in to finish the job.

I started at around 20C and ramped to 28C. Maybe I should have just gone for 30C!

[DarloDave]

How early did it stop Steve? Did yours turn out like Saison Dupont?

[steve_flack]

It was very similar to Saison Dupont in flavour - I used the White Labs 565 yeast (it's supposedly the same as the Wyeast Saison). It started at 1.051 but stuck at 1.026. US-05 took it down to 1.009.

On looking back at my notes I actually fermented at 28C but when it stuck and before I added the US-05 I dropped it down to 22C.

[DarloDave]

Great stuff, Can i hassle you for the recipe? Cheers.

[steve_flack]

Sure...this the recipe as designed. I got a slightly lower OG but higher ABV because it dried out more

Code: Select all

Recipe: Saison
Style: 16C-Belgian And French Ale-Saison

Recipe Overview
 
Wort Volume Before Boil: 25.00 l
Wort Volume After Boil: 23.00 l
Volume Transferred: 21.00 l
Water Added: 0.00 l
Volume At Pitching: 21.00 l
Final Batch Volume: 19.00 l
Expected Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.045 SG
Expected OG: 1.054 SG
Expected FG: 1.013 SG
Expected ABV: 5.3 %
Expected ABW: 4.2 %
Expected IBU (using Tinseth): 30.5
Expected Color: 4.5 SRM
Apparent Attenuation: 74.1 %
Mash Efficiency: 70.0 %
Boil Duration: 60.0 mins
Fermentation Temperature: 28 degC

Fermentables
UK Lager Malt 4.000 kg (72.7 %) In Mash/Steeped
Belgian Munich Malt 0.500 kg (9.1 %) In Mash/Steeped
UK Wheat Malt 0.500 kg (9.1 %) In Mash/Steeped
UK Flaked Corn/Maize 0.250 kg (4.5 %) In Mash/Steeped
Sugar - White Sugar/Sucrose 0.250 kg (4.5 %) Start Of Boil

Hops
UK Golding (4.7 % alpha) 62 g Bagged Whole Hops used All Of Boil
UK Golding (4.2 % alpha) 20 g Bagged Whole Hops used 15 Min From End
UK Golding (4.2 % alpha) 20 g Bagged Whole Hops used At turn off
Czech Saaz (3.2 % alpha) 19 g Bagged Whole Hops used At turn off

Other Ingredients

Yeast: White Labs WLP565-Belgian Saison I

Mash Schedule
Mash Type: Full Mash
Schedule Name:Single Step Infusion (64C/147F)
Step: Rest at 64 degC for 60 mins

[DarloDave]

Cheers Steve, a lot of Saison recipes seem to have spices in them, and thats put me off, I dont know why, but there just seems something wrong about putting spice in a beer IMO

[steve_flack]

Well you can go with spices (most US recipes do) but you will get a lot of character from that yeast and the hops (even if it will conk out on you too early). I think what happens is people read the style guideline and see 'Spicy' and go raid the kitchen cupboards. It's not really necessary for a saison IMO. The fermentation is critical and getting it dry enough.

[Barley Water]

Yup, I know of at least one very good brewer here in Texas that quit making Saisons because of problems with the yeast quitting. What I do is wait until mid August when it's hot as hell here (easily over 100F every day for a month). My wife, being frugal, sets the air conditioner to 79F in the house and I just ferment at room temperature. I also add a neutral dry ale yeast at bottling time with the priming sugar to make damn sure the stuff dries out the way it should and so far, it's worked out pretty well. One of the things I like about this style is that it does not take up any cold storage space since I also bottle the entire batch. I have a couple of cases of champagne bottles I use for bottling so I can get the carbonation levels up really high without fear of bottle bombs.

I am one of those Americans that likes to add the spices (and wierd sugars also), it's really the only beer I make where I do. This year however, I may back off a little and I will also probably drop the O.G. to around 1.055 or so. The trend seems to be making high gravity craft beers but I think this style should be refreshing so I will be backing off a little. You can do almost whatever you want to with this style however as there is a lot of variation among even the commerical producers. Back in the day, those farmers just brewed with whatever was available so I take that as license to get creative. If you get a chance, you should try some of the other commercial examples. Besides Dupont, I really enjoy Fantome and that is a very different tasting beer with all kinds of crazy stuff going on.

Another way to get very dry beer (and high carbonation) would be to funk the beer with some wild bugs then bottle the stuff and let it sit for awhile. Many of the better examples have a sour aspect to them and I think that also makes them more refreshing. I add a touch of lactic acid in the secondary to mimic that taste but I bet you can get a more complex flavor going with the wild bugs after primary fermentation. I really don't have any experience doing that though and this is the first year I have ventured to the dark side at all. If somebody has some experience doing this, I would love to benefit from your knowelge.

[DarloDave]

Fantome does seem really big in the US, but ive never seen it anywhere over here. On the subject of bugs, how long do they take to kick in? If I was to say do an orval clone adding the dregs of a couple of bottles to get the Brett, how long are we talking till its ready? Weeks or months?

[mysterio]

Borodave, lots of detailed info on the website, including timings:

http://www.orval.be/an/FS_an.html

Click on Brewery > How Orval beer is made.

I'm doing a Flanders style ale that is still chugging away after close to a year, depends on the bugs you use.

[DarloDave]

cheers mysterio, very useful