Thai spiced saison

[Cobnut]

Trying to work out whether I'm smoking something or not, but been thinking about slightly wacky modern-ish craft beer using Thai flavours of lemon grass, basil, ginger and chilli, and maybe coconut.

I was thinking of a saison base (already a little "spicy" and dry enough for the more subtle flavours to come through) and then adding chilli, lemon grass and ginger late in the boil, perhaps using Ernest or lemon drop hops and maybe some Sabro which has the potential to add some coconut like flavours (I had a beer made with this hop a few months ago and was amazed how much it tasted of coconut, albeit in a subtle way). And then "dry hopping" with some basil.

Anyone got experience of using some of these "flavours" in beers and as such any advice on quantities to use in a 23L batch most welcome.

[john luc]

Currently have a keg of lemongrass lager atm. Hops used were lemon drop. I will be tasting soon

[Cobnut]

That sounds interesting. Please let us know the quantities used and the result.

I might have to experiment with ginger chilli and basil though...

[TheSumOfAllBeers]

watch the oils (coconut and chilli) they can kill the head retention.

Have used ginger before - a little goes a long way (in fact i used to make a ginger saison).

[Kingfisher4]

Have used ginger before - a little goes a long way (in fact i used to make a ginger saison).

I would imagine dried ginger powder would fit the advice above, have you by any chance tried fresh ginger root as it may be more subtle and flavoursome? If so, in what sort of quantity in a saison?

As an aside, I think the new CAMRA recipes book, allegedly co-authored by Graham Wheeler, has a recipe for affinity breeze which sounds a similar base but with lime and coriander. It would be interesting to know if anyone has tried it in case that might form the foundation for your experimentation?

[TheSumOfAllBeers]

I have used from 100g root ginger up to 500g in the boil, using a saison as a base.

It will dominate the flavour in those quantities, but that was the point at the time.

[Robwalkeragain]

Had a lemongrass wheat. Otley brewery? Was nice, wouldn’t want a keg of it. Brew a batch and bung a gallon of it on spices.