Saison style first go

bilgerat · Post by **bilgerat** » Tuesday Sep 27, 2011 3:54 pm

I found a saison style recipe on another website
I have

1.7kg Thomas Coopers Wheat Beer extract
1.5kg Coopers Light Malt Extract
Coriander seeds (Any suggestions on how much ?)
Orange peel zest from one orange
100g EKH Hops
Safbrew T58 yeast

I plan to boil 5litres of water with the extract , coriander, orange peel and 50 g of hops for about 10 minutes then add the other 50g of hops just before turning the gas off to stop the boil.
Im going away for a few weeks so hopefully the ambient temp in my shed should be within 15 - 24C required for this yeast.
This will be one of my last extract brews before getting set up for AG.
Any comments appreciated
Gary

bilgerat · Post by **bilgerat** » Sunday Oct 30, 2011 10:09 pm

First taste tonight, quite a bitter beer, maybe I over did the hops a little but Ive never tried a saison before so wasnt sure what to expect, its a little cloudy but otherwise very drinkable, its been in the keg for just over two weeks so maybe needs more conditioning. Has anyone else done much with saisons?

Gill · Post by **Gill** » Monday Oct 31, 2011 5:58 pm

No but I won't rule it out in the near future. How much coriander did you use?
What kind of beer is it similar to?

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bilgerat · Post by **bilgerat** » Monday Oct 31, 2011 10:42 pm

Well Gill it is a little difficult to describe a saison other than to say it is a belgian style wheat beer with the addition of spices, in this case coriander (20grams) and orange zest from a fresh orange, I think the closest I would compare it too is probably a pilsner , it has a fruity after taste and is very drinkable especially on a hot afternoon like today in Perth.
I have a hoegaarden in the fermenter now which I expect will be similar to the saison as it also has coriander seeds (cracked) and curacao orange peel in it, in this case the orange peel is freeze dried bought from my local HBS, but uses fuggles and EKH hops.

chadjaja · Post by **chadjaja** » Tuesday Nov 01, 2011 7:55 am

Even better if you get either the Belgian or French wyeast saison packs instead of t58 that imparts different esters. The Belgian is better but it needs more heat than the French one.

Also a fairly large sugar addition as you want to dry out a Saison, the final gravity of that brew with all that malt wont be any where near low enough. And you are right about the hops, go small using nobel hops and let the yeast character shine more so. A cloudy saision isn't a bad thing either. Good luck, its a rewarding beer to make and I crank out two batches each summer when its hot enough to ferment at the 30 degrees I need to do them. One goes on tap and the other goes into champ's bottles to mature and drink thru the year.

bilgerat · Post by **bilgerat** » Tuesday Nov 01, 2011 10:23 am

See link below for a bit more detailed info on Saison style and the two recommended yeasts Belgian 3724 French 3711

http://www.wyeastlab.com/rw_styledetails.cfm?ID=176

Hey chadjaja how much sugar would you add to this recipe, Im pretty sure I will be making another saison before too long to add to my kolsch supply for summer drinking

I assume the sugar would be a dextrose or similar.

My OG was 1046 and FG 1010

earle · Post by **earle** » Tuesday Nov 01, 2011 10:44 am

I'm not sure how much sugar you would add but I'm pretty sure if you want a drier beer the idea is to replace some of your malt with sugar, rather than adding it on top fo the current malt bill.

chadjaja · Post by **chadjaja** » Tuesday Nov 01, 2011 2:15 pm

Pretty sure my addition is about 500g's and its just table sugar. It will dissolve right away anyway.

with the Belgian strain and starting the ferment at about 25 degrees and push it to 30 by the end to get it down to 1004

It has the habbit of stopping about about 1020 but keep it hot enough and give it a swirl and it will finish out. One of my fav beer styles to brew. My one this year in vicbrew got 100pts or so despite being in the bottle for a fair while. Was about 6.5% from memory.

bilgerat · Post by **bilgerat** » Tuesday Nov 01, 2011 9:41 pm

Did you cut some of the malt out if you bunged 500gram of sugar in or are you using a different recipe to me.

chadjaja · Post by **chadjaja** » Wednesday Nov 02, 2011 7:11 am

I'm an AG brewer so the grain bill is just adjusted short of what i want but the correct OG with the sugar addition. Saison is usually a bigger beer so an addition of the sugar to go along with the malt you have wont make it too big.

bilgerat · Post by **bilgerat** » Wednesday Nov 02, 2011 3:24 pm

I am still getting set up for AG but will stick with this recipe for now and perhaps try adding a little sugar, I quite like it as it is IMHO.

Post by **Oliver** » Wednesday Dec 14, 2011 9:49 am

bilgerat wrote:curacao orange peel ... in this case the orange peel is freeze dried bought from my local HBS

Hi Bilgerat,

What's your HBS? There's a bit of discussion on the 9th page of this thread about no one being able to find curacao orange peel anywhere. I can see myself making a witbier at some stage soon so it'd be good to use the authentic peel if I can get it.

Cheers,

Oliver

SaazGorilla · Post by **SaazGorilla** » Thursday Jan 03, 2013 5:24 pm

It's the silly season again (weather wise) and I was wondering if it is worth giving Saison a try as a kit and bits brew. I'm pretty confident I can maintain a high 20s fermentation without temperature control, perhaps moving a couple of degrees either way.

I've found that the Kit and Bits wheat beers turn out amazing ('bits' being Dried Wheat Malt and Liquid yeast). Would a Saison be any different?

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