Can a saison be a session beer?

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Nowuries

Nowuries

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I don't have a huge Mash Tun, so I like doing 5 gallon session beers... Does any one know of a good saison recipe that would be good as a session beer?
I recently had my 1st saison ( Boulevard Smoke Stack Tank 7) and fell in love with the "funk" aspect... and would love to do something similar.
FYI - most of my grain bills haven't been over 11 pounds.
Thanks!:rockin:
 
Saisons actually started out as light 4 to 5% beers for farmers, its been more recently that they've exploded into 7%+ versions. A "light" saison would actually be more true to style than most things on the market these days.
 
jaba said:
Saisons actually started out as light 4 to 5% beers for farmers, its been more recently that they've exploded into 7%+ versions. A "light" saison would actually be more true to style than most things on the market these days.
Click to expand...

See, that's what I thought I had read, but most commercial examples I see are 7-10%..... Not that I'm arguing, I just want one I can brew and drink several off!
 
Saisons can be session beers for sure! For my more sessionable saisons I prefer a simpler malt bill to let the yeast flavors shine. Try something like 65% Belgian Pils malt and 35% wheat, maybe add some Munich for a bit of extra malt flavor. The secret is really in controlling the fermentation schedule to get the most out of the yeast. I personally like my session saisons to be dry, crisp and yeast-forward, and something like this should do the trick.
 
My first saison was 8.5% because I had idea the yeast would attenuate as well as it did. My second version compensated for the attenuation and produced a 4.5% beer with nearly the same flavors.
 
Sithdad said:
My first saison was 8.5% because I had idea the yeast would attenuate as well as it did. My second version compensated for the attenuation and produced a 4.5% beer with nearly the same flavors.
Click to expand...

I had the same thing happen to me. I was going for a saison of moderate strength. 1.062 didn't seem that high. It was when Wyeast 3711 first became year-round. That stuff took my saison down to 1.004 in 5 days. Didn't see that one coming. I think my next one will start near 1.040 and be 80:20, Pilsner:Vienna hopped with a blend of saaz and sonnet.
 
Saison's started out as a rural area's table beer, which is more or less what we call a session beer today. The people would use whatever they had on hand to make a fermented drink to be enjoyed while working or after working on their farms (IIRC).

To make a funkier Saison get the right yeast, and mash LOW, ferment HIGH (like 90-95F!!) and try to get the FG down as low as possible. Saison yeast is notorious for kicking out early, so be prepared to stir it up near the end if necessary. Some even use Champagne yeast to finish to get it drier.

Some people nowadays add seasonings to get that spicey, funky flavor, but you can get a good flavor from the yeast and ferm temps.
 
Homercidal said:
Saison's started out as a rural area's table beer, which is more or less what we call a session beer today. The people would use whatever they had on hand to make a fermented drink to be enjoyed while working or after working on their farms (IIRC).

To make a funkier Saison get the right yeast, and mash LOW, ferment HIGH (like 90-95F!!) and try to get the FG down as low as possible. Saison yeast is notorious for kicking out early, so be prepared to stir it up near the end if necessary. Some even use Champagne yeast to finish to get it drier.

Some people nowadays add seasonings to get that spicey, funky flavor, but you can get a good flavor from the yeast and ferm temps.
Click to expand...

I had good luck bottling with the dregs of a couple bottles of Orval. Reading around on here after I did that it sounds like it's important to make sure it finishes dry so you don't get to much carbonation from the Brett. Mine turned out great though - a nice Brett flavor without being only that flavor.
 
0110x011 said:
Saisons can be session beers for sure! For my more sessionable saisons I prefer a simpler malt bill to let the yeast flavors shine. Try something like 65% Belgian Pils malt and 35% wheat, maybe add some Munich for a bit of extra malt flavor. The secret is really in controlling the fermentation schedule to get the most out of the yeast. I personally like my session saisons to be dry, crisp and yeast-forward, and something like this should do the trick.
Click to expand...

That sounds like one to ad to the recipes!
 
I haven't had any problems with Wyeast 3724 stalling. This last batch fermented 74-76 the entire time and finished at 1.003 in 2 weeks (I pitch and don't check for at least 2 weeks). I haven't added sugar or another yeast to finish it out.

Nowuries said:
Preferable yeast strains for a saison that wouldn't go much over 4.5%abv?
Click to expand...

Your abv isn't wholly determined by yeast. If you don't give the yeast a lot of sugar to eat the abv will be low. Most Saison yeast strains attenuate around 80% (some go higher). For example, in my 2 saisons my apparent attenuation was 91% (that's because I mashed at 147F for 90 min and pitched a good healthy starter).
 
Be sure to pitch the yeast relatively cool (65-68) then let it rise up to 80. You may have to assist with adding heat, but don't pitch hot. Someone did this another thread and had some bad fusels and green apple flavors. I've also read that getting above 85 may actually stall the yeast, depending on strain.
 
60% Belgian Pils malt and 30% wheat 10% aromatic malt is what I've done for a session saison and/or propagation batch for a super saison.

Just as a side note: American hops go well w/ Saison yeast profile (imo better then some Belgian yeast), try the grain bill above shooting for a IPA gravity and hop and it like your favorite IPA w/ wyeast 3711, very refreshing.
 
Sithdad said:
I haven't had any problems with Wyeast 3724 stalling. This last batch fermented 74-76 the entire time and finished at 1.003 in 2 weeks (I pitch and don't check for at least 2 weeks). I haven't added sugar or another yeast to finish it out.



Your abv isn't wholly determined by yeast. If you don't give the yeast a lot of sugar to eat the abv will be low. Most Saison yeast strains attenuate around 80% (some go higher). For example, in my 2 saisons my apparent attenuation was 91% (that's because I mashed at 147F for 90 min and pitched a good healthy starter).
Click to expand...

I understand that yeast isn't the sole factor in abv... but some yeast performs a lot better with lower gravity beer than higher. For example, using WLP002 in a session brown ale over WLP007, I just didn't know if there was a better yeast strain for a lower gravity saison....

I've got some excellent ideas here, thanks to everyone!:)
 
I just had my first taste of my cloned version of Tank 7. I also fell in love with it when I found it at Spec's in Houston. Had some in Missouri this past weekend too. Mine is 3 weeks in the fermenter but is coming out very very nice. Spot on with the color, ABV, and taste so far. Took my first small sample to test FG. Currently OG at 1.77 and FG at 1.020 so not too far off. About 7.5% currently. Going to let it set another week cause its developing some very nice flavors.
 
If you want to be more traditional, make a strong beer from the first runnings, possibly aging with oak and Brett, and make a table beer from the rest of the sugars in the mash, and depending on your extraction efficiency possibly continue the mash with a little more malt to get enough volume at the gravity you want.
 
0110x011 said:
Saisons can be session beers for sure! For my more sessionable saisons I prefer a simpler malt bill to let the yeast flavors shine. Try something like 65% Belgian Pils malt and 35% wheat, maybe add some Munich for a bit of extra malt flavor. The secret is really in controlling the fermentation schedule to get the most out of the yeast. I personally like my session saisons to be dry, crisp and yeast-forward, and something like this should do the trick.
Click to expand...

your blog link doesn't work. pils/wheat/yeast forward... i'm thinking simple sugar too!
 

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