Hoppy Saison (extract) recipe?

I'm an avid beer consumer but a new brewer, about to get my first set-up. I am hoping to brew a hoppy Saison as my first brew.

I am basically looking for a simple but reliably delicious Saison recipe, and some idea of how much hops to add in when, in order to crank the hops up a bit. Any advice for a noob?

Thanks and Cheers!
Taddy

Welcome to the site.

I would go with a pils malt extract. 2 cans of LME or 5 lbs of DME, plus .75 lbs of cane sugar would be a good place to start. A full boil would be perfect to help keep the color light, but if that isn't an option I would add half the extract with 5 minutes left in the boil. For hops, what sort of character do you want? I am about to brew a saison loaded with Saaz, which will give it more of a spicy/herbal character, but you could do pretty much any hop you enjoy. Just add enough hops at 60 minutes to get to 35 IBUs (this will differ by AA%, and boil size, use a IBU caclulator to help). Then add 2 oz of the hop of your choice at the end of the boil.

Ferment warm (80-90) with the saison strain of your choice. Some have attenuation issues, so you might consider adding a pack of US-05 or T-58 after a couple weeks to help it finish dry (make sure to check the gravity to ensure that fermentation is over). You might also consider adding an ounce of dry hops (for extra aroma) to the fermenter after the fermentation is over. Then prime/bottle for moderate-high carbonation.

Hope that helps, good luck brewing.

Just brewed a saison might be my best brew ever!!! I'm very proud of it, but the yeast did most the work. If you're going to brew the Saison you have got to get the wyeast 3711. Austin home brew might still have it in stock (it was a specialty yeast).

My brew dropped to 1.008 in 2 weeks.

I used the same yeast. Ended up at 1.001 at bottling time. Love the 3711!

I'd suggest going through the saison recipes in the recipe database and then possibly upping the hops on them if they don't strike your fancy. Saison's aren't always a hoppy beer. You could make your own style... India Saison!