Cynical Saison

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highgravitybacon

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 28, 2012
Messages
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Recipe Type
All Grain
Yeast
Wyeast 3711
Yeast Starter
Yes
Batch Size (Gallons)
5.8
Original Gravity
1.052
Final Gravity
1.002
Boiling Time (Minutes)
75
IBU
30
Color
8.6 SRM
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
21 68-74F
Tasting Notes
Fruity, funky, slightly spicy, slightly clovey. Refreshing and robust.
This is a saison that was loosely based on Surly Cynic.

It's a metric recipe because that's how I roll.

Assumptions:
KCMO municipal water with some minor modifications to increase the amount of calcium to >50 ppm. Charcoal filtered.

Batch size 22L.
Boil size 28.3L - 75 min boil.
75% efficiency.

Grain:
3.9kg Canada Malting Company Superior Pale Ale (3.1L)
300 grams melanoidin malt (Weyermann) (27L)
300 grams Simpsons Golden Naked Oats (10L)
250 grams white table sugar (0L)
30 grams dehusked Carafa I (350L)

Hops - pellets
Willamette 4.4%AA 30 grams for 75 min. 19 IBU
Willamette 4.4%AA 30 grams for 15 min. 5 IBU
German Opal 6%AA 40 grams 0 min. Figured 6 IBU
Could substitute GR Tettnang, Hallertau, Liberty, Mt Hood or whatever for Opal. The Opal adds a lemony, lemongrass, noble spice type flavor.

Yeast
Wyeast 3711 slurry of appx 100 ml

Mash
Infused 11.6L of water at 70C to hit targeted temp of 63C. Hold for 60 min.
Infusion of 2.2L water boiling to hit mash temp of 68C for additional 15 minutes.
Batch sparge using appx 20L of 80C water for 15 minutes. My mash tun only holds 20L max so I had to add about 14L then pour in the remaining volume as it was draining. I don't think I needed all 20L to hit the boil volume.

Preboil was 1.043. 75 min boil.

Chilling took about 2 hours using the hose. No immersion chiller which is why I figured the 0 min hop additions to have 6 IBU.

Fermentation:
Started at about 68F for first 48 hours. Raised to 70 on day three. 72 day four. Fell to 70 overnight, then 74 day 4-7. By day 7, it was pretty much done, but still continued to fizz and bubble long after the krausen fell. It continued to show signs of fermentation in the carboy for an additional 2 weeks, which I held at about 68F. Total was appx 3 weeks. It dropped to 1.004 after 2.5 weeks, and then finally ended up at 1.002 after 3 weeks. The last little bit of fermentation took the longest.

Bottling:
I ended up with 5.1 gallons into bottles. Targeted a carbonation level of 3.5 volumes using 66F as the bottling temp to calculate residual CO2. I bottled with 188 grams of table sugar.

Tasting:
Clearly a farmhouse funk going on. Very complex, fruity aroma. Smells of spices, slightly hoppy, floral and citrus aroma. Wonderful mouthfeel. You'd never guess it was a 1.002 beer. Feels fuller than that. Slightly berry, slightly bready and nutty. Fleeting bitterness. You know it's got some degree of hopping, but it doesn't linger long. After a few weeks in the bottle, the esters will dampen a bit and the spiciness will come out. Plan on maybe 4 weeks post bottling. That's when mine started to have a very nice spice that was balanced with the fruit. Early bottles I drank, while scrumptious, were lots of fruit with hints of spice. This is more balanced now that time has passed.

Nice billowing head with good lacing.

Overall:
Pretty happy about this. Darker than most saisons, but I tossed in the Carafa to help with flavor stability. The idea is to brew this beer in the late winter / early spring for consumption during the summer in the tradition of farmhouse beers.

2013-03-18 18.35.40.jpg
 

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