Drew off a sample...for the Hell of it. I'll be bottling on Sunday. Held the sample up to a light to check color and clarity...looks good! Moved it back and forth from the sample glass to a beer glass, to open up the aroma. Nice. Flavor, without carb, makes me think I'm drinking a light, but complex red wine.
Unless SWMBO has other plans for me, I should be bottling today! Using corn sugar for priming. Any suggestions on amount? I think I'm at about 6 gallons and have had several brews overcarb, even when I tried to underestimate the priming sugar.
Using Brewer's Friend's calculator and using the Belgian Ales category (closest to saison?), I come up with 3.9 oz corn sugar for 6 gallons at 74F. I'll double check the actual temperature and volume when I get to that point. I don't keg and I know nothing of atmospheres or volumes, but the calculator says that Belgian Ales style varies from 1.9 to 2.4 volumes. Considering past issues, I'm going with 1.9 for calculating. And it has a value of 0.79 volumes assigned as "CO2 in beer". Is that assuming there is already some CO2 still in it after fermentation? I'm debating 3.50 oz for priming (if no values change significantly)...maybe 3.75 oz.
Unless SWMBO has other plans for me, I should be bottling today! Using corn sugar for priming. Any suggestions on amount? I think I'm at about 6 gallons and have had several brews overcarb, even when I tried to underestimate the priming sugar.
Using Brewer's Friend's calculator and using the Belgian Ales category (closest to saison?), I come up with 3.9 oz corn sugar for 6 gallons at 74F. I'll double check the actual temperature and volume when I get to that point. I don't keg and I know nothing of atmospheres or volumes, but the calculator says that Belgian Ales style varies from 1.9 to 2.4 volumes. Considering past issues, I'm going with 1.9 for calculating. And it has a value of 0.79 volumes assigned as "CO2 in beer". Is that assuming there is already some CO2 still in it after fermentation? I'm debating 3.50 oz for priming (if no values change significantly)...maybe 3.75 oz.
i like my belgian beers a little more carbed than most other styles, especially saisons. i use northern brewers calculator. but probably wouldnt go over 3.0 vol. id suggest picking a few styles between 2.4-3.0 and see what it calls for and make your decision based off that.
Thank's! I like a nice carb, but having had a few overcarbed...despite using less than the amount of priming sugar called for, I'm a bit skittish. I see Northern Brewer suggests 3.2 volumes and calls for almost 8oz. If I go down to 2.4 volumes, it's 5.25oz. *sigh* Decisions, decisions.
Okay, so after getting to the bottling bucket, I only had about 5.25 gallons, so I went with Northern Brewer's recommendation of 5.75oz of corn sugar. All bottled, I came up with 31 regular 12oz bottles and 12 bombers. And I did harvest my Belle Saison Yeast...cold crashed last night. Decanted today and pitched into a new wort and added another harvested jar to it. It's been chugging along all day, so I hope to cold crash it again late tonight and brew a Citra Saison tomorrow. The starter is in the back of the photo, wrapped in a heating pad. And there's 11 bottles of Diet (Truvia) Root Beer there, too...trying something new!
Purchased the ingedients to brew this again. I have brewed 70-ish beers and this is among my favorites. I cant imagine it being better with alterations so i ordered Sorachi Ace hops so I can replicate what I did the first time. This went so fast it has to be moved ahead of other planned brews.
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Got my first taste today, after 3 days on gas at roughly 12 psi. I know it's early, but I couldn't help myself. Had good carbonation already though!
The head was pink, and the beer color was a deep, yet vibrant, red. Didn't get much aroma wise, couldn't pick out anything particular, kinda nondescript.
Flavor - whoa! Punch me in the face with cranberries! Very dry, and very, very tart. The hibiscus/cranberry flavor overwhelms everything else. There may be just a hint of white grape from the Nelson, but if there is, it blends in and is more or less drowned out by the tart hibiscus. Lingers on the palette for a minute or so.
Honestly, I'm pretty underwhelmed by my initial impression. I tasted the hydro sample when I racked to secondary, before adding the tea. At that point, it tasted like a solid saison, with subtle peppery notes from the yeast. It's still early though, so I'll be tasting and taking notes again at 5, 7, 10 and 14 days on gas to see how it improves. At this point though, I'm contemplating a re-brew further down the line with a greatly reduced tea addition, something like 2 or 4 ounces in a quart of water. I'll report back with further tasting notes.
OK, so after 5 days on gas, the overwhelming cranberry flavor is subsiding - not much, but a bit. It's still very tart, but now there's just a hint, or suggestion, of a peppery note. Also beginning to get a bit of a fruity aroma. Other than that, it hasn't changed much - yet. I have a feeling it won't be "right" until the two week mark.
I can't say that's really cranberry you're getting. Maybe you're tasting tart and thinking that's the best way to describe it. You'll get tartness from the hibiscus. Do you have any leaves left? Make a tea and you'll see what that is like. Pepper is saison, the yeast is a contributor. Nelson hops also contribute to the complex flavors. It was right for me right away. I get a white wine sort of taste with some earthiness and tart from the flowers. It's not sweet per se but it's not too bitter.
My first taste of my Hi-Nelson Saison w/Hibiscus! I stuck this in the fridge a little while ago and it's only down to 60F, but it is excellent! The color is hard to capture accurately, but it's beautiful almost like a muscadine grape juice. The head is soft and a thin layer stays on the surface...and it's white, with a little pink/purple tinge to it. The carb is light, but appropriate. I think I got this one right! The aroma is also a bit like a fresh wine/light grape juice and the flavor is light, refreshing, and slightly tart, with a little tannin finish that lingers. I keep thinking of fresh muscadines, but not quite as sweet. This is so good at 2 weeks after bottling, I can't wait to taste it again in a month...and two, if any lasts that long! Winner, Fuzzy!!! Cheers!!!
I can't say that's really cranberry you're getting. Maybe you're tasting tart and thinking that's the best way to describe it. You'll get tartness from the hibiscus. Do you have any leaves left? Make a tea and you'll see what that is like. Pepper is saison, the yeast is a contributor. Nelson hops also contribute to the complex flavors. It was right for me right away. I get a white wine sort of taste with some earthiness and tart from the flowers. It's not sweet per se but it's not too bitter.
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Uncarbonated sample of my second batch.I decided to add brett b to it because I can never leave well enough alone. This batch is even drier than first batch finishing at 1.002. It is very crisp, dry, tart and delicious even uncarbonated. Definitely another winner I might need to get a 3rd batch brewing soon.
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Brett B, that sounds very nice!
There was some discussion that there was uncertainty about any natural sugars in the dried hibiscus flowers, but I think it has been shown not to be the case. Should be okay; however, I did find a source online that I was considering ordering from that DID have hibiscus dried with sugar. Just don't make that mistake...check your flowers for any other ingredients!
Great point Matt I've made Aqua de jamaica many times and I've used the hibiscus(jamaica) with added sugar to make it and it could definitely cause carbonation issues.
I brewed a saison using Nelson and Galaxy and Belle Saison yeast, finally got it kegged and find that it is lacking something. Do you think that you could add the tea straight to the keg? I'll probably brew a test batch to add to a glass (like a berliner wiesse) to make sure it adds what I'm looking for, but do you think it would be ok to do this late?
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