Apple Saison idea.... ????

I have been toying with this idea for a while now. My wife has asked for some cider so I have been looking at cider recipes and will do one for her, but I got the idea of doing and apple saison for myself.

I am thinking of doing a simple saison recipe. Extract with steeping grains, partial boil. I then want to use about 1/2 to 1 gallon of apple juice as some of the top off liquid.

Something pretty simple. Pilsner, some cara-vienne, some sugar, simple hops and the apple juice. 3711 should chew through everything and make a nice dry saison with a slight apple flavor.

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

Not sure how to figure the gravity addition of the apple juice but overlyconcerned about that.

I would not worry so much about the additional sugar. It will all dry out bone dry anyway so you will be good to go.

The fruity apple aroma should blend well with the spice of the saison yeast.

This may sound a bit odd, but you may want to try adding a touch of chamomile to the brew. I have found that chamomile has a bit of a sweet apple aroma/taste and may help boost that. Also, you could add the juice in secondary, where the less vigorous fermentation will scrub out less of your aroma compounds. If you are using cider pressed from a local orchard, if it is not pasteurized, you are running the risk of introducing some funky bugs, but who knows, that may actually work out for you!

WolvinMaine said:

This may sound a bit odd, but you may want to try adding a touch of chamomile to the brew. I have found that chamomile has a bit of a sweet apple aroma/taste and may help boost that. Also, you could add the juice in secondary, where the less vigorous fermentation will scrub out less of your aroma compounds. If you are using cider pressed from a local orchard, if it is not pasteurized, you are running the risk of introducing some funky bugs, but who knows, that may actually work out for you!

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Never thought about chamomile... since this is one of my experimental brews I am open to trying different ideas. I have a carboy that is used for brews that need a lot of time to mature soI can try stuff without messing up my pipeline.

In the cider part of the recipe forum there is a recipe that calls for some tea and a lime with the cider. Maybe chamomile tea and some apple juice would be a good combo.

You can always just make a concentrated chamomile tea, pull a sample, add it and see if you like it. Like I said, just a thought. I got the idea from a metheglin I made with chamomile, has a strong apple taste.