I made an 11gallon batch of Saison last night. I was surprised to read that Saison can be as dark as 14 SRM. So I thought it would be fun to try and make one red. I tasted the Midnight Wheat at my LHBS as was really surprised that it didn't taste harsh, ash like or nasty at all for a grain rated at 550 L. It also didn't have a strong roast flavor. More of a subtle roast flavor. My LHBS recommended 2 oz. per 5 gallons, in a light beer, to get red, but I wanted to start conservatively, and added only 2.875 oz to my 11 gallon batch.
I should also probably mention that after listening to Gordon Strong on the beersmith blog that I tried his method of just steeping the dark grains (over 80L) even in my all-grain batch.
The 2.875 was added to the mash (144 F for 90 min) in a small nylon hop bag for only 30 min.
http://beersmith.com/blog/2012/05/31/advanced-home-brewing-with-gordon-strong-beersmith-podcast-39/
This is what I ended up with after the mash:
I was pretty dissapointed. It was more brown than red, so then I added another 1.125 oz of midnight wheat in a small nylon hop bag for about 20 min as the wort was heating up from 170-180 and ended up with this:
That's more like it! Guess I should have just listened to the LHBS 2oz/5 gal to begin with. I'll let you guys know in a few weeks if there's any roast flavor at all. I'm kinda hoping there isn't.
Here's my recipe
1.053 OG 24 IBUs
11 gallons 50% efficiency brew in a bag (BIG BAG!)
144-145 F 90 min mash
no rinse or sparge
101 min boil
3.3# Golden Light LME
14# Belgiean Pilsner
3.0# Toasted Rye
2.0# Sucrose
1.0# Light Munich 9 SRM
1.0# Rice
0.78# German Wheat Malt
0.68# Cara Munich 34 SRM
0.52# Caraamber 28 SRM
0.50# Honey Malt 25 SRM
0.25# Wheat Roasted 550 SRM
19 g Magnum 13.5% AA 93 min
28 g Serachi Ace 15.1% AA 5 min
28 g Strisslespalt 2.3% AA 5 min
28 g Serachi Ace 15.1% AA added as wort was cooling below 180 F
28 g Strisslespalt 2.3% AA added as wort was cooling below 180 F
1600 mL starter of Wyeast 2711 French Saison.
I'm going to split the batch 3 ways
1. as is for competition
2. 3 oz of dry hopping for me!
3. Big Can of Rasberry Puree with citra/amarillo dry hop