Stout with Saison yeast?

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

TheMan

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 8, 2009
Messages
2,957
Reaction score
341
Location
Illinois
I did a little searching and can't find much on this (perhaps because it's not a good idea), but either way I figured to ask if anyone has tried this and how were the results?

A while ago I brewed an IPA and used Saison yeast, the beer was ok. Nothing special, won't be brewed again. Now since I am out of freezer space for fermenting and I want to brew, the only thing that can handle being uncontrolled is a saison. Anyway, Stout Saison? Anyone tried this?
 
I have heard of a black saison before although I've never tried one. I was thinking about trying it out myself. Let me know how it turns out.
 
Well, if I hear people saying it's no good I'll probably just make a standard saison. But if there isn't enough then I'll make it just for the hell of it.
 
Make a saison, steep some carafa III and add it to it to blacken it without much of the flavor. Enter Black Saision, that could be interesting........id be down......
 
I was thinking more along the lines of an actual stout recipe, but fermented warm with saison yeast. Not just a black saison.

The reason I did the IPA with saison yeast last year was to see if hop bitterness and flavor would cover the yeast flavor and giving me the option of fermenting my IPA's at warm temperatures since I didn't have temp control at the time. It didn't lol. And it was an odd beer.

I wondered the same thing about whether a stout would cover the yeast flavor with all it's roastiness. But, seeing as how I got temp control after that I haven't continued with making a stout with the yeast...yet.
 
No, that's useful. Belgians still have the same strong yeast flavor...they are in the same class after all.

Did any of the belgian flavor come through? Or did it taste more like a normal stout?
 
I think the reason you don't see much stuff like this is because a lot of people brew to style and some of the flavors you would get from a Saison fermentation would not score you well in an IPA or maybe even a stout.

Hard to imagine what it might taste like, but brew one up and see how it tastes!
 
Also, if you want it to have a little more body, use some lactose since the saison yeast will completely dry it out.
 
j1laskey's post came in extremely helpful actually...I was using the wrong keywords to find others with the idea. "Stout with saison yeast" and versions of it don't work so well...however, "Stout with Belgian yeast" provides lots more info.

Edit,
There is a beer, Buffalo Belgian Stout, that people rave about. Sounds just like what I am going for.

I'll have to come up with the grainbill, but ideally I'd like it to pretty much taste like a stout. I am a big fan of roasty stouts. If anyone has a nice, roasty stout recipe I'd be happy to brew it and use the saison yeast. I will just be using the saison yeast for the ability to ferment at higher temps, if it gives belgian flavors then so be it.
 
This is why we homebrew...just do it...take your best stout recipe and just change the yeast... I really dig Belgian IPA's, and I had thought about trying my Cascadian Dark Ale/Black IPA recipe with a Belgian yeast too...just haven't gotten to that one on the list yet...
 
No, that's useful. Belgians still have the same strong yeast flavor...they are in the same class after all.

Did any of the belgian flavor come through? Or did it taste more like a normal stout?

That "Belgian Twang" sure did shine through, but not too overpowering. A blow-off tube is a must.

Here's the partial recipe (BIAB).

2 lbs. American 2-row info
1 lbs. Crystal Malt 60°L info
0.5 lbs. American Black Patent info
0.5 lbs. American Chocolate Malt info
0.5 lbs. Black Roasted Barley info
5 lbs. Dry Light Extract info
1 lbs. Wheat Flaked info
1 lbs. Oats Flaked info
1 lbs. Candi Sugar Amber info
1 oz. Amarillo® (Pellets, 9.1 %AA) boiled 60 min. info
0.5 oz. Fuggle (Pellets, 4.0 %AA) boiled 60 min. info
0.5 oz. Fuggle (Pellets, 4.0 %AA) boiled 15 min. info
1 tbsp. Yeast Nutrient (AKA Fermax) (not included in calculations)
Yeast : White Labs WLP550 Belgian Ale info

Mashed at 155 for 90mins, Sparge 170. Primary 3 weeks, Secondary 2 weeks. Kegged at 12 psi for 2weeks, then enjoyed :mug:
 
One of my favorite beer (Isseki Nicho) at my favorite brewpub (Dieu du Ciel in Montreal):

COMMERCIAL DESCRIPTION
This "Imperial Dark Saison" is a collaboration between DDC and Shiga Kogen. It has the grain bill of an Imperial Stout, hops grown at Shiga Kogen and is fermented with Saison yeast.
http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/dieu-du-ciel-isseki-nicho/107120/

Great beer! I don't remember it too much though because it's rarely there... And I don't have that much time to go there...
 
I've had dark saisons, but never a stout saison. I say go for it. I could be horrible, but you won't know until you try. Plus I'm curious of the results.
 
I'll let you guys know. I will be putting quite a bit of dark and roasted malts in it since that's what I like. I'll post up what recipe I do as soon as I figure it out.
 
Yazoo Brewery here in Nashville did a series of Saison starter beers This year (prepping for their rye Saison) and one was a Saison stout. It was very tasty.
 
Ooo excited to see what you decide on, I'm going to be kegging a Saison tomorrow and looking what I want to do next with my yeast!
 
To any of you waiting on my results, I decided to hold off till my freezer is done fermenting my lager. Originally I had decided to brew this and let it ferment freely in my apartment. However the temperature swings are huge without using my temp controlled freezer and I'd like to control it a bit more considering this is kind of an experiment in itself. I don't want the beer to turn out horrible because I didn't have control of temps. My lager should be done in a week or two, then I'll brew this up and have results for you guys.
 
Been reading this thread and now I'm intrigued. I'm brewing a stout this weekend and am going to pitch WLP001, but I don't think it is going to attenuate the way I want ti to so I was thinking of pitching a saison yeast in the secondary since I have some saved. I'll keep an eye on this thread as I decide whether or not to pitch the saison yeast.
 
Allagash has a belgion stout, allagash black, it's pretty ****ing amazing, tastes a lot like a stout but you can definitely tell it's been done with belgian yeast.
 
Been reading this thread and now I'm intrigued. I'm brewing a stout this weekend and am going to pitch WLP001, but I don't think it is going to attenuate the way I want ti to so I was thinking of pitching a saison yeast in the secondary since I have some saved. I'll keep an eye on this thread as I decide whether or not to pitch the saison yeast.

You may not get much Belgian-y character from finishing with that yeast...most of the yeast character (or lack thereof) will probably come from the 001
 
You may not get much Belgian-y character from finishing with that yeast...most of the yeast character (or lack thereof) will probably come from the 001

I have still not gotten around to this brew, but I would agree with biochemedic. I don't see a point to adding the yeast to secondary.

Life got in the way, I won't be able to brew this for another month or so now. Decided I'm moving, so I can't brew anything till I get into the new place.
 
I'm brewing a Belgian Stout with Saison yeast this weekend as long as my Saison yeast is viable. I had been wondering if anyone had done this and I didn't see a lot of info out there so I am just going to go for it. I don't have my recipe right now but I can post if later. I'll let you know how things go.
 
I didn't use enough roast malts so mine kind of turned into a belgian barleywine. It's around 10%, my yeast worked just fine! It's been aging in a keg since I brewed it. I didn't like it at all at first. Now it's really smooth and has a bunch of cherry and plum notes. It's really unique. I'm going to bring it out in the fall.

As far as tips...If you are going for a stout I can't really help you because I still don't know what the stout character with saison yeast will produce. Obviously just keep you OG in check and plan for the extra attenuation of the saison yeast so you arrive at your desired abv.
 
Use some pale chocolate and special b...It works using roasty dark malts in a saison...I know because I drank 5 gallons all to myself :)

Call it whatever you like...just brew it, it will be good.
 
I didn't use enough roast malts so mine kind of turned into a belgian barleywine. It's around 10%, my yeast worked just fine! It's been aging in a keg since I brewed it. I didn't like it at all at first. Now it's really smooth and has a bunch of cherry and plum notes. It's really unique. I'm going to bring it out in the fall.

As far as tips...If you are going for a stout I can't really help you because I still don't know what the stout character with saison yeast will produce. Obviously just keep you OG in check and plan for the extra attenuation of the saison yeast so you arrive at your desired abv.

What yeast did you use? Did you add in any brett?
 
This is exactly my last experiment...

I brewed a saison porter last month only because I had this Norther Brewer kit laying around for a couple of months (http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/st-paul-porter-extract-kit.html) and needed to brew it... the only problem was that it was the middle of a heat wave here in Brooklyn. Enter my St. Paul Porter Saison.

Fermented for 10 days at around 85 degrees, the roast y-ness of the dark malts tends to over power the flavor of the yeast. I've brewed this kit about 4 times before and know how the kit is supposed to taste. To tell you the truth it wasn't far off of the original. There were subtle Saison characters, but definitely not as pronounced as I expected.
 
Fermented for 10 days at around 85 degrees, the roast y-ness of the dark malts tends to over power the flavor of the yeast. I've brewed this kit about 4 times before and know how the kit is supposed to taste. To tell you the truth it wasn't far off of the original. There were subtle Saison characters, but definitely not as pronounced as I expected.

Which saison yeast did you use?
 
Back
Top