Dark Saison

I'm trying to get as close as possible to the Widmer Brothers Dark Saison. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Dark Saison

7 lbs Two row malt
3 lbs Wheat malt
1 lbs Vienna malt
.5 lbs Crystal 120L malt
.5 lbs Chocolate malt

.5 oz Millenium hops 30 mins
.5 oz Warrior hops 25 mins
.5 oz Horizon hops 20 mins
.5 oz Saaz hops 15 mins

Wyeast 3724 Belgian Saison

I am not familiar with the Widmer Bros saison so I am sure what it tastes like, but I think the C120 and the chocolate would be too sweet for a saison. I like them dry.

I do one with 1/2 lb Midnight Wheat. It makes it black with only the very faintest roast flavor at the finish. You almost do not notice the roast flavor at all but just a touch of some at the finish.

Widmer bros is a Oregon Brewery which makes great craft beers. I looked on their website which has the basic ingredients list. So all I have to do is just brew it and see how it compares. It does list the Crystal 120L and the Chocolate malt as an ingredient so we'll see how it goes.

RogueBrewer92 said:

Widmer bros is a Oregon Brewery which makes great craft beers. I looked on their website which has the basic ingredients list. So all I have to do is just brew it and see how it compares. It does list the Crystal 120L and the Chocolate malt as an ingredient so we'll see how it goes.

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Widmer is hard to find here but I am going to try to find their black saison to give it a taste.

Brewery websites are a great source of info about many beers. Enough to formulate a close recipe. If it uses those grains I would suggest mashing low and slow.

Judging by the picture on the website, the saison is a dark amber, not black. They have it at around 24 SRM. You could cut the chocolate and c-120 by half and end up in the right ballpark colorwise. Whether they use equal amounts of them, I have no idea. I'd guess almost all the color comes from the dark chocolate, at 420L, it wouldn't take much. Since the beer has an OG of 1.048 and an FG of 1.006, I'd guess they use WY3711, but 3724 could do the same thing if treated right.

I use an app on my android phone called BrewR Which is great for formulating recipes and keeping within styles. Here are the specs it has for The Dark Saison

OG 1.064
Estimated FG 1.016
IBU 37.9
SRM 20.9

at 80% efficiency

We did a dark Saison for a Homebrew club group brew ....it's been one of my favorite beers in a while

Group Brew

5 gallons
All Grain
1.055~OG→1.014~FG→5.4%ABV 60 IBU 18.2°L SRM
Yeasts
(null)

Fermentables
10.25 pounds
Pilsen
35ppg, 1°L 7 pounds
68%
Candi - Dark
31ppg, 160°L 1 pound
10%
Munich (Light)
33ppg, 10°L 1 pound
10%
Wheat
37ppg, 2°L 1 pound
10%
CaraMunich
33ppg, 50°L 4 ounces
2%

Hops
2 ounces
Hallertauer
8%, Pellet 1 ounce
50%
Magnum
14%, Pellet 1 ounce
50%

Miscellaneous
(null)

Batch/Fly
1 hour, 8.45 gallons
Strike
Target 150°F 3.47 gallons
161°F
1 hour
Sparge 4.98 gallons
170°F

Boil
1 hour, 7 gallons
Magnum hops
14%, Pellet 1 ounce
60 minutes (+0)
Hallertauer hops
8%, Pellet 1 ounce
15 minutes (+45)
Add wort chiller 15 minutes (+45)

Ferment
14 days @ 63°F





Sent from my iPhone

Cool I'll have to try this one also.

RogueBrewer92 said:

Cool I'll have to try this one also.

Click to expand...

We did make our own Belgium candi sugar too using the table sugar water and yeast nutrient method....search that one...it will save you a ton of money

my wife enjoys the Widmer Brothers Dark Saison so I'm always looking for dark / alternate takes on Saisons - if I may add - using Special B is a nice way of darkening a saison, and, in my short experience, in combination with Caramunich II - it makes a nice amber colored Saison and maybe a good segway into going even darker - when I used it, it really reminded me of St. Feuillien or Southampton Saison - not a light, straw colored saison like Dupont or Hennepin (both of which I love) but is citrusy, and these added elements compliment the peppery of the 3711 - think of it as dropping a few raisins in the bottom of your saison and getting splash of something else other than orange/lemon

I would be interested to hear everyone's thoughts on using a grain bill that uses Special B and Chocolate together as am interested in understanding how they might play off of each other, and which one might stand out more in the final product