Saison Bâtard

It's named Saison Bâtard in honour of Guillaume Conquérant (also known as Guillaume Bâtard) - that's William the Conqueror, Americans - because the OG ended up being 1066.

9lb Pilsner Malt
0.75lb Munich
0.75lb Wheat Malt
0.75lb Belgian Aromatic
1lb Honey (@15min)
1lb table sugar (@15min)

1oz Tettnang 3.5% @60m
1oz EKG 5.5% @60m
0.5oz Tettnang @1m
0.5oz EKG @1m

Mashed at 145˚ for 60 minutes, then bumped up to 158˚ for 20 minutes to dextrinise whatever was left. Sparged at 170˚.

I initially brewed this to be a little weaker, but I overshot my efficiency.

I'm using the now slightly aging VSS French Saison strain, which sounds delicious. I accidentally aerated this thing for like six hours before I could get home and pitch the yeast. I pitched the yeast at about 69˚, and once fermentation started I moved it to somewhere warmer (about 72&#730, where it climbed on its own to great heights. I'll let you know how it turns out. I hope to get this bone dry and yeast-spicy, and pop it in champagne bottles for warm summer nights.

How did you accidentally aerate for six hours? Did you leave an aeration stone in there for that long?

I'm making a Saison once the weather is a little warmer. I've got the White Labs Saison Blend in my fridge now...I'll look to your recipe for a guide. Why table sugar, BTW?

Evan! said:

How did you accidentally aerate for six hours? Did you leave an aeration stone in there for that long?

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Well, we finished brewing late, and I ran off to work the night shift while my brewing buddies/roommates cooled it. We aerate without a stone, btw, just a pump - inefficient perhaps. She set it up to aerate for an hour, and then, being awesome, she dropped by my work to drop off some stuff I'd left at home (planning to be home within the hour and pitch the yeast). Instead she ended up visiting someone at the hospital, so she didn't get home quickly at all. Luckily, no aeration stone, so it didn't foam over. The yeast ended up lagging for ~8 hours then really took off vigorously.

Evan! said:

I'm making a Saison once the weather is a little warmer. I've got the White Labs Saison Blend in my fridge now...I'll look to your recipe for a guide. Why table sugar, BTW?

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I've got the adjuncts (table sugar, honey) in there to help get it as dry as possible. I took a lot of cues from Jamil's podcast on this at TBN; he suggested it could help drying it out to take almost 20% of your fermentables from completely fermentable adjuncts. I believe that Demerara, Turbinado, raw cane sugar, corn sugar, are all completely fermentable; I'm not sure about clear Candi, and I'm pretty sure Invert and the darker Candi's leave some sugar behind.

(The honey wasn't in Jamil, but I had it, it's in the BJCP, and I really didn't want to dump two pounds of white sugar into anything.)

I've got the temperature up to around eighty now, and the room is around 75˚. It's in my boiler room. Hopefully later today, with the heat on, it can top 80˚ or 85˚.

Holy cow - this thing dried out to 1.002. That's 96% attenuation, and 8.4% ABV. This yeast is incredible - saison fruit, spicy citrus ester, dry as all heck, no unpleasant hot alcohols. The beer has a nice Saaz-y bitterness*. Detailed tasting notes in a few weeks when it's aged more.

A couple bottles are getting the Brettanomyces treatment from Orval dregs, although who knows if two gravity points are enough for any significant contribution - we'll see.

*(despite there being no Saaz involved)

Ta-da!



And here's a crappy cell phone picture of the finished bottles. They're not all in the champagne-style, because at 8.3% ABV one of those bad boys would be an evening.

How did this turn out? I think I'm going to try this one.

I got everything together to make this except I am using Wyeast 3724.

Why did you mash so low?

I too am interested in the reason for mashing so low.

I'll be doing this one next.

I am making this tomorrow. I will mash at 152 I think. I can't step temp so easily, since I mash in an Igloo. I would have to add like 3qt of 4,000 degree water to change it that much.

low end of the mash scale yields more fermentable sugars, but less conversion for dextrines (153-165) which contribute to head retention and mouthfeel... you just have to mash a lot longer. It seems an important thing to do the bigger the beer, so you dont have the huge 1.025+ sugar rush on the big beers on 1.070+OGs. plus the straight fermentables should help dry this thing out, and you want this thing dry like a bone.

Im going to try my second attempt tomorrow with 2L WLP565 on 11 gal, but 4 lbs of table sugar; dissolved simmered and cooled... ill throw it in primary once I see yeast activity... let it free rise to 90F; no problem here in central TX

Im contemplating throwing in some rehydrated moncherat wine yeast with the sugar.. probably once i have activity from the main yeast... i did it last time and it was an interesting and enjoyable flavor, but the saison was not dry enough... i know much more now then the last time i tried brewing it, just gotta keep experimenting and keeping good notes.

Crazytwoknobs said:

I too am interested in the reason for mashing so low.

I'll be doing this one next.

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I made this last summer and it was a huge hit with everyone. Now that I am in Austin, TX I need to adapt my styles to the seasons. I plan on making this on Saturday, then something else with a yeast strain that will handle 74* consistent house temps on Sunday. Not going to change anything except the yeast. We will see what AHB has in stock.

I'm following this grain bill right now for a saison. I had to sub some hops and I added a bit of grapefruit zest. I did add a touch of acidulated malt also. I need to go get me an aquarium heater today or sunday to ramp the temp up.

Can someone post a picture of this in a glass?

Well due to my unexpected higher efficiency my saison is more in the range of golden strong. It looks like I'll end up over 9.5%abv if it dries out down to 1.000.