Summer Saison Recipe Critique

I'd like to brew a light summer saison. I originally came up with the recipe below but was thinking I might want to add any Carapils/Dextrine for a bit of body or possibly 4oz of Caramunich to bump up the SRM. I had the wheat leftover from another beer I brewed and figured it would be a nice addition for a light summer beer.

Should I just leave as-is or would you recommend the Carapils-Dextrine and/or Caramunich?

How's the hop schedule? Looking for something with very low bitterness.

Summer Saison
an All Grain, Saison

Fermentables Efficiency: 68.0 % Batch size: 6.5 gal

Fermentable Amount Use PPG Color
Pilsner (BE) 9.0 lb 64 % Mash 37 1 °L
Vienna (DE) 3.0 lb 21 % Mash 37 4 °L
Torrified Wheat 2.0 lb 14 % Mash 36 2 °L
Hops Boil time: 90 min

Hop Amount Time Use Form AA
Strisselspalt (FR) 2.0 oz 60 min Boil Pellet 4.0%
Strisselspalt (FR) 1.0 oz 5 min Boil Pellet 4.0%
Yeasts

Name Lab/Product Average Attenuation
French Saison Wyeast 3711 80.0%
Extras

Name Amount Time Use
Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) 6.0 g 0.0 min Boil
Predicted Stats

1.054 OG 1.011 FG
24 IBU
5.7% ABV
3 SRM
0.45 IBU/OG

You want the saison to be dry, so you should be fine without the carapils. The 4oz caramunich may add a little more color if you want.

Just be good to the yeast and it will turn out great. I think 3711 is one of the less finicky saison yeasts if I remember right? The brew store didn't say anything about high temperature or stalling of this yeast?

I would make a starter though, and add the yeast at the height of it's krausen forming. Make sure you shake the heck out of the wort as well to get some oxygen in there. Saison yeasts, I saw a video somewhere that they are related in a distant cousin way to wine yeasts, and both require a bunch of O2 to get good fermentations.

Good Luck!!

3711 will probably chew your gravity down to the single digits, which would put you over 6% ABV. If that's what you're after, okay then. That high of an ABV doesn't sound like it's what you want (it doesn't sound light to me), so I'd probably drop the wheat, although you could leave 4-8oz for head retention. Otherwise, the recipe looks very good, although if you're looking to avoid bitterness you might scale back the gypsum.

3711 is a monster. It will work from mid 60s up to 80s and some folks might go warmer than that. I average 85%+ attenuation with it. I never brew to an OG of higher than 1.045 when I use it because I prefer session beers. The recipe does look tasty but as mentioned by another poster you may end up with a high ABV. Good luck.

No need for the carapils. I like wheat in my. saisons. The wheat will give it some body and head retention. 3711 will take it down to 1.004 or less, but even that low that yeast gives a good mouthfeel to the beer.

The BU:GU ratio is good for a saison. I really like Strisselspalt hops in a saison.

Looks good to me.

Not to jack a thread, but does wheat malt help with head retention as much as torrified wheat does? My LHBS had it marked as a sale item and i was going to get some extra to use in the future. Thanks in advance.


Sent from my iPad using Home Brew

Just a warning, I used strisselspalt recently and to me it tasted like a mouthful of black peppercorn. I used an ounce at FO and an ounce for dryhop. It was harsh, earthy spice. Maybe even a little ashtray in there. If you haven't used it before, precede with caution.

tagz said:

Just a warning, I used strisselspalt recently and to me it tasted like a mouthful of black peppercorn. I used an ounce at FO and an ounce for dryhop. It was harsh, earthy spice. Maybe even a little ashtray in there. If you haven't used it before, precede with caution.

Click to expand...

Sure its not the yeast you used? I brew exclusively smash saisons with Belgian pils and use striss as my hops. Peppercorn wouldn't be a flavor I would associate it with.

Yeah, it was one of my standard recipes. Some descriptions say earthy or spicy. It was pretty pungent and unpleasant. I entered it into comp for feedback. They notes earthy hop flavor. It may have been a bad batch, but I'm just going to avoid them.

Thanks for the input everyone. This brew is actually for my girlfriend's birthday party in July. She has an obsession with black pepper, so these hops will suite the beer well. She also hates bitter/hoppy beers so I'm going to use the hops extremely sparingly. Hopefully it won't be overwhelming.

So I just took a sample of my Summer Saison with 3711 that I brewed 13 days ago. OG was 1.047. FG is 1.001. That's 98.5% attenuation.

How is that possible?! (Rhetorical, I know, I know, everyone said this yeast is a workhorse, but that's insane.)

What was the mash temp?


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

I just kegged a batch with 3711 a couple hours ago. 1.042 to 1.002. That yeast is just very hungry. It is so easy to use and I really like the flavor. I hope the beer is great for you.

PDX_T said:

What was the mash temp?


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

Click to expand...

90 minutes at 148.

In the process of bottling this now. FG is now .99, 7.48%ABV. Tastes amazing.

I also "dry hopped" half the batch with 6 grams of crushed cardamom, 4 grams of corriander, zest of 1 lemon, 1 orange, 1 grapefruit, juice from 1 lemon, 1/2 orange, 1 grapefruit. Boiled in 2 pints of water for 10 minutes. It's perfectly citrusy.

Wish I was closer to 5%, but can't complain.