My First Saison - Looking for Input

I have never attempted a saison. I have read about how to ferment at higher temps, and I still have to figure out how I am going to control that, but that isn’t the topic of this thread.
I would like my first saison to be simple, so this is what I came up with. Does anyone see any problems with my grain percentages? What is the difference between wheat malt and flaked wheat? Will this taste like a saison? Thanks for any input!

Saison
Batch size: 3g
OG: 1.061
IBUs: 28
Mash temp: 150F

5.00 lb Pilsner (2 Row) Bel (2.0 SRM) Grain 64.52 %
2.00 lb Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) Grain 25.81 %
0.75 lb Wheat, Flaked (1.6 SRM) Grain 9.68 %
0.25 oz Magnum [14.00 %] (60 min) Hops 20.1 IBU
0.25 oz Saaz [6.80 %] (20 min) Hops 5.9 IBU
0.25 oz Saaz [6.80 %] (5 min) Hops 2.0 IBU
1 Pkgs French Saison (Wyeast Labs #3711) Yeast-Ale

I just brewed the one from Brewing Classic Styles, and it's pretty similar. It has a higher percentage of Pilsner(75%), and less Vienna (10-15% I think).
This will definitely taste like a saison, IBUs look good. I've heard good things about the yeast.
You may want to add some sugar, like 2/3 lb or so, to make sure it really dries out.

I did a Saison with that yeast. Wyeast lists the temp range as 64-77. I fermented it at 70 ambient temp. When things were very active it got up to 76. Then most of the rest of the time it was in the 70-71 range. It turned out great.

A little sugar may help dry it out. If you really want to dry it out add the sugar after fermentation begins to slow.

Enjoy you brew.

I am thinking about brewing another batch of Saison next weekend. Yummy.

beergolf said:

I did a Saison with that yeast. Wyeast lists the temp range as 64-77. I fermented it at 70 ambient temp. When things were very active it got up to 76. Then most of the rest of the time it was in the 70-71 range. It turned out great.

A little sugar may help dry it out. If you really want to dry it out add the sugar after fermentation begins to slow.

Click to expand...

It looks like I should add sugar. Is it just table sugar? If I were to add it to the fermenter should I disolve it in boiled water?
Also, I have read that a saison should be fermented at 70F and then slowly raised to 80ishF. That is what is was going to have trouble doing. Did you just let it sit and do its thing? If so, I might not worry about the ferm temp.

I would replace a pound of vienna with sucrose (table sugar). My Saison with the French strain turned out excellent, noticeably fruity and spicy (I didn't add any spices or anything), finished at 1.004. OG was 1.056.

eanmcnulty said:

It looks like I should add sugar. Is it just table sugar? If I were to add it to the fermenter should I disolve it in boiled water?
Also, I have read that a saison should be fermented at 70F and then slowly raised to 80ishF. That is what is was going to have trouble doing. Did you just let it sit and do its thing? If so, I might not worry about the ferm temp.

Click to expand...

I used belgian candi sugar. I have also used honey or even turbinado sugar for a darker beer. But pretty much any type of sugar will work. Just boil it in enough water to make a simple syrup. Cool to 70 and drop it in, the yeast goes crazy for the new food.

I just let it do its thing. It did not have a ton of the funky saison flavor but it had enough to be very good. The critical time for flavors is the early time, so the warmer you can keep it at that time the better.

edit
I just realized your batch size was 3 gal. probably just 6-8 oz of sugar would be plenty. the 3711 will chow right through it.

Theres no need to add sugar, the recipe is perfect as is.
3711 yeast will take it down to 1.002-1.004 at room temps(low-mid 70s) so theres no need for hot fermentation. It works great in the 60s.

your numbers return 7-8%abv

My saison has only been in the bottle for nine days, and it is awesome! I love it. It is spicy and fruity, and I didn't use spices. I did use some piloncillo. Well, this being my first saison I don't know what it's doing to the beer. So, I just brewed another saison with table sugar.
I'm really happy with this first one. I can't believe how good the beer has been turning out lately.