Nelson Sauvin Saison?

So in a few weeks I'm going to be brewing my saison. I make a pretty darn good saison. Typically I hop it with more noble hops (saaz hallertau and even willamette) with nothing but later additions (30 minutes is the earliest addition) and then a small amount of dry hopping.

Anywho I got my hands on a couple ounces of Nelson Sauvin hops and wasn't sure how to handle them. Everything I've read says that they're pretty intense in flavor and should be handled lightly. Anyone used them before and got some good advice?

I made a wheat that was excellent. I used (for a 10 gallon batch) an ounce @ 15 mins and an ounce at 5 mins. So that translates to .5 oz at both 5 and 15 minutes for a five gallon batch. I was tempted to use more, buy I also read several warnings about taking it easy. The flavor & to a lesser degree, aroma were both there. I picked up some of that white wine flavor, but it seemed more of a general fruitiness. Much more similar to a Riesling fruit profile than normal white wine.

I would use more next time, maybe 1.5 oz (.75 for a five gallon batch) for each addition. This was around 1.050 (notes are on my laptop) for reference. Let us know how it turns out!

I use them in an IIPA recipe and love it! Such a unique flavor. It's a favorite brew of mine.
I use 4 oz in that recipe, along with an equal amount of cascade. Its got a beautiful aroma and flavor. I'm real curious as to how the saison turns out.

I've done a good handful of beers with Nelson, including a saison (that was a dark one, not a traditional). It's one of my favorite finishing hops. I typically use 1/4oz in 5 gallons right at flameout.

What saison yeast do you use? I think the Nelson could really add to a Dupont style- it's got that tropical juicyfruit thing that goes really well in small doses.

You know, it's interesting this thread came up, as I'd never even heard of this hop before, and just last night I had a brew that was make with it...if I hadn't known better, I would have sworn it was made with a bunch of grapefruity cascade or centennial...still there was something unique about it...

I don't know what you use in your saison, but I think it could potentially complement the fruity esters of a warm ferment and the citrusy nature of coriander seed

made a SMaSH blonde with them once.. passionfruit, mango, and other tropical fruits for sure.. they are in Widmers Drifter PA as well.

So where did you get your Nelson Sauvin? Maybe I just have to wait a few more weeks until they are in season.

I just bought some from Austin homebrew. It does appear that the new crop should be arriving soon though.

Austin homebrew (my LHBS), but last year

beeboy said:

I just bought some from Austin homebrew. It does appear that the new crop should be arriving soon though.

Click to expand...

MarsColonist said:

Austin homebrew (my LHBS), but last year

Click to expand...

I thought I looked there, but I was wrong. Thanks!

I use wyeast 3711 French saison. It's a bit spicier than the dupont strain and not quite as fruity. Also once I reach high krausen I throw in some Brett Lambicus.

So it sounds like as long as you don't mind an assertive hop flavor then these hops are great and you don't have to be that reserved.

And yeah I got mine from Austin homebrew. They have such a great selection on hops even if they're over priced.

I have some kicking around and have been tossing around a few ideas for a special brew for it. I may just go with a steam-beer-like brew that's all about profiling these hops... a NZ common, if you will.

How did this brew turn out??? I've seen it in your signature and I had to do a search - found this thread. I have some extra NS hops in my freezer and would love to try them in a brew like this. I used them in an APA similar to Drifter and it was awesome!

I bottled it three days ago. Here is the recipe. I decided to dry hop for a week with the NS hops.

The taste out of the fermenter before the dry hops was quite good. It tasted like my regular saison (which is bad ass btw) but with slight tropical fruits. Lots of passion fruit, over ripe mangos, tart pineapple etc...

The taste at bottling with the dry hops was assertive. It actually masked more of the phenolics than I would've liked. However I think that after two months in the bottle enough of the hop profile will drop out and be perfect.

This is a little new for me as I typically make my saison with more noble hops (willamette, EKG etc...) but I still think it will end up great.

Definitely going to have to try this. Nice blog btw

Edit: accidental over post.

So I force carbed and bottled a few days ago, I just finished the first one. It's definitely good. And definitely my saison but with huge overtones of tropical fruit. Passion fruit is the first thing that comes to mind as does over ripe pineapple and mango.

So it's definitely not your typical saison, but still a damn fine beer. It finishes long and dry. Some nice breadiness and spice, but it gets overwhelmed by the hops. I'm thinking it needs to sit for two months for some of the hops to drop out.

If you're thinking of making this I'd recommend cutting the dry hop time down to three or four days.

Overall though I'd call this beer a huge success.