Fantome Saison

So here is my problem. I brewed a Saison according to the Beer Captured recipe. The deal is that the recipe calls for a secondary fermentation in which you add 2 quarts of your favorite juice. The last time I brewed this I added peach and apricot which turned out to be a freaken horrible idea. The beer had a nice smell but the taste was ok and it had a syrup texture. Any recommendations on what juice to add if any. I only have four gallons and would like five so the other question I have is, if I don’t add the juice, can I add enough water with the priming sugar to bring the beer up to five gallons before bottling?

Thanks in advance for the help

Personally, I would not add juice to beer. I would also not add water...it will water it down. Just bottle the 4g batch. If you want a fruit beer, add some fruit extract next time at bottling.

I have made that same batch a few times. I have added a raspberry/strawberry blend of juice and it turned out great. Add it to the secondary and let it ferment a bit more before packaging. I wouldn't add water/priming sugar to bring the batch up to 5 gallons. Add about 2-3 of the containers (the kind that makes 2 quarts, after adding water) to your batch and package after about 1 week or so.

Raspberry.

I'm not adding juice to mine, but I'm adding real fruit to the secondary.

Kayos said:

Personally, I would not add juice to beer. I would also not add water...it will water it down. Just bottle the 4g batch. If you want a fruit beer, add some fruit extract next time at bottling.

Click to expand...

The deal is Fantome's Saison uses fruit or fruit juice(and most likely two or more different ones). I am pretty confident this statement is accurate. The fruit/juice they use is secret. I've heard stawberry and apricot are good, but they don't use a lot. My .02.

Edit> Also, to the OP, the juice should not have attributed to the 'syrup' texture. How and why do you think it was the juice? Assuming it was some kind of preservative free pastuerized juice(or not), it should have been very fermentable and left the beer drier, correct?

avidhomebrewer said:

I have made that same batch a few times. I have added a raspberry/strawberry blend of juice and it turned out great. Add it to the secondary and let it ferment a bit more before packaging. I wouldn't add water/priming sugar to bring the batch up to 5 gallons. Add about 2-3 of the containers (the kind that makes 2 quarts, after adding water) to your batch and package after about 1 week or so.

Click to expand...

I want to attempt this recipe as well. You mention adding 2-3 "containers." Can you explain what you mean by that? Are you saying fruit juice concentrate containers? Do you not recommend reconstituting the juice before adding? I would like to find a way to make the beer as closely the the exact specifications of the original beer.

Thanks in advance for any help you (or anyone who has successfully accomplished this clone) can provide.

[crickets] .... has anyone successfully cloned this beer?

With reference to the fruit/no fruit discussion, I have a friend that recently got back from a visit to the brewery. Dany Prignon (the brewer) confirmed that no fruit is added to Fantome Saison, despite the overt strawberry characteristic to the beer.