Thoughts on this Saison?

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BostonHomeBruin

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I'm planning on brewing my first saison. I ordered these ingredients and I'm looking to make a nice light, spicy one. This will be an extract recipe. I used some of the current recipes for inspiration.

6 lbs golden light dry malt extract
1 lb pilsen dry malt extract
1 lb light candi sugar
1 lb 20L crystal malt steeped
1 oz Strisselspalt pellet hops
1 oz Hallertau pellet hops
1 oz Saaz pellet hops

EDIT: I forgot to mention that I will be using Wyeast 3711, French Saison yeast.

90 minute boil
0.5 oz Hallertau 60 min
0.5 oz Strisselspalt at 60 min
1 oz Saaz at 15 min
0.5 oz Hallertau 10 min
0.5 oz Strisselspalt after boil

How does this look?

UPDATE: Since it's pumpkin ale season, I was thinking of being a mad scientist and making this a pumpkin saison. I went out and bought 6 15 oz cans of Libby's 100% pumpkin. I also have nutmeg and cinnamon (ground and sticks).

I know that 3711 is a very spicy yeast, so would you recommend leaving the spices out? Also, would the pumpkin be best added during the boil, after the boil, or to the secondary?
 
Hoppy but it could use some grains for diversity. Add some flaked wheat, oats, etc.

This will be an extract recipe

I don't think you want to mess with oats, etc. too much in a simple extract recipe. You'd need to do a partial mash, no? Maybe substitute for some wheat DME at most.

For a simple extract saison, I'd stick with the DME you've got and take out the crystal. You didn't say what yeast you're planning on using but with a saison you're going to get most of your character from the yeast, so I'd keep it simple. If you're not set on your yeast yet, I'd suggest Wyeast 3711, it's real hard to mess up. I've made several simple extract only, no steeping grains batches with this yeast, no temp control, just pitch and forget it, and they've come out amazing, some my favorite beers I've brewed.

Edit: Also, with extract, a 90 minute boil probably isn't necessary. I only did a 60min boil with my all pilsen DME saison and didn't run across any DMS problems. I'm not an expert but I believe most of the DMS should already be boiled off by the extract maker, although if anyone has any conflicting opinions I'd be interested to hear!
 
No yeast mentioned. Use a Belgian or farmhouse yeast and ferment around 75F. For spicy, use something like WLP550.

Drop the crystal. It is not necessary for a Belgian. Keep it simple; plain extract +yeast. The yeast takes the stage.

Candi sugar is wasting your money, just use table sugar.
 
Sorry, forgot to add the yeast (let's hope I don't forget that part on brewday). Yes, I will be using Myeast 3711 because I've read such great things about it on this board. Thanks!
 
Personally, I'd punt on the sugar addition. 3711 is highly attenuative as it is, and I don't think you'll need to make the beer drier.
 
Best thing I can say is go out and buy a saison before..... My first all grain brew ever was a belgain saison an believe you me I should have done a taste test before because it's simply grosse to my palette... I even thought that I had missed the batch, my brew buddy told me to go out and buy a saison, and so I did... Had a glass of each and guess what... Right on target :) I am going to beer gun it from my keg stright to ez cap bottles because I don't like the farmhouse funk that this beer has... By the way I uses 3711 also and it works like mad :)
 
I have a 3711 saison that just finished fermenting. I thought the yeast character was mild for a saison and not really funky / farmhousey at all. It should be a decent beer though.
 
I would keep the sugar for an extract brew. A saison can't be too dry.

How would this be different for an extract brew vs. AG? I think saisons *can* get too dry - my last saison attenuated to .997, which was a little drier than I'd have liked. If I added sugar it would have been even lower.
 
With extract you don't know the mash temp when they made the extract. With AG you can control mash temp to determine fermentability. I did many extract saisons when I started brewing and they all pretty much stopped in the 1.006 range. Had a few go lower by using sugar. That is using 3711.


All this talk of a Saision makes me want one. I have several diferent ones in my beer fridge, so off to get one right now. YUM
 
So no need for the candi sugar or crystal malt? Okay, I can cut those out.

Would there be any benefit to adding liquid malt extract or is it okay with the dry malt?

Also, since it's now pumpkin ale season, I was thinking of being a mad scientist and making this a pumpkin saison. I went out and bought 6 15 oz cans of Libby's 100% pumpkin. I also have nutmeg and cinnamon (ground and sticks).

I know that 3711 is a very spicy yeast, so would you recommend leaving the spices out? Also, would the pumpkin be best added during the boil, after the boil, or to the secondary?

Thanks!
 
I'd cut the crystal. I love using aromatic malt in my Belgians, particularly the lighter colored ones, and I'd go with that instead, but that's me (and I don't recall if aromatic requires a mash or not). I like my saisons DRY (my current one finished at 1.002), and I would keep the simple sugar in there, even with the 3711. I also used Strisselspalt for the first time in my most recent saison, and I absolutely love the character. Given it's incredibly low AA, I'd probably cut the 60 minute addition as it's probably just wasteful, use one of the others to keep the IBUs where you want it, and keep the Strisselspalt in the last 20 minutes.
 
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