Cardamon Ginger Saison

I had to share my first attempt at a specialty brew a "Cardamon Ginger Saison".

It's still fermenting and I'll put it in a recipe thread when it's done.

Here's the gist:

Sugars
7 lbs pilsner lme
2 lbs invert sugar
Mini Mash Grains
2.5 lbs 6 row
1.5 lbs flaked wheat
1.25 lbs oats
.25 lbs dark munich
.25 lbs corn grits

O.G. was .081

Hops
Norther brewer 9% AA @ 60 min
Sterling 7 % AA @ 20 min
Sterling 7% AA @ 5 min

est. around 25 IBUs

Spices made into a tea and added @ 20 min
90 Green Cardamon Pods cracked
6 inches fresh ginger sliced thin
6 Teaspoons Coriander cracked
1oz grains of paradise cracked
2 Med. Blood Oranges ( Zest and flesh; white part of peel not used)


Irish moss added @ 20 min

Yeast
1 pkg T-58

Wanted to get the spicy esters from the yeast so I pitched in the mid 70's.
I let it get real hot into the low 80's and then cooled it down to the high 70's and I'm bringing the temps back up slowing into the 80's.

Still to be determined

Depending on the f.g. I may add some washed us-05 to help it finish up. I want to get it down below .020 f.G.

I may put into a secondary with and spice it up with more cardamon and ginger, it depends on how much flavor is there.

after a week I will drop the temp back into the mid 70's to help flocculation the yeast.


enjoy!

Sounds deelish. I love a good Saison.

I know I'm cheating with the yeast but I've read some good things about T-58 over temped.

8 days in I dropped my gravity from .082 to .022.
So I went ahead and pitched my washed us-05 with some more sugars ( invert sugar, maple syrup and honey. 3 types of sugar was on a whim).

I know this isn't a true saision yeast but it's a clean tasting yeast so it shouldn't add to the taste profile too much.

I tasted my hydrometer reading and I definitely get a alcohol heat. I can't taste any one single spice, which is what I was hoping for. But it still has a bit too much body hence wanting it to dry out a bit more.

vegas20s said:

I know this isn't a true saision yeast but it's a clean tasting yeast so it shouldn't add to the taste profile too much.

Click to expand...

Saison yeast is one of the most important factors in the flavor components of a saison.

If you taste alcohol heat, then your internal ferm temps more than likely rose too high.

My question would be:

Why spice if you aren't going to taste it?

IMHO saisons should have a peppery flavor added by the yeast. This is the reason I like the DuPont strain. Fermetning in the mid to upper 70's even as high as 80, the yeast contributes some tasty flavors.

Having said all of that, only time will tell how your beer will finish out. With a little time the alcohol heat will subside, and flavors will meld.

Continue updates

Cheers!

I really like the idea of a Cardamom and Ginger Saison. That sounds really good actually. I'm going to start the recipe all over though, love making my own.

Schnitzengiggle said:

Saison yeast is one of the most important factors in the flavor components of a saison.

If you taste alcohol heat, then your internal ferm temps more than likely rose too high.

My question would be:

Why spice if you aren't going to taste it?

IMHO saisons should have a peppery flavor added by the yeast. This is the reason I like the DuPont strain. Fermetning in the mid to upper 70's even as high as 80, the yeast contributes some tasty flavors.

Having said all of that, only time will tell how your beer will finish out. With a little time the alcohol heat will subside, and flavors will meld.

Continue updates

Cheers!

Click to expand...

Yes I know the yeast is important. T-58 is suppose to be a good cheater strain. I think I might go buy a good liquid strain next time.

I hope the heats not from too high temps. I though it was just cause it was due to such a high ABV. I am hoping it dissipates in time.

I should clarify on the spice taste. I definitely taste spice. But they are blended well. At least this soon in the process I can't pick them apart. Full disclosure though, I don't have the best of pallets due to having sinus problems.

Update will continue

DannPM said:

I really like the idea of a Cardamom and Ginger Saison. That sounds really good actually. I'm going to start the recipe all over though, love making my own.

Click to expand...

I actually add cardamom to my coffee every day and been working on this idea for some time. It started out as a chai saison and after doing some thinking on it I didn't want to have an overwhelming amount of spice, which the cinnamon and black pepper would have had.

I would like to see what you come up with for a recipe, so give us a post when you come up with it.

SWEET

I just took a gravity reading and I got .013 (adjusted for temp) That's down from .081. I stirred the beer a bit to make sure it just wasn't the top of the batch and I got it a second time.

I was planing for a 8% ABV beer but this is going to be well into 9% ABV.

As far as taste I get hints of the cardamom and it finishes with hints of ginger. No alcohol heat to speak of. It seems a bit sweeter than what I expected. I was hoping it would be on the dry side. We will have to see after bottling.

I bottled this off last week.

I tried a bottle last night, yes I know it's still way to early for such a big beer.

And yes it definitely needs to age, getting beyond the greenness of the brew it was quite good, it was what I expected except I wanted a bit more ginger flavor to come out.

In a month or so I'll let you know how it's doing.

90 pods of cardamom seems like a huge amount!

Mattyp11 said:

90 pods of cardamom seems like a huge amount!

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TheChai Brown Ale Recipe that was posted on another thread listed 120. So using that as my base I actually toned it down. Plus this was a 6 gallon batch not 5.

I tasted a bottle this weekend. Now two weeks in the bottle. It definitely needs to age, the alcohol hall smell has gone away a bit, so in 2-4 more week it should be much less detectable.

The taste is much more in line with a barley wine, at least for right now.

The spices could actually be a little more present. Right now I get hints of the ginger and cardamom. Hopfully they will come out stronger as it ages.


I read somewhere that if you want a spice to be real dominant you need to add it to the secondary. If I make this batch again I think I might try that.


I was also thinking of adding a small slice of ginger to each bottle next time I bottle.