Figuring out beer styles

So i made a Saison....ish

i don't have the recipe on me exactly but I'll try:

5.5gal batch

I used 2row not Pilsner as a base malt
1lb smoked German 2row
3/4 Crystal 55L ( i think it was 55L anyway )
1lb sugar after initial ferment

I cant remember the hop schedule as the recipe is at home, but roughly it was the following:

.5oz Simcoe @ 60
.5oz Cascade @ 40
.5oz Willamette @ 30
.5oz Simcoe @ 25
.5oz Cascade @ 20
.5oz Willamette @ 10

this is REALLY a rough estimate and i may have some additions reversed on the hop schedule, I'm doing this from memory ...end result was 50 IBU's +/-

Yeast was Belgian Saison 3724, fermenting HOT :rockin:

planning on adding some oak chips in secondary..maybe

SG was 1068 i think

IBU's are out of style for a Saison, and there's no Pilsner....

Ive been referring to it as my Hybrid Saison...

Is sticking the word HYBRID in front the right thing to do...what do you call your beers that don't quite fit a style, or fit multiple?

This probably would not do well in competition, so hopefully you don't plan to enter it. With that said "hybrid" works. Looks like a Belgian Pale Ale to me, but with the hot ferm temps, that probably wouldn't work either so maybe "Saison Pale Ale"

no not a competition beer....just a fun one.

bluejuice1031 said:

Is sticking the word HYBRID in front the right thing to do...what do you call your beers that don't quite fit a style, or fit multiple?

Click to expand...

Call it whatever you want. I doubt this beer is going to taste like a traditional saison, what with your 1 pound of smoked malt. So yeah, it wouldn't do well in a competition in that category. If you had to fit it into one of the BJCP categories, I imagine it would do best in 22B, Other Smoked Beer. In that case you would called it a Smoked Saison.

Otherwise call it a special Saison or something like that. Hybrid suggests fermenting with an ale yeast at lower than normal temperatures, though I don't want to say that is a hard-and-fast rule.