Green Apple Saison

I've done a partial mash saison that I plan on adding a tinge of green apples and cinnamon to. I don't want it to be overpowering. I've only been homebrewing for about six months, so I'm still new to this an unsure how much to use.

Any suggestions on how much to add, and how to add it? I'm almost ready to rack to a secondary. I was thinking of taking about 1/4 apple, pureeing it, and boiling it with one cinnamon stick and adding it to secondary. This is a 5 gal batch. Any suggestions, should I use more/less apples?

isukendall said:

I've done a partial mash saison that I plan on adding a tinge of green apples and cinnamon to. I don't want it to be overpowering. I've only been homebrewing for about six months, so I'm still new to this an unsure how much to use.

Any suggestions on how much to add, and how to add it? I'm almost ready to rack to a secondary. I was thinking of taking about 1/4 apple, pureeing it, and boiling it with one cinnamon stick and adding it to secondary. This is a 5 gal batch. Any suggestions, should I use more/less apples?

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I wouldn't boil your apples, you will cause a haze that you will have to add chemicals to remove.
What I would do is get 1 gallon of unpasteurized or preservative-free pasteurized cider, add it to your primary and ferment for a total of 3 weeks...if the beer has not cleared up, then rack to a secondary...if its clear and you hit your gravity reading then bottle/keg.

+1 on adding apple juice or cider

If you are unsure of how much spice to add, make a strong spice tea at bottling. Add some, gently swirl to mix (NO SPLASHING) and taste. Adjust and bottle.

SD-SLIM said:

I wouldn't boil your apples, you will cause a haze that you will have to add chemicals to remove.
What I would do is get 1 gallon of unpasteurized or preservative-free pasteurized cider, add it to your primary and ferment for a total of 3 weeks...if the beer has not cleared up, then rack to a secondary...if its clear and you hit your gravity reading then bottle/keg.

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Thanks for your suggestions. Wouldn't 1 gal of cider in a 5 gal batch be too overpowering? That seems like a very large volume to add in.

I was hoping to actually use real green apples instead of cider, as the green apple flavor is what I'm really after. If I insist on trying it with real apples, would it be better then to freeze them first?

isukendall said:

Thanks for your suggestions. Wouldn't 1 gal of cider in a 5 gal batch be too overpowering? That seems like a very large volume to add in.

I was hoping to actually use real green apples instead of cider, as the green apple flavor is what I'm really after. If I insist on trying it with real apples, would it be better then to freeze them first?

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1 gallon is the perfect size for a 5 gallon batch...if you go with real apples, wash them really good and I would puree and throw in your beer. Freezing apples does nothing to kill bacteria, it just suspends it until it warms up again.

SD-SLIM said:

1 gallon is the perfect size for a 5 gallon batch...if you go with real apples, wash them really good and I would puree and throw in your beer. Freezing apples does nothing to kill bacteria, it just suspends it until it warms up again.

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If I do go with real apples, how much should I use? One or two? And to I wait for the primary to ferment out completely before racking, or do I still want some fermentation left? Obviously, it will pick up some more with the sugar from the apples...

isukendall said:

If I do go with real apples, how much should I use? One or two? And to I wait for the primary to ferment out completely before racking, or do I still want some fermentation left? Obviously, it will pick up some more with the sugar from the apples...

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I would go this route, if I was using fresh apples:
1 pound of apples (pureed) per 1 gallon of wort...put in primary after vigorous fermentation has completed (most Ales 2-6 days), after a week or two rack to a secondary to clear up...after clear bottle, but that's just me!

Just an update on this: I added 4 1/2 lbs of green apples, pureed (so probably about 4 lbs after taking out the cores) to my 5 gal batch. I added about 10 oz water to help the apples blend. Added them into primary (bucket), the fermentation picked up for awhile, but now bubbles about once a minute after three days since adding apples. I'm curious as to how long I should wait to rack to secondary at this point. Also nervous if I'll have trouble racking through the thick puree that I added to the primary. Any advice would be appreciated, but the smells coming off of this thing are amazing (hope I'm not losing all of it!).

isukendall said:

Just an update on this: I added 4 1/2 lbs of green apples, pureed (so probably about 4 lbs after taking out the cores) to my 5 gal batch. I added about 10 oz water to help the apples blend. Added them into primary (bucket), the fermentation picked up for awhile, but now bubbles about once a minute after three days since adding apples. I'm curious as to how long I should wait to rack to secondary at this point. Also nervous if I'll have trouble racking through the thick puree that I added to the primary. Any advice would be appreciated, but the smells coming off of this thing are amazing (hope I'm not losing all of it!).

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I would leave your beer on the fruit for a week, after that rack to a secondary...you will more than likely get some of the apple puree in your secondary, try and limit it as much as possible...wait until the beer has cleared up, take gravity readings and if it's in the range you want it to be, transfer to bottling bucket or keg...at this point you will want to make sure most of the puree and trub are left behind, for the bottling bucket you may want to put a mesh bag on the end of your racking cane... or for your keg, you may want to place a funnel with a screen at the top of your keg and screen your beer before it goes in to the keg.

I hope it all turns out well!

How did this turn out? I just tasted my apple saison. I brewed a saison and let it ferment out. Then I pulled off 1 gallon of saison and added 1 gallon of store bought apple juice. I let that ferment out and then bottled. It definitely has a sour/tangy green apple character to it. I really like it, but I also like sour beers. If you're not into sour beers, a 50/50 ratio might be too much, but if you do, it's a nice ratio.

gannawdm said:

How did this turn out? I just tasted my apple saison. I brewed a saison and let it ferment out. Then I pulled off 1 gallon of saison and added 1 gallon of store bought apple juice. I let that ferment out and then bottled. It definitely has a sour/tangy green apple character to it. I really like it, but I also like sour beers. If you're not into sour beers, a 50/50 ratio might be too much, but if you do, it's a nice ratio.

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I can see how that would be really sweet, but like you said, if that's what you're shooting for then good for you!

I always try to make my flavored beers beers first, fruity second. This one turned out pretty good for me. Tried the first one over the weekend, flavor is great. Cinnamon is in the nose, but cannot taste it at all in the beer (added cinnamon by boiling cinnamon sticks with my bottling sugar). The apple flavor is definitely there, but not overpowering. I'm pretty happy with it. Brewed it for our 4th of July party, so will post again with what everyone else thought.