Saison Bia Trà Xanh (Green Tea Saison)

[deadwolfbones]

Recipe Type

All Grain

Yeast

Wyeast 3726 Farmhouse Ale

Yeast Starter

Yes, 1L

Additional Yeast or Yeast Starter

Nah

Batch Size (Gallons)

3

Original Gravity

1.053

Final Gravity

1.008

Boiling Time (Minutes)

60

IBU

25

Color

Orange

Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)

11 @ 78F

Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)

6 @ 55F

Additional Fermentation

Nah

More info here: https://brew4fun.wordpress.com/2019/01/16/bia-tra-xanh-vietnamese-green-tea-saison/

This is a delicious, super interesting saison. Maybe the best beer I've brewed. It has a big, pillowy head atop a light orange, super hazy body. The taste is fruity and slightly sweet, with a luscious mouthfeel, but ends in a mildly tannic, dry finish. I used a green tea I bought in Vietnam, but you could use any tea you like and apply it in the same manner.

Grain bill:

5 lbs pilsner
1 lbs red wheat malt
0.4 lbs caramel 60

Hops:

9g pekko [16.8% AA] @ 30 minutes
28g opal [5.9% AA] @ FO

Extras:

75g Vietnamese green tea @ 6 days (dry hop)

Water:

I used 4.2 gallons RO/distilled + 3g gypsum, 1.5g calcium chloride, & 0.5tsp lactic acid. That came out to about 70 Ca, 46 Cl, and 105 SO4. Mash pH around 5.4.

Process:

I brew BIAB and make 3 gallon batches. You can easily scale this recipe up to 5 or 10 gallons (or whatever your system is) with a program like Brewer's Friend, Brewfather, or Beersmith.

I mashed 60 minutes at 150F, boiled 60 minutes, and chilled to 68F. Pitched a .75L starter of 3726 and let it free-rise for the first day before using a fermwrap to slowly raise the ferm temp to 78F by the end of the third day.

After primary was complete, I added 75g of loose green tea (in a hop spider, in primary) and let it cold brew for 6 days at 55F. After 6 days, I bottled directly from the fermenter at 2.7 vols.

 

[505-Brewer]

Any taste descriptors? Do you agree with the authors assessment?
Thank you for sharing. Might have to consider something like this soon. Cheers.

 

[deadwolfbones]

Any taste descriptors? Do you agree with the authors assessment?
Thank you for sharing. Might have to consider something like this soon. Cheers.

I'm the author, and there are some taste descriptors in the paragraph below the pic.

The tea flavor/aroma is quite strong, but plays well with the phenols from the yeast. I get a lot of fruit up front (mostly citrus) followed by the earthy/floral/spicy notes from the tea. Malt and hops definitely take a back seat.

 

[505-Brewer]

Ah i didnt read it that way. Thank you for clarification.

 

[elbinwyp]

I wonder what Jasmine green tea would do to this beer. Any thoughts on how choice and how to ensure it jives with whatever green tea is used?

 

[deadwolfbones]

Honestly, it's a bit of a shot in the dark, but if you have a good idea of what a base saison would taste like you can probably imagine the combo pretty well as you drink a cup of the tea.

Alternatively, you could buy a bottle of a simple saison (Funkwerks is a good match for this recipe, if they distribute in your area) and brew a cup of tea to alternate with/blend in as you drink it.

The third way you could do it is to google for other tea saisons and see what people used and whether they liked it. But IMO it's always better to rely on your own taste than someone else's (and that includes me!). If you like jasmine green tea and you like the sound of it in a saison, I'd go for it.

 

[elbinwyp]

I just realized there was a typo in my response. I was actually trying to ask about hop selection but left out the key word in the question... hop.

After thinking about this a bit more, it would be really easy to isolate a gallon of this in a separate carboy to test.

 

[deadwolfbones]

I just realized there was a typo in my response. I was actually trying to ask about hop selection but left out the key word in the question... hop.

After thinking about this a bit more, it would be really easy to isolate a gallon of this in a separate carboy to test.

Ah!

I chose pekko because it's what I usually use to bitter European styles (close to saaz, but way more potent AA-wise) and opal because it's reputedly tea-like. As I wrote in the blog post, the yeast and tea flavor really dominate here—I don't really get much in the way of hop aroma or flavor (though I do get hop bitterness alongside the bitterness from the tea).

In general, for aroma hops I'd probably go for something floral/earthy/spicy to complement the tea, though something fruity could also be interesting (hallertau blanc? huell melon? maybe even something like wakatu?)

I want to eventually do another batch of this where I use a little more tea but steep it for less time, and also up the hop profile a little.

 

[deadwolfbones]

So, a little update:

Prior to adding the tea, I bottled a couple swing-tops. Today I poured one of those against the tea beer.

The base saison is nice, but (to my taste) not bitter enough, perhaps a bit too sweet. If I made it in the future without the green tea, I’d definitely reduce the crystal malt (or eliminate it entirely) and either up the hops overall and/or shift some of the IBUs to a late addition for more hop presence in the aroma and taste.

After I poured off a small amount (maybe 3 oz.) from each bottle, I went outside to take photos. When I came back inside, both bottles had foamed over onto my kitchen counter. This recipe is definitely foam-positive.

Also of note: the green tea version holds its head better, and also has finer bubbles. Seems tea itself is foam-positive when added to beer!

 

[monkeymath]

Wow, these pictures are truly stunning!

I love Saisons and green tea sounds like a great addition! However, I am a bit concerned about a risk of contamination when using tea as a "dry hop" - as I understand it, the raw leaves might harbour some critters. Am I worrying about nothing? Can anyone provide some insight?

 

[deadwolfbones]

Wow, these pictures are truly stunning!

I love Saisons and green tea sounds like a great addition! However, I am a bit concerned about a risk of contamination when using tea as a "dry hop" - as I understand it, the raw leaves might harbour some critters. Am I worrying about nothing? Can anyone provide some insight?

I decided on the tea "dry hop" after speaking with a friend who's a long-time homebrewer and now professional brewer (John Rowley of Rowley Farmhouse Ales in Santa Fe). He dry-teas his beers and says he's never had an infection. As it turned out, I didn't have one either. Those are the only data points I really have to go on.

I would be hesitant to use any liquid (i.e. vodka) to sanitize because I wouldn't want to extract any of the tea flavor before putting it in the beer (or add vodka to this beer). I suppose you could put it on a sheet tray in the oven at 170F for 15-30 minutes? But that might change the flavor a bit.

 

[monkeymath]

I decided on the tea "dry hop" after speaking with a friend who's a long-time homebrewer and now professional brewer (John Rowley of Rowley Farmhouse Ales in Santa Fe). He dry-teas his beers and says he's never had an infection. As it turned out, I didn't have one either. Those are the only data points I really have to go on.

I would be hesitant to use any liquid (i.e. vodka) to sanitize because I wouldn't want to extract any of the tea flavor before putting it in the beer (or add vodka to this beer). I suppose you could put it on a sheet tray in the oven at 170F for 15-30 minutes? But that might change the flavor a bit.

Fair enough, I'll give it a shot then
It might take a bit until I get around to brewing it (I'll first have to move into a new flat and then set up a system for temp control), but I'm really looking forward to it!