Brett Saison Recipe - feedback please?

[hanuswalrus]

Going to brew this weekend and want to try out a Saison with Brett. Here's what I got for the grain bill:

Pilsner (48%)
Munich 10 (14%)
Munich 20 (20%)
Wheat malt (14%)
Table Sugar (4%)

I want to get an amber-colored Saison so that's why I'm going with a mix of the Munich light and dark. I'm somewhat concerned with head retention on this one. Should I add anything to the grain bill to ensure that retention will be good, or will the Munich / Wheat malts take care of that?

As for the hops, I'm thinking Amarillo or maybe Nelson. Shoot for 30-35 IBUs. Probably going to dry hop with an oz about 6-7 days before bottling.

For the yeast, I have 3711 that will go in with a Brett culture I'm building (Brett C, Orval dregs and Logsdon Saison Bretta dregs). I plan on being a bit lazy with the fermentation and leaving it in primary for ~ 90 days, but I will keep an eye on ferm temps.

Anything look wrong here or should I just go for it?

 

[TastyAdventure]

What's your OG? Looks like a great recipe. I'm sure it will be dry. Might want to ferment for a little longer than 3 months, brett beers are usually 6-12 months... But i guess if FG is stable... Also 1 oz of dry hops is a very small amount.

 

[TastyAdventure]

Edit: I am pretty impatient, and I'm sure 4-5 months will be just fine

 

[hanuswalrus]

OG should be right around 1.055. Forgot to mention, this is for a 3 gallon batch. That's why I was thinking only 1 oz for the dry hop. If it were an IPA, I'd do 2 oz dry hop. Maybe I will up the dry hop a bit, though.

This recipe is based loosely off of the following : http://embracethefunk.com/2011/09/04/brett-saison-with-white-labs-670-wlp670/

I'm planning to follow his ferm schedule as closely as possible. According to this blog, he got a nice Brett character in ~ 90 days so I'm hoping for the same outcome. Of course, I will make sure FG is stable before packaging.

 

[CarbonTom]

Looks great. Only thing I might suggest is some cereal grains to add some complexity that the brett will bring out. I have found adding in some rye, wheat, or spelt can add some great depth to brett beers. Looks tasty though. Cheers!

 

[ricshayne]

Looks good to me, I think the wheat malt will take care of the head retention just fine. also 1oz dry hop is perfectly fine, you don't want to overdo it and mask all the subtle saison aromas. I only use 1oz for 5gallon batches of saison

 

[sweetcell]

personally, that's a lot of munich for my taste. i like more pilsner. so i would increase the dark munich to get your color, drop the light munich, and add the difference to the pislner.

so instead of:

• Pilsner (48%)
• Munich 10 (14%)
• Munich 20 (20%)

i would do something like:

• Pilsner (55%)
• Munich 10 (0%)
• Munich 20 (27%)

or, use a little carafa special or midnight wheat to get the color. then you can add munich to taste, instead of depending on it for all your color.

 

[hanuswalrus]

Thanks @sweetcell

I actually just sent in my order to the brew shop and ended up doing what you suggested just before I checked back on here. Ended up going with this:

Pilsner : 55%
Munich 10 : 18%
Wheat : 18%
Acidulated : ~4%
Sugar : ~5%

Showing an expected pH of 5.3 on Bru'n Water. Decided to just go with light Munich to get an SRM close to 6