Brewing something like TO ØL - BA Sans Frontière White Wine (Saison)

[RobWalker]

This is how the Frontier beer series lost their ground, missed direction and finally found themselves again. This beer has no frontiers, meaning that it can now pick and choose among brewing specialties. Instead of being an IPA, this is a rather a Belgian ale, hopped and dryhopped with continental european hops and refermented with brettanomyces. A tart, picturesque and rural beer.

Ingredients: Water, barley malt, hops, Rock Candy, yeast and brettanomyces.

I tasted this last night and it's AMAZING. It's a 7% Saison with a little brett tartness (less than Orval, almost unnoticable) then aged in White Wine barrels. The resulting beer is crisp and fizzy, dry with an incredible finish.

So the basic idea isn't too difficult, and I'd like to make something similar, maybe not an exact clone - but a few simple questions from me...

1) Hops? Any experiences here are great - I want a balanced bitterness and a little flavour, but no more. I'm thinking IBUs to 25-30 and 15g on the dry hop.

Would a little Nelson Sauvin go a miss for dry hopping? I love them, and they'll contribute to the white wine finish.

Noble hops, Styrian or East Kent Goldings are commonly used.

2) Sourness. I want a teeenchy bit, and I'd love to buy a good yeast but I just don't want to spend that much over here

Varying degrees of acidity and/or sourness can be created by the use of gypsum, acidulated malt, a sour mash or Lactobacillus. Hard water, common to most of Wallonia, can accentuate the bitterness and dry finish.

I think adding Lactic Acid is a good route for me, as I don't want to concentrate too much on the technicalities. It's how a cheap but passable berliner weisse can be brewed, and as the sourness in this beer is low anyway, I'd rather not be waiting 6-8 months for it! Any comments here welcome, but I'd like to avoid a huge timeframe and secondary fermentation.

3) Sugar - Rock candy is crystallized candy, would white sugar suffice here? Can I just knock it on the head and use pilsner malt for all 7% of it?

4) White wine - I'll soak it into oak chips, but how much roughly and what kind? A fruity NZ? How can I keep the wine from turning to vinegar while it soaks into the chips?

Cheers!

 

[tagz]

1. Styrian Goldings are the standard belgian hop addition. Orval is dry hopped with SG. Nelson would completely change the beer, but that's your call.
2. I wouldn't skip the Brett if you truly want that authentic flavor. Lactic is said to add a one noticeable dimensional sourness.
3. Cane sugar is probably fine. All pils will probably be a little richer than you want. Although you could mash low.
4. Not sure.