Saison Grisette

[radwizard]

Recipe Type

All Grain

Yeast

Imperial Napoleon

Yeast Starter

no

Batch Size (Gallons)

6

Original Gravity

1.044

Final Gravity

1.003

Boiling Time (Minutes)

75

IBU

27

Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)

14 days. Pitched @ 68 finished at 82

Tasting Notes

Very nice light Saison with nice hop aroma, great yeast character from the French Saison yeast.

Super Simple, Tasty Beer. Easy Drinker with Full Flavor.

7 lbs 4 oz of Bel. Pils
2 lbs 8 oz White Wheat


Mashed for 75 min @ 152
Boil for 75 min with

.4 oz Magnum @75
1 oz Mandarina Bavaria & 1 oz Huell Melon @ FO for 20 min


Pitched Imperial's Napoleon @ 68 ramped up slowly to 82
Dry hopped 1 oz Huell Melon on day 7

Kegged & Crashed on day 14
Crushed on day 21

 

[exaideum]

Ive been looking for a good Grisette recipe. This one seems really great and, from the sounds of it, you seemed to agree.

Have you made it since then? Would you change anything?

 

[HomemadeSauce]

I haven't brewed this specific recipe but often brew saisons with a large portion of wheat. Looks like a really nice one to me, and seems like a solid base to experiment with hop choices/additions as well as yeast strains.

 

[gunhaus]

I think I may give that a try - springs coming, be a nice one to brew first week or so of April. Early garden greens, spring lambs, and this beer would all come together at the same time! THAT has large and festive outdoor family occasion written all over it. LAFOFO! or "Springtoberfest" maybe? New tradition> trend? Need something to fill that huge party gap between St. Patrick's Day, and Memorial Weekend!!!

 

[houndsbreath]

This pretty similar to a simple Belgian summer beer I've been making for a few years. I've been Golding/Saaz mixed 50/50 and WLP 550 fermented warm. Starting at 76F and allowing it to free-rise to 82.
I like the idea of the Madarina Bavaria and Huell mellon - My next batch may play with this hop combo.
Thanks for the info radwizard.

 

[radwizard]

Yeah, I did do another batch of this and hopped with Belma. The Belma batch also got a 1 oz dry hop, but everything else was the same. I preferred this batch to the Belma one. I'm not sure I am a fan of Belma on it's own.

There isn't a whole lot I would change. I like pretty simple grain bills for a Saison. I will probably play around with the hops a bit, but that's about it. I really like the Mandarina Bavaria/Huell Melon combo. I was think about brewing this again soon with more FO hops and no hops in the boil. I will use the same hops for that.

Really the goal for this beer is to have a low abv beer on tap that is refreshing and flavorful. It is also a simple beer to brew without much planning involved.

Thanks for the comments!

 

[TANSTAAFB]

This is on my short list to brew! Have you listened to the Brew Files episode on Grisette? Very informative!
https://www.experimentalbrew.com/podcast/brew-files-episode-13-saisons-city-cousin-dave-janssen

 

[radwizard]

I have not listened to it. I am kind of on an Experimental Brewing kick lately. My Grisette knowledge is limited to reading Farmhouse Brews about a year ago.

 

[exaideum]

This is on my short list to brew! Have you listened to the Brew Files episode on Grisette? Very informative!
https://www.experimentalbrew.com/podcast/brew-files-episode-13-saisons-city-cousin-dave-janssen

I feel like every time Grisette comes up in conversation, people mention this podcast. Mostly because it's actually really informational and helpful when looking at Grisette's as a real style and not just a name.

I always find places doing sour Grisettes or Brett aged Grisettes, which, really, are not true grisettes. It's interesting how it's a beer that isn't meant to last a long time, like a saison.

Fun stuff, these beers!

 

[radwizard]

I feel like every time Grisette comes up in conversation, people mention this podcast. Mostly because it's actually really informational and helpful when looking at Grisette's as a real style and not just a name.

I always find places doing sour Grisettes or Brett aged Grisettes, which, really, are not true grisettes. It's interesting how it's a beer that isn't meant to last a long time, like a saison.

Fun stuff, these beers!

I agree. I often brew double batches of Saison/Grisette/BDG, and ferment the other half with Brett and/or bacteria. The funky stuff I usually label as Farmhouse, which is another often misused term IMO.

I have another half of this beer that was re-fermented with Brett along with some various additions. I classify this half as a Table
Farmhouse.

This classification is the way that I understand the beers. I'm not sure it is completely correct, but it's what I have been going with.

I really like these beers as a base of experimenting.

 

[exaideum]

I agree. I often brew double batches of Saison/Grisette/BDG, and ferment the other half with Brett and/or bacteria. The funky stuff I usually label as Farmhouse, which is another often misused term IMO.

I have another half of this beer that was re-fermented with Brett along with some various additions. I classify this half as a Table
Farmhouse.

This classification is the way that I understand the beers. I'm not sure it is completely correct, but it's what I have been going with.

I really like these beers as a base of experimenting.

I agree. I'm going to try this recipe this weekend I think! Question for you though.

I found a recipe from my local HBS for a Grisette but it calls for 4 oz. of corn sugar in the boil for a 2.5 gal. batch. I see you'res doesn't call for any additional sugar in the boil. Do you think this would be beneficial in any way or can I forgo the added sugar?

 

[TANSTAAFB]

I started a sour project this weekend and realized as I was mashing 50% Belgian base pale, 25% malted wheat, and 25% unmalted wheat that it would be a phenomenal and accurate Grisette recipe! I soured this entire batch with lacto and didn't use any hops but might just use the same basic recipe for a Grisette. What yeast would be in style and not just make a saison? I only have access to White Labs locally

 

[HomemadeSauce]

I started a sour project this weekend and realized as I was mashing 50% Belgian base pale, 25% malted wheat, and 25% unmalted wheat that it would be a phenomenal and accurate Grisette recipe! I soured this entire batch with lacto and didn't use any hops but might just use the same basic recipe for a Grisette. What yeast would be in style and not just make a saison? I only have access to White Labs locally

My understanding is that the differentiation comes from grist composition, hopping rates, and that grisettes were predominately consumed fresh. If that is the case I believe you could use your favorite saison strain or a blend - Dave Janssen typically uses a blend of Wyeast 3724 (Belgian Saison) and 3711 (French) - and be on the right track.

 

[TANSTAAFB]

I'm really excited to try this! I kinda wish I had remembered to draw off a portion before I soured. I guess I could just boil now and kill off the lacto before it really drops the pH and just get a little lactic acidity...hmmmmmm
I have a dark saison on DuPont right now that I could rack and get to the yeast and I have a blend of White Labs French Saison and Saccharomyces Bruxellensis Trois in the fridge...

 

[radwizard]

I agree. I'm going to try this recipe this weekend I think! Question for you though.

I found a recipe from my local HBS for a Grisette but it calls for 4 oz. of corn sugar in the boil for a 2.5 gal. batch. I see you'res doesn't call for any additional sugar in the boil. Do you think this would be beneficial in any way or can I forgo the added sugar?

I usually don't add sugar when using the French Saison yeast. This yeast usually gets it pretty dry with a lower mash temp alone - I get more nervous about it getting to dry then anything else.
I do use table sugar with the Dupont strain, and I think it helps out that fermentation - Just a theory I have though...

But yeah, I would probably skip it. You should run the version without sugar through some brewing software and see where you are at, and adjust accordingly. On a side note, I think a little Rye could be really good in a beer like this. I would probably lean that way instead of the sugar.

Have fun with the brewing!

 

[exaideum]

So, I brewed this guy last week and it's in the fermenter now. Looks pretty clear from what I can tell and the fermentation has settled back down. I switched out one of the hops for saaz and only did a 2.5 gal batch. Excited to see how it turns out! I'll probably crash and bottle on day 14 next week.

 

[exaideum]

Update

Bottled and conditioned with Honey.

Turned out great! Very light and the yeast shines through perfectly. The only problem was my yield. I only ended up with 5 bottles form a 2.5 gal batch. I didn't sparge correctly so next time it should turn out better but, for a first Grisette, I think this went really well!