Oats & Heather Saison

[Albionwood]

Brewing this today. Comments welcome!

Title: Leann Fraoch
Brew Method: All Grain
Style Name: Experimental Beer
Boil Time: 15 min
Batch Size: 20 liters (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 21 liters
Boil Gravity: 1.051
Efficiency: 75% (brew house)

FERMENTABLES:
2.25 kg - Golden Promise (38.5%) [had to sub Marris Otter though]
0.5 kg - Rolled Oats (9.6%) toasted at 350F
0.5 kg - Rye malt (9.6%)
2 kg - Oat Malt (38.5%)
200 g - Crystal 90L (3.8%)

MASH GUIDELINES:
1) Strike, Temp: 46 C, Time: 30 min, Amount: 10 L, protein rest
2) Infusion, Temp: 68 C, Time: 90 min, Amount: 15 L
3) Sparge, Temp: 80 C, Time: 15 min, Amount: 10 L
[also adding a huge quantity of rice hulls...]

OTHER INGREDIENTS:
30 g - Sweet Gale, Time: 15 min, Type: Herb, Use: Boil
90 g - Heather tips, Time: 10 min, Type: Herb, Use: Boil
120 g - Heather tips, Time: 0 min, Type: Herb, Use: Whirlpool
60 g - Meadowsweet, Time: 5 min, Type: Herb, Use: Boil
Note: Heather amounts are for dried - I'm using fresh today, so will guess at quantities...

YEAST:
Mangrove Jack - French Saison Ale M29

NOTES:
Intended to showcase the herbal character against a subdued malt background with spicy yeast notes in a dry, drinkable beer.

 

[brownni5]

I suppose that's the same/similar yeast to Wyeast 3711 or Belle Saison, so the mash temp may be inconsequential, otherwise for a dryer beer, my rest would be much cooler than 68 C - I target 63/64 for mine.

I'd love to hear how it turns out - an all herb beer (at least no hops - other than a sour) isn't something I've been brave enough to do just yet.

 

[Albionwood]

I suppose that's the same/similar yeast to Wyeast 3711 or Belle Saison, so the mash temp may be inconsequential, otherwise for a dryer beer, my rest would be much cooler than 68 C - I target 63/64 for mine.

I'd love to hear how it turns out - an all herb beer (at least no hops - other than a sour) isn't something I've been brave enough to do just yet.

The mash temp is deliberately high, because M29 is a very attenuative yeast; typically 80%-90%. (I got 100% with it once when I mashed too low.)

I've made an all-herb, no-hop Gose a couple of times; recipe is here.
It will be really interesting to see if this one goes sour or not. I waffled about kettle-souring it and ended up deciding to start out clean and see where it goes. If the yeast performs as expected, there won't be a lot left for bacteria to work on.

 

[Albionwood]

Brew day was a lot longer and more complicated than expected.
First I did a protein rest, which was a novelty for me, and then tried raising the mash temp with a decoction in addition to adding boiling water.
Then I added too much water at mashout and ended up way lower than my target gravity, so I pulled about 1.5 gallons and boiled it down to syrup. That took forever, but the result was a wonderful Maillard syrup that I think will really enhance the malt character.
And the stainless scrubby I had put into the kettle outlet got dislodged, so the pump intake kept getting clogged, and chilling took forever (I use a counterflow chiller).

The aroma coming off the short boil after adding the herbs was wonderful. I hope some of that persists into the finished beer.