Tips for incresing the fruitiness of a saison

[TheH2]

I brewed a very simple Saison last year, (pilsner, wheat malt, a little vienna) 1 lb of sugar (added near the end of fermentation) and hallertau hops.

Mashed at 148 and using 3724. Fermentation started at 67 and ramped up to 80 in 2 days. High temperatures were in the upper 80's. After about 2 months it got down to 1.004. The taste was very good, but I felt it was missing some of the upfront fruitiness. Any suggestions?

Would adding sugar earlier help?
Start with a higher temperature?
Do I want the gravity to finish a little higher? It seems that would increase sweetness but not necessarily fruitiness.
I plan on adding a little orange peel this time. Maybe just one orange.

Thanks.

 

[BadgerBrew3r]

This is mostly a bump, but I did brew a saison earlier in the year and love the style. Its on my list of brews for this summer for sure.

Palmer/Zainasheff "Brewing Classic Styles" Saison section calls for simple sugars to help attenuation and I don't think anything would change if you add simple sugars earlier. You're not breaking anything down, just dissolving the sugars. The fruitiness is an ester by-product of the yeast, so I'd bet if you started in the 70's during the initial fermentation you'd get more by-products. I personally would be leery of letting it get into the high 80s. Palmer says fermentation temps up to 80 but not above. The style is supposed to be dry, so I don't think you want it to finish with a higher gravity.

I bet it's all in the fermentation temp. Just need to find the sweet spot for the strain.

 

[Bryceefisher]

You should try a different yeast. I use white labs saison ale II. It has a good mix of fruity and peppery notes. Also mine is at the bottom of the abv range for the style with no sugar added. This will bring out some of the fruity esters from the yeast. Ferment around 76.

 

[LLBrewer]

I'm making a saison today. Going to split the batch into 2 5 gallon fermenters. One fermenter is going to be pitched with 3711 and kept at room temps (~70-72) and the other is going to get 1007 German ale and fermented in the mid 60's.

 

[TheH2]

You should try a different yeast. I use white labs saison ale II. It has a good mix of fruity and peppery notes. Also mine is at the bottom of the abv range for the style with no sugar added. This will bring out some of the fruity esters from the yeast. Ferment around 76.

Yeah, I probably should have used a different yeast, maybe tried something from white labs. However, I had already purchased.

I may try and pitch forbidden fruit after fermentation slows. Let forbidden fruit do its thing until fermentation slows at lower temperatures (68ish) and then ramp back up for the Saison yeast to get the last few points.

I already have forbidden fruit for my next beer so I could just make a starter and pitch half. It would certainly be different.

 

[revelation]

Last Summer I did a saison with WLP 565 that turned out great. Fermentation temps were in the upper 80's per Phil Markowski's book on Farmhouse Ales. In the Markowski book, he has ideal temps for various saison yeasts and while most are under 80F - 565 is 80 to 95F. The other really hot one is Wyeast 3724 with 80 to 95F. Both of these yeasts are recommended as very fruity, which I found to be the case with WLP 565.

 

[stpug]

I've used 3726-PC (not 3724) several times and have always had it ferment between 85-95F. The late 80s produced more spicy characteristics, and the 90s produced more fruity characteristics. I personally liked the 90-92F range the best. I basically pitched at 68-70F and let it work it's way up to mid-80s for a day, then wrapped in a blanket, and let it get up to 90ish over the next day, and then swapped the blanket for an electric blanket to keep it in the 90s for the remainder of the ferment (2 more days!!). I was hitting FG in about 4 days. I've like my end results but my favorite was a lower OG version (1.047) but finishing at 1.006 gave a firm 5+ABV

As an aside, Rob Tod at Allagash states that he pitches his belgian yeast blend cool to conserve some fatty acids for later in the ferment which helps contribute to the increased ester profile. I've only experimented with this advice once, and it was to actually reduce the ester profile for a BPA. I pitched Allagash yeast warm (68F), and let it creep to about 74F. For certain, the ester profile is subdued in the resulting BPA so perhaps he knows a thing or two about yeast