Adding Color to a Saison?

[crawfman]

Does anyone have any experience or knowledge of adding a very small amount (1 oz or less) of roasted barley or even crystal 10 malt to a saison? I'll be using 3711 so I'm not worried about poor attenuation from the crystal. I'm working on a table beer style saison with a low gravity but looking for a copperish color.

 

[TNGabe]

Castle de-bittered black malt is what you're looking for. Dehusked carafa is also an option. You want something that will add color, but not flavor.

I highly recommend using the grist bill for Jolly Pumpkin Bam Biere from the Can You Brew It? episode. I'm drinking some right now, have ten gallons in carboys. I like it a whole lot. Don't worry about the bugs and oak or using WLP550 unless you want to. I've never tried the actual clone recipe, but the grist bill is fantastic and crystal is a very good US hop to use for saisons.

 

[crawfman]

Perfect! I have some de-bittered black malt I need to use. The grain bill right now is 5# pilsner, 2# Munich, 1/2# flaked wheat. Simple and low gravity.

 

[TNGabe]

Sounds like a good grain bill you've got planned. Do the math or use a program, but I usually use about 1/4 oz of the black malt in a 6 gallon batch

 

[crawfman]

Would 1 oz. of the de-bittered black malt be too much? It will get me around 8 srm color, which is what I'm looking for.

 

[TNGabe]

I'm surprise it would take that much. I can't say if that's too much, I've never used more than a 1/4 oz in a saison. The recipe I recommended has 3% crystal 80, also, but is still probably more like 5SRM.