BFM 225 Inspired Saison

[gometz]

So one of my favorite beers is from Switzerland, BFM √225. It is a "rustic" saison aged in sour beer barrels. Amazingly crisp flavor.

My plan to sour is not to do a mixed fermentation, but instead to do a blend post initial fermentation. Mike Tonsmeire says you shouldn't fear oxygenating the wort after lacto starts fermenting, but I was thinking this might be the safer avenue to take.

Any input is appreciated.

My plan is following:

Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: Wyeast 3724
Yeast Starter: Yes
Batch Size (Gallons): 4.5
Original Gravity: 1.052
Final Gravity: 1.005
IBU: 15.65
Boiling Time (Minutes): 90
Color: 3.2
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 1 day @ 75, 3 days @80, 7 days @ 85
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): Age at ambient (about 75) for 3 weeks
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75%


Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
7.00 lb German Pilsner (84.8%)
1.25 lb German Wheat (15.2%)
0.75 oz Saaz (3.6%AA)
0.5 oz Tettnanger (2.9%AA)

Using a decoction mash
Mash in to 125*F, hold for 15 minutes.
Pull decoction and boil for 15 minutes, return to main mash to hit 156*F.
Hold for 30 minutes.
Pull decotion, boil for 15 minutes, return to main mash to hit 165*F.
Vorlauf, then sparge.

Should collect about 6.5 gallons from this.

Boil: 90 minutes
60 minutes: 0.75 oz Saaz (12.35 IBU)
15 minutes: 0.5 oz Tettnang (3.29 IBU)

Cool to 75, pitch the 3724 (pitch rate of 0.75)
Hold at 75*F for 1 day, then allow to raise to 80*F for 3 more days. Add in lacto culture (SEE BELOW) and raise to 85*F for a week.
Crash, transfer to secondary and allow to mellow for 3 weeks with 2 oz of oak soaked in white wine.**
Bottle, adding priming sugar, allow to prime for 3 weeks.

Lacto Culture:
On brew day, bring 0.75 gallon of water to 180*F.
Add 1 lb of honey (going to try to find some nice light local honey)
Raise to 190*F for 15 minutes.
Cool to 95*F, pitch Lacto B.

**Also debating if I should add in some sort of brett at this time. Maybe some Brett B that will eventually give some nice funk over time.

 

[gometz]

No over has any input?

 

[SugarTopBrewing]

I'd probably lower the temp of the second step in the mash to 148-150 and raise that from 30 mins to a full hour. That's what I usually do with my saisons it makes them really fermentable and they finish fast and very dry. Grain bill looks good. I know they use a lot of hops in this beer so IBU's may be a little low but if youre looking for sour quickly keeping them low might be the way to go. I think doing this beer without brett would be a miss step. BFM saison 225 has some of the best brett character I've ever had in a beer. I'd add a few different bretts if you can to attempt to mimic their profie. I have my own batch of saison aging right now with 3726 used in primary and dregs I've grown up from 225, that may be the best way to go if you have a spare carboy for 4 months or so.

 

[skibb]

We plated out the slurry from this beer and all we found was brett. Growing it up and pitching it into a beer for the primary yielded a very fruity beer that wasn't what I would describe as acidic - not quite the character you get outta BFM √225. This isn't to say there isn't any bacteria or sacc in the making of this beer, but that brett is definitely in this beer. I think brewing a saison with 3724 and aging it with BFM √225 dregs would be a great start to mimicing the flavor profile.

 

[SugarTopBrewing]

That's very interesting. I know it's aged in the Abbaye De Saint Bon-Chien barrels and that beer definitely has LAB and I assumed Pedio(the samples of my beer made with the dregs were slightly ropey after 2 months and some sourness to it, my version has 30 ibu's as I was trying to hold the bacteria back a bit and get more of their fantastic brett character)

 

[gometz]

Woah, zombie thread. I brewed per the recipe above, but it didn't have much sourness at first, so I pitched my house sour blend into it. After a month it was nice and sour. It now is a very nice sour with little saison character left. There's brett in the blend, but it didn't really create much funk yet. There are probably about 12-18 bottles left, so I'll see how they turn out over the next year.