Saison Boulevard Smokestack Series Tank 7 Farmhouse Ale Clone

[THVbrew]

They've told me they add wine yeast at bottling, but the brett should be viable enough for secondary.

If I cant find a bottle of Saison Brett, what type of Brett yeast would you recommend?

 

[Schumed]

So recipe update ...straight from Boulevard

One of the local homebrew clubs got to have their Big Brew Day at Boulevard and one of my friends decided to do my clone recipe as a demo.

Head Brewer Steven came out to check out the action and confirmed a few things with the recipe that have changed

1 - flaked corn has been replaced with dextrose . Speculation... changed with the Duvel buyout...their website now list this change too.

2 - The many times ive brewed this... the color has always been a little lighter than the real thing
.which is fine with me...but he said we have been known to.add a little biscuit malt.

3 - he thought the hops schedule was dead on..but they have added bravo and citra to the mix. Ive wondered about this because Amarillo flavor profile has changed in recent years. Website list this now.

4 - He hates saison yeast...which has been no secret...he personally recommended Ardennes as a true clone for tank 7..wouldnt reveal temp range though


Time to rebrew this and give it a try

 

[COBrewMan72]

I brewed a trippel a while back with Ardennes and it came out extremely dry, almost wine like. Perhaps my temp was off that produced this flavor. Anyone else run into this with that strain? I don't have my notes in front of me from that brew day but if I recall i let it free rise to the low to mid 70s for the vast majority of the primary.

I dont think, from my VERY little bit of experience with that strain, it would come out very close. That being said, he is the very well respected professional brewer and im a nobody home brewer so it would be very interesting to take his advice and brew this clone with Ardennes and do a side by side. If anyone does this please report back. Thanks

 

[distributistdad]

First of all, thank you very much to the OP who shared this recipe. When I upgraded systems 2 years ago, this was my first 10 gallon batch.

I followed the original recipe's grain bill and used Magnum, Simcoe and Amarillo for the hops. It was the height of summer when I brewed this and I fermented in my basement without temp. control (likely in the low 70s. My LBHS only had one smack pack of 3711 and one of Am. Farmhouse so I bought them both and pitched half the batch for each yeast variety.

This beer was really, really nice. When fresh, I liked the Farmhouse yeast better, as I thought it let the dry hop really shine. As the beer aged (I bottled both varieties), the Saison really rounded out and I ended up liking it more. I gave a couple bottles to a local pro brewer (who's brewery focuses on IPAs, Pale Ales, Farmhouse ales & Saisons) who sent me the following text after trying the beer:

"Just got into the farmhouse ale. Very, very nice. Aroma was spot on, clarity was off the charts, super bright and effervescent. Really tasty stuff. Nice work!"

I am going pick up these yeast strains again to rebrew this beer probably next week. I plan to save and wash the yeast and try a series of beers in the Pale Ale / IPA / Saison / Farmhouse realm, perhaps blending the yeasts too. I recently had a Hill Farmstead collaboration beer that, from the brewer's mouth, used 20% oats in the grain bill. While I've seen wheat and occasionally rye in recipes in this style, does anyone have experience with using oats?

 

[GreenDragon]

Okay now that it's over I can state that the recipe I used a few pages back took first for its style in the St Louis regional and a 30 overall at nationals with oxidation being by far my biggest critique (which is no fault of the recipe). I'm normally a kegger so I obviously need to purchase a bottling wand.

 

[arnobg]

With the varying recipes I decided to ping Boulevard on Facebook. They were ultra cool! They replied quickly and emailed me the extremely detailed recipe. You'll have to do some conversions from Plato. I asked for permission to post it to this forum and they said that's fine. Here it is:

Malts
Pale Malt - 77.5%
Pregelatinized corn flakes - 20%
Malted Wheat - 2.5%

Mash in at 63 and rest for 50 minutes.
68 - 25 min
73- 15 min
Mash off at 78

We look for a beginning of boil gravity of 15.7 and boil for 70 minutes to target 16.3 at the end of the boil.

Hops
Magnum - 6 IBU at 98 C
Simcoe - 5 IBU at 15
After beginning of boil Amarillo - 15.7 IBU at 5
Before end of boil Amarillo - 10.7 IBU in the whirlpool

We cool the wort to 19C and let it rise to 21C. We ferment at 21 until we reach 7 Plato at which point we temp up to 23 for the remainder of fermentation. Ending Plato is 2.2.

Dry Hopping
Amarillo .089 kg/bbl

The yeast we use for Tank 7 Farmhouse Ale is our house Belgian strain. For homebrewing purposes, we recommend Wyeast 3787 to approximate our house yeast character.

Can someone clarify this hop schedule with times

 

[rbach2]

Thought my mash was dead on for the full 60, must have been low. 3711 took mine down to 1.000. Going from 8% projected to 10% is a shock. I've never had this happen before. I'm not complaining though, it's still a great beer!

 

[bearcamp]

So I did this recipe and per recommendation of Boulevard posted in prior responses used Ardens yeast. Wyeast 3522. This is the yeast to use in my opinion. This is my 2nd try and it is 90% tank 7. I think I just need to increase the late hops/dry hops a bit more...Prior I used 3711 french and it was ok but not really tank 7. This is more like tank 7.

Mash

145 for 60 min
155 for 30
168 (mash out for 10)

12 lb 2 row
6 oz red wheat
4 oz victory
2.5 corn sugar added 3 days after primary ferm took off

.13 oz Magnum 1st wort hop
.45 simcoe at 15 to end of boil
3.45 oz Amarillo 5 min till end of boil
2 oz Amarillo Whirlpool after 185 F.
1.5 Amarillo and 1 oz Citra DH in Keg. In a previous post the brewmaster said they are starting to use Citra in the dry hop.

Pitched at 67 for 24 hours. Free rise to 72 and toward the end of day 5 raise to 76.

OG was 1.052 prior to sugar addition and finished at 1.005. 8.5% right on the dot. Color is matching but I think it just needs a bit more late hops. I think next time I may do a 10 gal batch and split regular tank 7 and saison brett. I hear it is the same base recipe but saison brett doens't get dry hopped.

Good luck.. brewing! Cheers.

 

[sikkingj]

Curious how you would change up your dry hops? Are you thinking of increasing the Citra to 1.5 oz or increasing both by 0.5 oz each

 

[bearcamp]

I think on my next try I will up the whirlpool and dry hop by an oz or so.

 

[doublebogey10]

What's the reasoning with the sugar addition after fermentation has started?

 

[bearcamp]

Lets the yeast consume the complex sugars first then move to simple sugars. I do this if I am adding more than 1lb sugar to a batch.

 

[BYOBKC]

So recipe update ...straight from Boulevard

One of the local homebrew clubs got to have their Big Brew Day at Boulevard and one of my friends decided to do my clone recipe as a demo.

Head Brewer Steven came out to check out the action and confirmed a few things with the recipe that have changed

1 - flaked corn has been replaced with dextrose . Speculation... changed with the Duvel buyout...their website now list this change too.

2 - The many times ive brewed this... the color has always been a little lighter than the real thing
.which is fine with me...but he said we have been known to.add a little biscuit malt.

3 - he thought the hops schedule was dead on..but they have added bravo and citra to the mix. Ive wondered about this because Amarillo flavor profile has changed in recent years. Website list this now.

4 - He hates saison yeast...which has been no secret...he personally recommended Ardennes as a true clone for tank 7..wouldnt reveal temp range though


Time to rebrew this and give it a try

Have you formulated a new recipe to post?

 

[BYOBKC]

So recipe update ...straight from Boulevard

One of the local homebrew clubs got to have their Big Brew Day at Boulevard and one of my friends decided to do my clone recipe as a demo.

Head Brewer Steven came out to check out the action and confirmed a few things with the recipe that have changed

1 - flaked corn has been replaced with dextrose . Speculation... changed with the Duvel buyout...their website now list this change too.

2 - The many times ive brewed this... the color has always been a little lighter than the real thing
.which is fine with me...but he said we have been known to.add a little biscuit malt.

3 - he thought the hops schedule was dead on..but they have added bravo and citra to the mix. Ive wondered about this because Amarillo flavor profile has changed in recent years. Website list this now.

4 - He hates saison yeast...which has been no secret...he personally recommended Ardennes as a true clone for tank 7..wouldnt reveal temp range though


Time to rebrew this and give it a try

Have you formulated a new recipe to post?

 

[Schumed]

Have you formulated a new recipe to post?

No - been brewing German Lagers lately

 

[TTodd]

Question regarding the substitution of the flaked corn with sugar... Was this likely done on a cost-basis?

I'm thinking of trying this recipe and wondering which way I should go (Sugar vs Corn). Has anyone tried it both ways?

I'm glad I read bearcamp's post on adding the sugar to the fermentor after fermentation begins. I was worried about the amount of sugar being added under the assumption that it would be going into the boil. So just to be clear - all this sugar gets added to the primary after fermentation begins? At what point do you add the sugar? Should I be looking for certain gravity reading?

Thanks!

 

[tellyho]

Bump

 

[isomerization]

Have brewed this 3 times now, so good and very close to the original (imo) and even my wife likes it, which is saying something hah!

This is first sample after carbing in the keg for 48 hour, so 11 days grain to glass.

Quick recipe synopsis in case anyone is interested:

70% 2-row
20% Flaked Corn (prefer this versus using corn sugar)
10% White Wheat

Hop shots/extract to bitter to 30 IBU (5 ml of the stuff Yakima Valley sells)
2 oz Simcoe, 3 oz Amarillo; evenly split between FO (15 min) and 180 F (15 min)
2 oz Amarillo, 2 oz Citra; dry hop after primary fermentation (typically day 6 or so), I use a paint bag to avoid hop matter and haven't noticed a drop in flavor/aroma from when I used to just dump pellets and cold crash.

Water profile: 54, 5, 18, 54, 103 (Ca, Na, Mg, Cl and SO4) built from RO.

Mash pH = 5.35 (measured)

WLP670 (use this for every saison I do, plays very well with hops), set at 70 F the whole time (don't have a thermowell though), probe is taped to the side of the conical with electrical tape and the whole thing is in a room with ambient temps in the very low 60s. Fermwrap is used with a temp controller.

FG = 1.080 (6 gallon), OG = 1.010, so ABV was ~9.8% (I prefer alternate formula)

WLP670 has Brett in it, so I had enough extra beer after kegging for 1 bomber, going to age it for a year and see what happens...

 

[rideincircles]

I ended up brewing a variation of this recipe over the weekend. I am limited on 10 gallons for mash volume and brewed 10 gallons with this recipe. 25.5 lbs of grain is pretty much max capacity. Was thinking about adding corn sugar, but forgot about it. 1.065 OG

19 lbs breiss 2-row 74%
5.5 flaked maize 22%
1 lbs white wheat 4%
7 g CACL 5g Gypsum in mash
1tsp lactic acid 88% per 8 gallons of sparge water

Mashed at 154 for over 60 minutes or so getting stuff ready.
Possibly could have used my sous vide to step up water temperatures, but I don't have a pump system.
How necessary is the step mash with flaked corn anyways?

1.25 oz CTZ 60 minutes 28 ibu
1 oz simcoe 10 minutes 7.5 ibu
2 oz amarillo 5 minutes 5 ibu
2 oz amarillo 40 minute hopstand

Probably dry hopping with a 1-2 oz per gallon amarillo.

Splitting my batch with Omega American farmhouse and Wyeast 3724. I made starters for both, but may set some aside for saving those yeast cultures.

Still debating ferment temps, but its about 65 right now and I am bout to oxygenate and pitch. Probably will let it free rise in steps the next few days or so.

Should have read the thread before making it, but my ingredients were pretty much decided already. Will see if CTZ is overkill. Didn't see magnum in my freezer at the time.

 

[Dog House Brew]

The new Tank 7 isn’t nearly as good as it has been. The biggest change for me is the body of the beer. I’ve always made it with 565. I would never remove the corn. It adds too much to what Tank 7 is/was. I heard they are going to stop putting it in 750ml bottles. I hope this is not the case. I still like it, and the bottle reuse is even better. Glad I read this. I knew the recipe wasn’t the same. I couldn’t figure out what it was, Thanks

 

[UCChemE05]

I ended up brewing a variation of this recipe over the weekend. I am limited on 10 gallons for mash volume and brewed 10 gallons with this recipe. 25.5 lbs of grain is pretty much max capacity. Was thinking about adding corn sugar, but forgot about it. 1.065 OG

19 lbs breiss 2-row 74%
5.5 flaked maize 22%
1 lbs white wheat 4%
7 g CACL 5g Gypsum in mash
1tsp lactic acid 88% per 8 gallons of sparge water

Mashed at 154 for over 60 minutes or so getting stuff ready.
Possibly could have used my sous vide to step up water temperatures, but I don't have a pump system.
How necessary is the step mash with flaked corn anyways?

1.25 oz CTZ 60 minutes 28 ibu
1 oz simcoe 10 minutes 7.5 ibu
2 oz amarillo 5 minutes 5 ibu
2 oz amarillo 40 minute hopstand

Probably dry hopping with a 1-2 oz per gallon amarillo.

Splitting my batch with Omega American farmhouse and Wyeast 3724. I made starters for both, but may set some aside for saving those yeast cultures.

Still debating ferment temps, but its about 65 right now and I am bout to oxygenate and pitch. Probably will let it free rise in steps the next few days or so.

Should have read the thread before making it, but my ingredients were pretty much decided already. Will see if CTZ is overkill. Didn't see magnum in my freezer at the time.

Can you comment how the yeasts turned out? Ive been considering making this with the American Saison yeast.

 

[Dog House Brew]

I’ve made this with 3724, 565, and 566. I’m making this Sat and splitting with 4 different yeasts. My favorite version is 565. Will post my findings as 2 of the yeasts I’ve never used.

 

[Dog House Brew]

Just tasted 5 day gravity readings. 565, Bootleg Saison Parfait, and Saisonstein’s Monster. All are fantastic, but I think I like Bootlegs best so far. Gravity is at 1.010 for all 3 of them. None are like Tank 7 yeast. It think they use something other than a “Saison” yeast.

 

[UCChemE05]

Just tasted 5 day gravity readings. 565, Bootleg Saison Parfait, and Saisonstein’s Monster. All are fantastic, but I think I like Bootlegs best so far. Gravity is at 1.010 for all 3 of them. None are like Tank 7 yeast. It think they use something other than a “Saison” yeast.

Thanks for the follow up. I'll be curious of your impressions once they all finish out.