Classic Saison - 2 Time Best of Show Winner

[The Decembeerist]

Recipe Type

All Grain

Yeast

3711

Yeast Starter

1 Liter

Batch Size (Gallons)

10

Original Gravity

1.050

Final Gravity

1.010

Boiling Time (Minutes)

90 minutes

IBU

35

Color

4

Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)

7 days at 70'F

Additional Fermentation

5 days at 75'F

Tasting Notes

Crisp and light with a touch of Juicy Fruit gum in the nose.

10 GALLON SAISON RECIPE:
GRAINS
17 lbs Franco/Belgian Pilsner Malt
2 lbs CaraPils
3 lbs Vienna Malt

HOPS
2 oz Perle Hops (60 mins)
2 oz East Kent Golding Hops (10 mins)
3 oz Saaz Hops (0 min)

YEAST
French Saison Yeast (Wyeast 3711)

WHIRLPOOL ADDITIONS
2 TBS fresh cracked coriander seeds
1 zested navel orange

Mash at 152'F for 60 minutes
Mash Out at 170'F for 15 minutes

90 minute boil.

Pitch a healthy starter at 70'F. Keep it there for 7 days before allowing it to rise to 75'F for the last 5 days to finish attenuation and clean up any Diacetyl.

This recipe has won multiple first places in competition including a Best of Show at the Oregon State Fair. It also scored a 44 at NHC. It's very easy to brew and is great to bottle condition for a few months to really dry out and bring out some cool yeast characteristics.

Here's a video I made showing how to brew it.

 

[oscarjets]

This looks really good, nice video as well. I was going to make a wit next but think this may be in order instead.

 

[JamesonFan]

That's a great score. I'm with oscarjets. I was thinking of brewing something else this weekend, but a good saison sounds amazing. Thanks for the post. And the video. Very well done.

 

[oscarjets]

I can’t seem to locate the Franco Belges pilsner malt, have you ever made it with Bohemian Pilsner? Would that be worth substituting or better waiting for the proper Franco Belges malt?

 

[Clearwall]

I'm gonna try this recipe but I need to scale it back to a 5-gal. Do I just need to cut everything in half?

Couple things in your vid:
Pouring your boil kettle into your fermenters..
Pouring yeast into each individual fermenter...
Not rinsing any of your sani off before putting it in/on finished beer...
Spending $50+ on an oxygenator when a nice vigorous stir accomplishes the same thing for free...

 

[The Decembeerist]

I'm gonna try this recipe but I need to scale it back to a 5-gal. Do I just need to cut everything in half?

Couple things in your vid:
Pouring your boil kettle into your fermenters..
Pouring yeast into each individual fermenter...
Not rinsing any of your sani off before putting it in/on finished beer...
Spending $50+ on an oxygenator when a nice vigorous stir accomplishes the same thing for free...

You can just dial everything back by half.

The video is just meant for folks that have very little brewing experience and inexpensive equipment.
If you have a pump you've run sani through then I would use that above pouring directly from the kettle. I do not like pouring out of the spout at the bottom of my kettle. I don't trust that the spout or ball valve haven't stored some nasty bacteria or wild yeast.
I don't rinse the sani from my fermentor as I've read and heard on interviews with the guys at Five Star that you should not "fear the foam".
As for oxygen, I'm sure you're getting good results. I just know that the change in quality from shaking like mad for 5 minutes to 30 seconds of pure O2 was amazing. If you haven't done a side by side I highly recommend you try. It's also nice, if you're doing a high gravity beer, to go back the next morning and dose a little more O2. This way you can ensure that the yeast don't run out of steam early.

Let me know how it turns out. I just had a glass last night and it was spectacular after 5 weeks of bottle conditioning.

 

[The Decembeerist]

I can’t seem to locate the Franco Belges pilsner malt, have you ever made it with Bohemian Pilsner? Would that be worth substituting or better waiting for the proper Franco Belges malt?

I find the bohemian pils to be a bit grainier while the franco gelge is a little lighter and perfumier. Both will make a great saison, but there will be a noticable difference.

 

[Smellyglove]

This might seem like a dumb question. But since it's added some stuff like coriander, does this mean it can not compete in the regular Saison category?

 

[jjw5015]

[/QUOTE]Couple things in your vid:
Pouring your boil kettle into your fermenters..
Pouring yeast into each individual fermenter...
Not rinsing any of your sani off before putting it in/on finished beer...
Spending $50+ on an oxygenator when a nice vigorous stir accomplishes the same thing for free...[/QUOTE]

If you're going to call someone out about their process, you should at least be right about one of them. Otherwise you look stupid. Especially after asking how to scale down from 10 gal to 5 gal.

 

[The Decembeerist]

This might seem like a dumb question. But since it's added some stuff like coriander, does this mean it can not compete in the regular Saison category?

Definitely. The corriander and orange peal are so subtle, you would never know they were in there unless someone told you. I believe the BJCP style guide even mentions that a subtle use of spices is okay for the style.

That being said, I took five gallons of my last batch and added fresh ginger and lemon zest five days into fermentation. That one will definitely have to be a specialty/fruit/spice beer. I'm not sure which one yet. It tastes amazing though. I was trying to make a good pairing for Pho or other light SE Asian dishes. Nailed it!

 

[The Decembeerist]

Careful of overcarbing this in the bottle. I like a bubbly saison, but found this most recent bottle conditioned batch to have a little too much carbonic bite. They aren't gushers, but I've been waiting a minute or two to start drinking after pouring.
When I send to competition, I'll probably crack the cap just a bit to let some gas out and re-clamp the cap. I've done that before (being careful not to let any oxygen in) and it typically does the trick.
Cheers!

 

[The Decembeerist]

Just brewed this again, but am aging it on Brett B. Then I'm going to dry hop half with Simcoe before bottling. The other half is getting a couple pounds of apricot puree on day 5 of fermentation.