Saison Cottage House Saison

[govner1]

Does anyone have opinions on how to add the black pepper to the fermenter? Did not have any peppercorns on hand on brew day.

Sorry, I added mine freshly crushed in the boil.

 

[studio1one]

Just brewed this again using flaked wheat. Unfortunately I didn't get any sugars out of the wheat, don't know if it hadn't been properly gelatinized or what.

SG was 1.049 so it is going to come out as quite a different beer to my previous batch, still -- smelling good in the fermenter.

 

[BGBC]

Does anyone have opinions on how to add the black pepper to the fermenter? Did not have any peppercorns on hand on brew day.

You could just skip them. I've brewed this one both with and without and I prefer the one with no BP.

 

[NuclearRich]

Just brewed this again using flaked wheat. Unfortunately I didn't get any sugars out of the wheat, don't know if it hadn't been properly gelatinized or what.

SG was 1.049 so it is going to come out as quite a different beer to my previous batch, still -- smelling good in the fermenter.

Flaked grains are pre-gelatinized, rolled, dried. Sugar extraction shouldn't be an issue.

 

[BHowe]

Out of curiosity, what is the purpose of the .5lbs. of oats in this?

Totally not saison season, but I'm jonesing to brew one, and this one seems to be a pretty from grain to glass, which is right up my alley.

I may have trouble getting temps over 70-72 unless I use a water bath or something of the sort.

 

[IslandLizard]

Out of curiosity, what is the purpose of the .5lbs. of oats in this?

Totally not saison season, but I'm jonesing to brew one, and this one seems to be a pretty from grain to glass, which is right up my alley.

I may have trouble getting temps over 70-72 unless I use a water bath or something of the sort.

I strap a heating pad and a couple layers of (big) bubble wrap around hot fermentors. Then cover the whole lot with a thick dark towel.

For more precise heating control plug it into an STC-1000/temp controller.

And it's always saison season, at least for me.

 

[BHowe]

I'm not apposed to doing that, but am a little worried of potential fire hazards.....

 

[azscoob]

Out of curiosity, what is the purpose of the .5lbs. of oats in this?

Totally not saison season, but I'm jonesing to brew one, and this one seems to be a pretty from grain to glass, which is right up my alley.

I may have trouble getting temps over 70-72 unless I use a water bath or something of the sort.

The oats are there for mouthfeel, it lends a nice silkiness to the final product....

it was also what I had on hand when I made the recipe so I figured I'd toss it in!

 

[kharper6]

Just kegged this. Been under 4 weeks total by a few days but it was definitely finished and I cannot wait until tonight to try it.

 

[chalkdust41485]

Loving this beer!!! Its got to be one of the top 3 beers I've brewed!

 

[azscoob]

Loving this beer!!! Its got to be one of the top 3 beers I've brewed!

Glad you like it! I have to admit that I like this beer with thanksgiving and Christmas dinner....

Proper beer brewing and drinking calendar be damned!!!

 

[bd2xu]

Glad you like it! I have to admit that I like this beer with thanksgiving and Christmas dinner.... Proper beer brewing and drinking calendar be damned!!!

who cares when?! 😄. Actually with a big saison like this, 8ish percent, makes a good winter saison. I am going to scale this one down for a 5-6% version this spring.

 

[BHowe]

This will be my next brew with a few little changes... Still trying to decide on yeast.

 

[azscoob]

This will be my next brew with a few little changes... Still trying to decide on yeast.

Yes, I would use yeast, it speeds the fermentation process along nicely

I kid, what are you deciding between?

 

[BHowe]

3711 and bell saison. I don't feel like jacking with some sort of heater at this current point in time, so just going to let it do it's thing, which normally means pitch at 70ish and it free rising and then settling back down to 70. Much cooler if in my brew closet (damn suspended floor house)!

Seems like the Bell Saison will be more tolerant of the temps and still finish in a hurry.

 

[TCGoose]

Belle saison turned out great. Real nice funk, fruit and spice.

 

[azscoob]

3711 and bell saison. I don't feel like jacking with some sort of heater at this current point in time, so just going to let it do it's thing, which normally means pitch at 70ish and it free rising and then settling back down to 70. Much cooler if in my brew closet (damn suspended floor house)!

Seems like the Bell Saison will be more tolerant of the temps and still finish in a hurry.

I've fermented with 3711 in the mid 60s all the way through with no issues in attenuation, but a tick less funk in that batch

 

[bd2xu]

3711 and bell saison. I don't feel like jacking with some sort of heater at this current point in time, so just going to let it do it's thing, which normally means pitch at 70ish and it free rising and then settling back down to 70. Much cooler if in my brew closet (damn suspended floor house)! Seems like the Bell Saison will be more tolerant of the temps and still finish in a hurry.

That will work, but it is really very cheap and easy IMO to RAISE temps, for those interested. I have $5 plastic tubs from Walmart that hold like 20 gallons (?) of water and a $10 aquarium heater... Easy to get into the 80s for Belgian funk all year round...

 

[BHowe]

Thanks for all of the feedback guys!

 

[studio1one]

Flaked grains are pre-gelatinized, rolled, dried. Sugar extraction shouldn't be an issue.

I know, never had a problem before but I put it in an ABV calculator at my standard effeciency and took the oats out, ABV was bang on what I hit.

 

[NuclearRich]

I know, never had a problem before but I put it in an ABV calculator at my standard effeciency and took the oats out, ABV was bang on what I hit.

If you just took the oats out, of course the abv goes down, you are straight subtracting fermentables from the calculation. If you subbed 2row, the estimate should be very close to the same.

I don't see how flaked cereals could give you a problem on their own with sugars. Perhaps a too-thick or too-fast mash, or a poor crush on the rest of the grist?

 

[azscoob]

I'm sort of thinking there was an overall mash issue to drop your numbers, do you crush your own or do you buy precrushed grain? I used to have wildly varied efficiency numbers before I got my own mill, even then untill I dialed in my process to a repeatable procedure I was still all over the map on my numbers

 

[kharper6]

I'm about 2 gallons into my keg and this beer has changed drastically. IT went from looking exactly like everything posted here, to something that is crystal clear and slightly lacking in that "saison flavor" that I can't really describe, but know so well.

Anyone have any idea what has happened here? I didn't do any refining, my keg is completely oxygen purged and is not leaking. Really weirded out right now! My fridge is set to 44 with a 2 degree differential.

 

[NuclearRich]

I did a 2gallon pilot batch last night, a tweak from this recipe. I didnt have the same hops on hand, so just subbed what I had (Sorachi & tett for FWH, willamette for 30min, cent for 15). The interesting tweak was to make 25% of the grain bill wild rice. I pre-gelatinized it and then crushed it up a little, added to the mash and tried to mash as normal. Since this was a pilot batch, it wouldn't work on my normal setup (MLT is 72qt coleman xtrreme, so a small grainbill barely covers the floor)... well I suppose it could have worked, but the setup and cleaning wasnt worth it, so I did the batch in the kitchen. After 4years of brewing, I've done my first batch ever in the kitchen! I used a pasta boiler/colander combo as a MLT and it worked pretty nicely. I had some difficulty maintaining the mash temps, but I was between 140 and 160 lol. The efficiency definitely took a hit, but it is hard to say if my low OG was due entirely from that or partially from unconverted rice (no iodine test). OG was 1.042. Pitched onto bottle dregs from 2 big bottles of my last saison (no saison yeast at LHBS...).

All in all, certainly a cottage house example... whatever I had on hand basically! I am very interested in the flavor the rice will impart, and I will update when I can! Cheers

I bottled this on Sat. The gravity sample was... interesting to taste lol. It was overly bitter, I'm guessing a couple things could have increased bitterness: smaller volume and lower gravity increased utilization during boil, and maybe while scaling hops down I should have used a lower ratio than 1:1. Also the pepper was strong but I had the same thing happen the last time I brewed a full batch. I think using fresh crushed black pepper rather than pre-ground pepper adds a much more intense flavor. The FG was 1.012 IIRC, putting this right about 4%ABV. Not quite as dry as I've gotten it in the past, likely caused by one of two things: using dregs and not properly stepping up the yeast, and perhaps the rice added more unfermentables.
I'm hoping the bottle conditioning gives the more intense hoppy and peppery flavors time to dial down. It was hard to say if I detected any differences the wild rice put it, but I'll wait to really judge until its been carbed and chilled.

 

[NuclearRich]

I bottled this on Sat. The gravity sample was... interesting to taste lol. It was overly bitter, I'm guessing a couple things could have increased bitterness: smaller volume and lower gravity increased utilization during boil, and maybe while scaling hops down I should have used a lower ratio than 1:1. Also the pepper was strong but I had the same thing happen the last time I brewed a full batch. I think using fresh crushed black pepper rather than pre-ground pepper adds a much more intense flavor. The FG was 1.012 IIRC, putting this right about 4%ABV. Not quite as dry as I've gotten it in the past, likely caused by one of two things: using dregs and not properly stepping up the yeast, and perhaps the rice added more unfermentables.
I'm hoping the bottle conditioning gives the more intense hoppy and peppery flavors time to dial down. It was hard to say if I detected any differences the wild rice put it, but I'll wait to really judge until its been carbed and chilled.

Drinking this now. Tasty like the regular recipe. Still a little more bitter than usual, and I think I detect a spiciness similar to rye in there as well, almost a tang. I think ill further advance my experiments in the spring. Wild rice and Brett. Any suggestions? I think I'll take out the pepper just so I can taste the beer in the raw.

 

[Worthys]

I just brewed this about 6 weeks ago and just as everybody else has said THIS IS ONE GOOD BEER!!! What an awesome recipes!!! I'm almost out of it already and going to my LHBS tomorrow to brew this again. This was my second all grain I did (first one didn't turn out to well) and was so happy it turned out so good. CONGRATS!!

 

[Zippox]

I do not yet know exactly what phenols taste like but from reading it sounds like fermenting in mid 60s the whole time will give the beer that character.

On the other hand I am hearing that going high as 85 will give fruity flavors.

I REALLY like lambics and the super funk that comes with it so I have some of that fermenting at the moment. What my question is - For this Saison should I ferment on the high end (85) or low end (60s) based on the preferences I described?

I don't know of what I describe is "phenolic" or "fruity". Please pardon my arrogance.

 

[azscoob]

The higher the fermentation the more funk you get, so fermenting in the 80s would be what you want to do.

 

[Zippox]

The higher the fermentation the more funk you get, so fermenting in the 80s would be what you want to do.

Thanks azscoob. Am I good to transfer the wort to the carboys then put those right into a tub of 85 degree water? (I bought two aquarium heaters and will be making an 11 gal batch split between two carboys)

 

[breweringbeaz]

Thanks azscoob. Am I good to transfer the wort to the carboys then put those right into a tub of 85 degree water? (I bought two aquarium heaters and will be making an 11 gal batch split between two carboys)

When I'll done this recipe I found a electric heating pad works wonders for high temp management