Saison Cottage House Saison

[insanim8er]

Well the color is great. Clarity is better than what I'm seeing in some of these photos, but it looks pretty damn good. I'm a little worried it might clear in the keg, but a swirl will take care of that.



I know I didn't follow the recipe dead on, but damn I'm thinking this May be one of the better beers I've made to date. There is some bitterness that I'm uncertain of. I'm not sure if it'll mellow out a bit when chilled, or if it's because of the lemon zest. I'll probably use less zest next time. There is some heat on it too. It's a high abv saison. We'll see how it goes with the co2 and a better temp.

My OG was 1.068 and final gravity looks to be right at 1.002. That's about 8.6% .... whew I'm getting DRUNK weekend! We're headed to the beach for 5 days tomorrow.

 

[insanim8er]

Well I drank this at the beach this last week, and it was great. I felt like I was drinking a very high end beer.

It got excellent reviews for those who liked it (pretty much everyone). But the flavor is not for everyone, of course.

Some were taken back by it because it's very unique and not like any beer they've ever had, but they still enjoyed it and drank the crap out of it.

It has a lot of funkiness to it. It's dry but didn't really appear dry because of the flavors. It has bold full flavors with a lot of complexity. I enjoyed it very much and I'm happy to know there is another 5 gallons downstairs. I think this will age well and probably get better in a month or so.

My gf wasn't too keen on it, but said it was good. Just not her favorite. I think it was a little too funky and bold for her.

 

[AR-Josh]

Maybe a dumb question, but why only a 60 minute boil when pilsner malt is used? I thought pilsner malt meant an automatic 90 minute boil? I ask cause I was plugging this recipe in Beer Smith and bitterness is off the chart for the style and I think it's cause of the FWH and 90 minute boil. Did everyone do 90 minute or 60 minute boils?

 

[chalkdust41485]

Boiling for 90 minutes is mainly to drive off DMS. With the highly modified and high quality of pilsner malt nowadays, it's not entirely necessary to boil for 90. To some it's a personal preference. If you do a 90 minute boil, just reduce your FWH by a little to get the IBUs just right. Although I don't get too much sharp bitterness from the FWH. So Beer Smith may be overdoing the IBUs in that case.

 

[MongooseMan]

If one had to use dry yeast, what would be recommended?

Options:
Safale T-58
Safale S-33
Danstar Belle Saison

 

[milldoggy]

I use belle saison on a similar recipe and it had tons of the saison taste. I fermented at 75. T58 would be more fruit I think, not really the saison funk, but I have not used it in a while and never fermented it at mid 70s.

 

[AR-Josh]

I did a small batch to try it out. My mash temps didn't hold as well as I would have liked. They kept dropping to 146 from 148. Then I would add another cup or two of boiling water to get it back up to 148. Hopefully it turns out OK. I did something wrong in my conversion from 5 gal to 1 gal cause my OG was 1.080! 3711 is going to town as we speak. I'll be back with an update.

 

[insanim8er]

my OG was 1.080

Did you dilute it down or ferment at that gravity? If you fermented it at 1.080, you'll end up with close to 10.24% ABV.

 

[AR-Josh]

Did you dilute it down or ferment at that gravity? If you fermented it at 1.080, you'll end up with close to 10.24% ABV.

Just went for it at that gravity. 1 gallon so it's no huge deal. I just wanted to get an idea of what 5 gallons would be like.

ETA: Probably have to condition it for a month or more to find out with that much alcohol.

 

[MongooseMan]

I use belle saison on a similar recipe and it had tons of the saison taste. I fermented at 75. T58 would be more fruit I think, not really the saison funk, but I have not used it in a while and never fermented it at mid 70s.

Any idea on how many packets of belle Saison are required for a 6gal batch?
I've heard conflicting reports, but everyone on here seems to think its a beast, so maybe a packet will be enough?

 

[govner1]

Maybe a dumb question, but why only a 60 minute boil when pilsner malt is used? I thought pilsner malt meant an automatic 90 minute boil? I ask cause I was plugging this recipe in Beer Smith and bitterness is off the chart for the style and I think it's cause of the FWH and 90 minute boil. Did everyone do 90 minute or 60 minute boils?

I've done 90 min boils on the two batches I've brewed. Came out terrific. Doing another batch next week.


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[azscoob]

I have found in my tastings that modern Pilsen is better converted and a 90 minute boil is rather superfluous but your results may be different given different maltsters.

I have also brewed this using gambrinus 2-row which is closer to a Maris otter than a pilsner in its maltiness and colour. This recipe has so many facets that a light Pilsen malt is almost lost anyway so I tend towards common 2-row quite often

 

[milldoggy]

Any idea on how many packets of belle Saison are required for a 6gal batch?
I've heard conflicting reports, but everyone on here seems to think its a beast, so maybe a packet will be enough?

One packet is plenty. Mine finished at 1.001

 

[MongooseMan]

One packet is plenty. Mine finished at 1.001

For a 6 gal batch? That's impressive!

What temp did you ferment at?

 

[govner1]

One packet is plenty. Mine finished at 1.001

Did you rehydrate??


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[EdMerican]

For a 6 gal batch? That's impressive!

What temp did you ferment at?

If there's one style of beer you can afford to stress yeast its a saison. I never have doubled up on a dry yeast for 5 finished gallons of beer. Very few batches have turned out badly.

 

[milldoggy]

Did you rehydrate??


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Yes, fermented at 75-78. Mashed low

 

[MongooseMan]

Does anyone know what the effect would be if I used Spring Blossom Honey instead of orange blossom?

I would imagine less citrus notes, and more apple, etc (based on what I've read about spring blossom honey)

Orange blossom honey is tricky to get here in South Africa, but I can get hold of the spring blossom for relatively cheap.

Thoughts?

 

[insanim8er]

Does anyone know what the effect would be if I used Spring Blossom Honey instead of orange blossom?

I would imagine less citrus notes, and more apple, etc (based on what I've read about spring blossom honey)

Orange blossom honey is tricky to get here in South Africa, but I can get hold of the spring blossom for relatively cheap.

Thoughts?

I used raw wild flower. I just added lemon zest to the boil. Came out fantastic.

 

[govner1]

Does anyone know what the effect would be if I used Spring Blossom Honey instead of orange blossom?

I would imagine less citrus notes, and more apple, etc (based on what I've read about spring blossom honey)

Orange blossom honey is tricky to get here in South Africa, but I can get hold of the spring blossom for relatively cheap.

Thoughts?

I used medium Belgian Candi syrup plus some orange zest in my last batch & it was great. Planning the same thing w/ a batch this week.


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[RyanMac]

I've been wanting to brew this for a while now. Brewed it based almost exactly from the OPs recipe. I took a few notes on brew day:

Added .5lbs more pilsner to take into account my system and a bit less efficiency

Mashed at 149 - Did not mash out
First runnings gravity = 1.064
Pre boil gravity = 1.042
60min boil
OG = 1.062

Used 3711 - Made 1L starter, chilled and decanted most of the liquid
Pitched on 4.5.2014 at 63 and let free rise to 70

I'll follow up in about 5-6 weeks to let y'all know how it tastes. Thanks again for the recipe and all the comments. They were very helpful

 

[azscoob]

I've been wanting to brew this for a while now. Brewed it based almost exactly from the OPs recipe. I took a few notes on brew day:

Added .5lbs more pilsner to take into account my system and a bit less efficiency

Mashed at 149 - Did not mash out
First runnings gravity = 1.064
Pre boil gravity = 1.042
60min boil
OG = 1.062

Used 3711 - Made 1L starter, chilled and decanted most of the liquid
Pitched on 4.5.2014 at 63 and let free rise to 70

I'll follow up in about 5-6 weeks to let y'all know how it tastes. Thanks again for the recipe and all the comments. They were very helpful

Glad you are brewing this one! It's about time I brewed some more myself!

 

[azscoob]

I'm so impressed that this beer has made so many people happy, I never thought it would be such a popular recipe when I first posted it!

 

[kenny_d]

Tied for 3rd place in Category 16 of the DC Homebrew Club Cherry Blossom Competition: http://www.dchbcompetition.com/
All credit goes to azscoob!

 

[smano]

I have this planned for Thursday. Have EKG and some magnum on hand so Im probably going to use those and will add some lemon zest. Really looking forward to this recipe after reading through this thread.

 

[RyanMac]

I've been wanting to brew this for a while now. Brewed it based almost exactly from the OPs recipe. I took a few notes on brew day:

Added .5lbs more pilsner to take into account my system and a bit less efficiency

Mashed at 149 - Did not mash out
First runnings gravity = 1.064
Pre boil gravity = 1.042
60min boil
OG = 1.062

Used 3711 - Made 1L starter, chilled and decanted most of the liquid
Pitched on 4.5.2014 at 63 and let free rise to 70

I'll follow up in about 5-6 weeks to let y'all know how it tastes. Thanks again for the recipe and all the comments. They were very helpful

Whew.... This 3711 has started kicking out some sulfur. Any of you folks experience this with this recipe?

 

[godsfshrmn]

I think I've really screwed this up... I'm trying to wrap my head around what happened.
It's my first AG brew. HERMS system. Mash went beautiful. Added the 3.4 gallons to MLT (I have a sight glass on HLT). Temps were within 1-2 degrees for the full 60 mins. Mash out. Transfer mash to boil kettle. I then sparge with two halves of the 1.4gal (stir, vorlauf etc). There's barely enough liquid to circulate with my pump.

I for some reason checked the sparge SG after the second half, and (temp corrected) it was 1.05 and still just as dark. I thought... well, there's still a ton of sugar left. So I did another 1 gallon sparge (which I probably was in the wrong to do?).

I measured my pre-boil SG in the BK (1.050), which actually was almost the same as the calculated I had done (1.058). So now I'm at roughly 5.5 gal in the BK (I don't have a sight glass on my BK yet, but I did use a measuring stick). I go ahead and complete the boil. I chilled it to 70F (best I could do), and transferred to carboy. It was at roughly the 4 gallon mark. I reaally should have measured SG at this point, but I assumed it would be high because my volume was low. I added more water to get to about 4.8 gallons, and check my SG just to be sure I wasn't adding too much.... and it was 1.031....
Should my sparge liquid have been a lower gravity after the second half? When I added the .75gal, it did not rise over the grain bed.
How vigorous should your boil be? Initially I had both 1500W elements on and I was getting a pretty violent boil. I dropped down to one of my 1500W elements and it was steaming maybe half the amount. It was a rolling boil, but just over the one element's side of the kettle.
My assumption is I did not get enough extracted during sparging, underestimated my preboil volume, and added too much water in the fermeter. Any thoughts? I'm a bit puzzled.

Edit: took another gravity reading. It was 1.039. I'm thinking the water I added initially was not mixed up well. Regardless, its still pretty low. I took a taste and it is bitter, like a very hoppy ipa.

 

[sudbuster]

I have not posted to this thread before, but have brewed this recipe. Thank you azscoob for the heads up on a good saison. Saison is THE most favorite non beer style for me. Everyone's saison is different. I have a go-to recipe I love and brew over and over. I don't know what it is about Belgian saison, but for me it is hard to drink anything else. Again, azscoob, Thanks for the recipe. Cheers.

 

[rwgaro]

I have not posted to this thread before, but have brewed this recipe. Thank you azscoob for the heads up on a good saison. Saison is THE most favorite non beer style for me. Everyone's saison is different. I have a go-to recipe I love and brew over and over. I don't know what it is about Belgian saison, but for me it is hard to drink anything else. Again, azscoob, Thanks for the recipe. Cheers.

Sudbuster, is there a link to your recipe somewhere you could share?

 

[jeff62217]

got some sulfur when fermenting but it seems to have cleared... OG 1.06 to 1.004 today after only 6 days.
The sulfur didn't carry through to the taste and this beer tastes like some of the best commercial saisons I've drank already warm and flat...
can't wait to try it aged, carbed and cold.