Frst taste of my first Saison, should it taste like this?

[dand]

I had my first taste of the saison i made over the summer. I didn't do a secondary and it aged in secondary for about two months.
I started the brew based on the weather forecast being a good temperature as i am in an apartment and don't have a cool basement to let it sit in. The weatherman got it wrong, and the temps were much higher than i expected, so it fermented in the 76-80 degree range.
So i finally bottled it about three weeks ago and this past week i tried my first bottle and i noticed as soon as i opened it i could smell almost like a banana bread smell from it. It poured nice, nice head to it, had a bit of the dirty belgian smell (i don't know any other way to describe it) but in drinking it i was getting very little of the banana bread taste that it smelled so much like, and it had a bit of a hot alcohol aftertaste to it, but also very little "dirty belgian" taste either. All in all i like the way it is going and am looking forward to trying ti again in a few weeks, see what a change there is.
Now for the questions, I know from previous beers that the hot alcohol taste "should" tend to mellow out, but i likely fermented at too high a temp, so it may be there to stay. My problem is i have never had a saison before (i can't find anything commercial locally), so i don't know what to compare it to, does this sound like a typical saison, or what "should" it be like?

 

[phuff7129]

Google BJCP Style Guidelines and it will give you a good idea of what a saison should be like. Saison as a style leaves a lot of room for interpretation. Hot alcohol should not be present.

I would be interested to know what your OG and FG were, what your fermentables were, and what yeast you used. Many saison yeasts like it warm so temps might not be your issue.

 

[dand]

OG was around 1.065
FG 1.015
4 lbs Light Dry DME
1lb corn sugar
1oz Tettnang @30
1oz Styrian Golding @5
Safbrew S-33

It was a kit that i got.

 

[twistr25]

According to that yeast, it's ideal range is 59-68, but can tolerate 53-77. During the fermentation process it also produces heat, so it was likely even warmer. So that is definitely where your fusels are coming from. I'd say there is a low chance if the hot alcohol going away, but it might subside some.

What do you mean you didn't do a primary??

 

[dand]

Meant to say secondary, fixed it.

 

[twistr25]

So you let it sit in primary for 2 months?

 

[phuff7129]

According to that yeast, it's ideal range is 59-68, but can tolerate 53-77. During the fermentation process it also produces heat, so it was likely even warmer. So that is definitely where your fusels are coming from. I'd say there is a low chance if the hot alcohol going away, but it might subside some. What do you mean you didn't do a primary??

I agree. Definitely too hot for this yeast. Fermenting too warm will definitely cause the hot alcohol and the strong esters (banana bread).

Probably the single biggest thing you can do to improve your beer is control your fermentation temps. You might want to look into building a swamp cooler. It's an inexpensive way to control temps. A fermentation chamber is ideal. You also want to check the yeast manufacturers recommendation for temps.

 

[seph]

This is exactly how my saison tasted last year. We let it sit for a few months, and the alcohol flavor mellowed a lot and the flavor of Fruit Loops really shined. As it sat longer it started to change more into a less fruity and more dry brew...

My vote would be to let it sit for a while and try one here and there. You may be surprised with how it comes out.

 

[peterj]

OG was around 1.065
FG 1.015
4 lbs Light Dry DME
1lb corn sugar
1oz Tettnang @30
1oz Styrian Golding @5
Safbrew S-33

It was a kit that i got.

Judging by your ingredients, it probably doesn't taste like a saison. The main thing that makes a saison a saison is the yeast, and that is not a saison yeast. It's not even a Belgian yeast. I think the spec sheet says it has Belgian flavors, but I have heard that it does not. Safbrew S-33 I have heard is the old EDME strain which is a British yeast. Saison yeasts are meant to be fermented in the high 70s, 80s, and even low 90s. But S-33 is not, so it probably threw off a bunch of weird esters and fusel alcohols.

Saison yeasts are also highly attenuating (many get around 90% attenuation) which is what you need in a saison to dry it out a lot. But I think S-33 is a typical medium attenuating British yeast.

Also saisons usually have a pretty good portion of wheat in them, so I'm surprised they didn't give you half light and half wheat DME or something.

I'm not sure where you got that kit, but I wouldn't buy anymore from them. They kind of screwed you and I would say perpetrated some false advertising. Belle Saison by Danstar is a dry saison yeast, so I'm not sure why they wouldn't have put that in there. That kit should have been labeled as a very pale english ale.