Funky Saison

[TheDPR]

Batch Size: 5.25 gal
Style: Saison
Color: 4.5 SRM
Bitterness: 21.1 IBUs
Boil Time: 90 min
Est OG: 1.049
Est FG: 1.008
ABV: 5.4%

Ingredients
2 lbs White Wheat Malt
1 lbs Munich Malt
7 lbs Pilsner
0.8oz Tettnang [4.5%] - Boil 60 min
1.0oz Styrian Goldings [5.4%] - Boil 10 min
1 pkgs American Farmhouse Blend (White Labs #WLP670)

Primary for 90 days then bottle. Everything I've read on this yeast indicates the Brett in the blend really starts to shine after 3 months.

Planning on brewing this today and this will be my first sour attempt. I've been reading a ton and think this might be a good way to start with sour/funky beers. Getting a new carboy too which is badly needed anyway.

Trying to keep the grain bill simple and the gravity low since the Brett will dry this one out.

Also, does anyone know an easy way to post recipes from my Beersmith app? The manual way I did it cannot possibly be the best way.

 

[NTexBrewer]

Last week I brewed what I'm calling an American Saison. Used all American Grains and American Hops.

Batch Size: 4 gal
Style: Saison
Color: 8 SRM
Bitterness: 28 IBUs
Boil Time: 60 min
Est OG: 1.048
Est FG: ? with the Brett
ABV: 5ish%

Ingredients
5.75 lbs American 6-Row
2 lbs Unmalted Wheat from friends farm in OK (Billings Hard Red Winter Wheat)
1 oz American Midnight Wheat
0.5oz Belma Whole Leaf [10.8%] - Boil 60 min
1.0oz Belma Whole Leaf [10.8%] - Boil 1 min
1 pkgs American Farmhouse Blend (White Labs #WLP670)

I mashed at 158 to hopefully give the Brett something to chew on. My efficiency was low with the unmalted wheat. Ended up with an OG of 1.042. Checked it yesterday with refractometer and it is down to 1.007 and it has a pellicle forming. I'm fermenting mine in a bucket and plan to let it go for two months before bottling. I did not have a lot of airlock activity so that was the main reason for checking on it yesterday. Now that I know everything is ok, I'm just going to forget about it now.

This is definitely an easy way to get into sour/funky beers. I have done one other sour/funk beer that had Brett, Pedio and Lacto. They really are not hard they just take time.

 

[Jonkl]

Did you do anything like a cereal mash to the unmalted wheat, or did you just add it straight to the mash?

 

[NTexBrewer]

Did you do anything like a cereal mash to the unmalted wheat, or did you just add it straight to the mash?

Straight to the mash

 

[dagbrew]

TheDPR - This past weekend I brewed a 10 gallon batch with an almost identical grain bill;
13# 2 row (subed for pilsner b/c I had 2 row on hand)
3# white wheat
2# vienna.
Used Hallertau and Saaz approx 30 ibu.

Mashed at 150 and hit OG of 1.046. Split between two carboys, one with Wyeast 3711 and other with WLP670. Like you, wanted to keep the grain bill simple and really want to pick up on the yeast characteristics. First time using Brett as well, really anxious to see how it turns out. What temp are you fermenting at? I had both started at 68 and raising to 74 or so over the next few days. I know 3711 should be beast whatever the temp, not so sure on wlp670. Some saison strains like the super high temps. Anyway, hope i have some of the 3711 batch left in a few months when the american farmhouse is ready after the brett has had some time to do its thing. Let us know how yours turns out.

 

[rickyjphillips]

This has really sparked my interest... I'm thinking of making a saison for my next brew day and may double my recipe and pitch half with this yeast and the other half with 3711 and see how it comes out. Haven't really heard much about this yeast though. I will definitly be keeping track of this thread.

 

[TheDPR]

Fermented at 68 for the first week. Ramped up to 75 now. Giving it another week there and then ramping up to 80 for 2 weeks. Will let it sit at room temp after that until I bottle which I plan on doing around Mid-June.

I really hope this turns out well, if it does then I plan on doing more complicated sours in the future!

 

[TheDPR]

This has really sparked my interest... I'm thinking of making a saison for my next brew day and may double my recipe and pitch half with this yeast and the other half with 3711 and see how it comes out. Haven't really heard much about this yeast though. I will definitly be keeping track of this thread.

Just wanted to update this.

This beer came out looking beautiful, smelled lovely with that bright/funky Brett yeast aroma, and had the best head retention I've had yet.

HOWEVER, I changed up my sanitation process in an effort to simplify and made some mistakes with not thoroughly rinsing out the Oxy Clean I used to clean my bottles.

Needless to say, this batch and my Session IPA were completely ruined. But, I will brew this again soon because it showed potential if I hadn't screwed up.