Help with a saison recipe

[sherwicf]

Hi,

I was wondering if people could help with a saison recipe I'm trying to make. Its my first foray into them but I still wanted to add my own twist to it. Can any point out anything obviously wrong..

19L batch
4.50 kg - Pilsner (2 Row) Bel (3.9 EBC)
0.50 kg - Cara-Pils/Dextrine (3.9 EBC)
0.25 kg - Wheat Malt, Ger (3.9 EBC)
0.20 kg - Munich Malt (17.7 EBC)

17.50 g - Nelson Sauvin [12.00 %] - First Wort
25.00 g - Citra [12.00 %] - Boil 0.0 min
1.0 pkg - Belgian Saison II Yeast (White Labs 566)
25.00 g - Citra [12.00 %] - Dry Hop 5.0 Days

Mash at 65C (149F).

Thanks all

 

[desabat]

Interesting adding citrus hops to the saison. I'm doing the same for an imperial saison I dryhopped with centennial, we should compare notes to see if it works out. As for the recipe, depends on what your vision is. Are you adding carapils for body? The rest of the malts look good but a more traditional saison would sub the carapils for some simple sugar.

 

[tagz]

Looks solid. The hops might overpower the yeast profile a bit.

 

[m00ps]

I'd maybe switch out the munich malt for some simple sugar. I alway use 5-10% sugar in ym saisons for a very dry and crisp body, along with the low mash temp. I've been obsessed with making the perfect saison and i've found that minimizing malty character to accentuate the saison yeast and/or hops is the way to go.

That being said, I doubt that much hops will overpower the yeast. I've used up to 5x that much hops in several saisons and I could still easily place the beer in a saison category.

What temp are you fermenting at? I've used nearly every saison strain available, including 566, and all of them can be driven past 90F to get more yeast character as well as higher attentuation

 

[ricshayne]

i'd ditch the Carapils, the Wheat malt should take care of the head retention for you. I always add some simple sugar like raw honey or table sugar in a simple syrup right after high Krausen has subsided to help dry it out and thin the body. Obviously utilize a 90 minute boil because of the Pilsner malt, and Don't worry about temperature control, just chill your wort to 63-65F and let that thang free rise!

Hops Bill looks good to me, I like the idea of Citra in a saison, I have one with Meridian and Amarillo that is fantastic and i am about to brew one with mostly Galaxy.

Certain strains of saison yeast can be really finicky and stall out halfway through, so have patience and let it do its thing, or if it stalls you can pitch some French Saison like 3711 Wyeast, that will eat up everything and bring it down. I normally let my Saisons go for 4 weeks+ in the fermenter, and then bottle at 3.0 Vols.
If you don't normally take gravity readings now is a good time to start because of the finicky nature of the yeast, you don't want to bottle something you think is done only to have it kickstart in the bottle and burst!

Good luck man!

 

[sherwicf]

I'll switch out the Carapils for some honey and let this sucker ride. Thanks guys. I'll post up the tasting notes when its all said and done.

 

[unclebrazzie]

It all depends on what you're looking for in a saison.

If you're going for the "hoppy farmhouse ale" approach (which is what I reckon you want, judging from your late hops additions), then stick to your plan. The Cara + munich will leave a bit of body to accompany the hops. Belgian Saison is a slow and fickle beast, and depending on temperature and the amount of babysitting you're willing to do, it should get tjhe job done. Be sure to let it ride out, as it's notorious to doze off around the 1.030 mark, but will drop all the way to 1.002 if you give it time and the occasional nudge. You might want to substiture Belgian saison with French, which isn't as finicky but will ferment just as deeply.

If you want a more "authentic" saision (if such a thing exists), you may want to shift your hops a bit earlier. Saisons really do get better if you give 'm half a year or so, which means your precious dry hops will have faded substantially by the time the beer is at its prime.

Mashing at 65 should give a perfectly dry saison either way.

Good luck!