Help with saison recipe

[robc311]

Hi all...Santa brought me a FastFerment conical so I'm anxious to try it out. Since I haven't figured out a good way to control temps with it I figured it's a great excuse to make a saison. My local brewery (Marker 48) makes an awesome raspberry saison with cayenne called Meet the Heat and I'd love to make something similar but I need help. I've been searching for saison recipes but haven't found as many as I expected. So I would love any suggestions on a good saison recipe to start with. I think I can figure out the raspberries...found lots of info on that. But, the cayenne is tricky. I saw one guy that added a teaspoon of ground cayenne to the end of his boil but he never posted results. I'm not married to cayenne...I'm open to other peppers...I don't want a firebomb but I do want it noticeable mainly in the throat. This is where I defer to the experts. I'm looking for an extract recipe and steeping grains are cool too. I have access to a LHBS shop that has a pretty good selection. I'd also like to try some candi syrup if possible since I've never used it. Let me know what you think...thanks!

 

[55x11]

Hi all...Santa brought me a FastFerment conical so I'm anxious to try it out. Since I haven't figured out a good way to control temps with it I figured it's a great excuse to make a saison. My local brewery (Marker 48) makes an awesome raspberry saison with cayenne called Meet the Heat and I'd love to make something similar but I need help. I've been searching for saison recipes but haven't found as many as I expected. So I would love any suggestions on a good saison recipe to start with. I think I can figure out the raspberries...found lots of info on that. But, the cayenne is tricky. I saw one guy that added a teaspoon of ground cayenne to the end of his boil but he never posted results. I'm not married to cayenne...I'm open to other peppers...I don't want a firebomb but I do want it noticeable mainly in the throat. This is where I defer to the experts. I'm looking for an extract recipe and steeping grains are cool too. I have access to a LHBS shop that has a pretty good selection. I'd also like to try some candi syrup if possible since I've never used it. Let me know what you think...thanks!

I have tried brewing numerous saisons, rye saisons, high ABV saisons, various addition, numerous yeasts etc. I find simple recipe like the one Drew Beechum is using to test out various yeast strains to be the best all around:

(from https://www.maltosefalcons.com/tech/guide-saisons-and-saison-yeasts)

The Test Recipe Saison
Saison Experimentale

For 5.5 gallons at 1.048. 20 IBUs

Malt/Grain/Sugar
8.75 lbs Pilsner Malt
0.5 lbs Flaked Wheat
1.0 lbs White Table Sugar
Hops
0.5 oz Magnum (12.9%) 60 min
Mash
149F (65C) for 60 minutes
Yeast
Whatever strain your heart desires.


My personal preferences: keep IBU's fairly low, maybe 20-25 and focus on clean and simple bittering only. Let the aroma/flavor be dominated by yeast and in your case some fruit additions.
Make sure it is very dry. Sugar helps and so is mashing LOW. My last saison finished at 1.000 but typically it's closer to 1.004 or so.
Some wheat could help with head retention.
Fermenting open helps prevent yeast stall (I never experienced a stall but it may be just good luck). Some strains are sensitive to CO2 or backpressure.

Start at relatively "low" temp, maybe 65F or so and ramp up later (perhaps in your case just let it go). Some strains can and should go to 80F and above.

 

[robc311]

I ended up swinging by my LHBS shop and the guy there helped me put together a recipe since I'm doing extract. Here's what we came up with:

6lbs Light Pilsen DME
Steeping Grains:
.5lbs White Wheat
.5lbs Vienna
.5lbs Acidulated Malt
1oz Perle hops at 60
1oz Hallertau at 10
1lb Clear Candi Syrup
Wyeast 3711 French Saison

The candi syrup was my idea and he said it would work out. He said this yeast is easier to work with so I got it. I plan to do a late addition on half the DME. I have some flaked wheat and oat...not sure if either would be worth adding here. I'm curious to hear what you all think about the recipe. Thanks!

 

[Kent88]

When are you planning on brewing this?

If you like the idea of candi syrup and want it hot, maybe this would be appealing for you?

Keep the beer just below 70F during krausen and then let it free-rise after that, if you can.

 

[brewbama]

Your recipe is pretty close to the one I use for a Saison - which I got from Brewing Classic Styles - to include the candi sugar. I use Munich vs Vienna which is acceptable I believe. I also use a little CaraMunich but I like your Acidulated Malt idea that is not in the recipe I use. I would not add the oats or flaked wheat because you have wheat already for head retention. Can't help with the peppers. Not my thing.

The recipe I use says "Mash at 147° F (64° C). With the low mash temperature, you may need to lengthen the rest time to 90 minutes to get full conversion. Also increase the pre-boil volume as needed to allow a 90-minute boil, which will help reduce DMS in the beer."

Pretty close to those above, the recipe I use says "Ferment at 68° F (20° C) to start, and then ramp up the temperature to 80° F (27° C) over the course of fermentation."
Cheers!

 

[Morrey]

I am on day 12 in primary with 3711 fermenting at 69F. All I can say is use a blow off tube. Seriously this yeast is a beast.