Hoppy Saison thoughts

[kye77]

Hey Guys just kinda grabbed a saison grain bill I thought looked good and added a hop schedule that seemed tasty. What are your thoughts about it? Debating whether to throw some of the late boil additions into the dry hop instead.

2.5 gallon recipe

Yeast: Wyeast 3711 French Sasison

 

[Mer-man]

I'd recommend trying WLP400 or equivalent. Non traditional but makes a fantastic saison

 

[kye77]

Thanks for the reply! Ill have to research this yeast strain. Never heard of it.

 

[Mer-man]

Yeah it was new to me but Nøgne Ol in Norway uses it in theirs and it really enhances the wheat without losing spice

 

[ShaLaH]

That recipe looks good. 3711 is a beast and will get your FG way down. My saison got down to 1.004 in about a week. It has a spicy, peppery, taste. I think the hops will dominate this recipe though and you'll probably lose the Saison character. That's a lot of hops for a 5lb grain bill. It's definitely worth a shot though.

 

[Bosh]

Looks good, loved what citra did to my saison.

Just keep in mind that a saison will taste more bitter than the IBUs lead you to believe since the yeast attenuates so well.

Also in my experience saisons really need a good cold crash, the yeast doesn't flocc well and has an unpleasant bite.

 

[kye77]

ShaLah, Ya thats why I was just going to throw it all at flame out because my hoppy beers always lose a lot aroma from fermentation. But that is a good point to be made about covering up yeast character. Hopefully I will remember to report back in a month! Im going to brew this next week.

Bosh, I was thinking about cold crashing but never have before. I have a home fridge that I have the opportunity to use for a day or two. I heard air lock fluid can get sucked up inside. Do you ignore it or do you have something rigged so this doesn't happen?

 

[RM-MN]

ShaLah, Ya thats why I was just going to throw it all at flame out because my hoppy beers always lose a lot aroma from fermentation. But that is a good point to be made about covering up yeast character. Hopefully I will remember to report back in a month! Im going to brew this next week.

Bosh, I was thinking about cold crashing but never have before. I have a home fridge that I have the opportunity to use for a day or two. I heard air lock fluid can get sucked up inside. Do you ignore it or do you have something rigged so this doesn't happen?

If you use an "S" type airlock the liquid won't get sucked back. You can use the 3 piece airlock if you are careful to minimize the liquid inside so it sucks air before the liquid reaches the top of the inside stem.

You need to calculate how much of which hop to add to the boil to get at least some bittering. Throwing them all in at flame out may not get you much depending on how long it takes to get the wort from boil to less than 180F. which is where the hop oils mostly stop isomerizing for bittering.

The aromatic oils that give you the great aroma will be carried away during fermentation. Save a bunch for dry hopping when the fermentation is over.

 

[kye77]

If you use an "S" type airlock the liquid won't get sucked back. You can use the 3 piece airlock if you are careful to minimize the liquid inside so it sucks air before the liquid reaches the top of the inside stem.

You need to calculate how much of which hop to add to the boil to get at least some bittering. Throwing them all in at flame out may not get you much depending on how long it takes to get the wort from boil to less than 180F. which is where the hop oils mostly stop isomerizing for bittering.

The aromatic oils that give you the great aroma will be carried away during fermentation. Save a bunch for dry hopping when the fermentation is over.

I'm doing first wort hopping with citra. And I didn't realize that about the S shape! I still have one from my first couple brews. I'll try out cold crashing forsure then.
I'll probably just throw an oz. of citra in at dry hopping instead at flameout.

 

[kye77]

I'm doing first wort hopping with citra. And I didn't realize that about the S shape! I still have one from my first couple brews. I'll try out cold crashing forsure then.
I'll probably just throw an oz. of citra in at dry hopping instead at flameout.