I'm Paul in South East Asia

[Zambezi Special]

Not me!
We consider 35 oC a cold day in summer...

 

[Miraculix]

This summer when temps rose up to 35С I went for a Saison and Kveik spree.
5 Saisons, each with different dry yeast (M29, M31, BE-134, Lalbrew Belle Saison, Gozdawa Noble Saison) and 6 different Dark Rye Kveiks with Voss and Hornindal.
Also, two Belgian Strongs with M41, Dark and Golden.

Who said there's nothing to brew in summer?

Which one was your favourite dry saison yeast? Which one was the most expressive? Which one had the most lemon/pepper?

 

[Protos]

I'll post here a report when all my Saisons are ready!
For the moment, just a single batch is ready to drink, M29. It's my favourite Saison yeast so I brewed it earlier than the rest. After some 6 weeks I hope to have them all ready so I could share the tasting notes.

In the M29 batch I messed up a.bit the bittering part (stupidly combined untreated alkaline tap water with high-cohumulone hops which imparts a harsher bitterness) but the yeast worked perfectly. Will see how it compares to other strains.

 

[Zambezi Special]

I got 3 batches of Saison with M29 with different hops (single malt)
Perle/Saaz
Cascade
East Kent Goldings (almost ready for bottling).
Sofar, Perle/Saaz is my favourite

 

[Zambezi Special]

Forgot to report back on hot fermented M47:
89% pilsner malt / 5.5 % aroma malt / 5.5 % wheat malt (hops: styrian & saaz)
Not bad at all. Nice beer to drink. No weird off flavours

Next M47 is still in fermenter, in non working chest freezer (acts as coolbox to level outday/night temps).
This one is a 100% pilsner malt on old trub, styrian & saaz as hop

 

[Zambezi Special]

Sorry, one of those internet glitches
Double post

 

[Protos]

Which one was your favourite dry saison yeast? Which one was the most expressive? Which one had the most lemon/pepper?

Well, now that my Saison collection is ready to drink and has been thoroughly tasted I can answer your questions.

So, the Protos Saison Collection 2022 includes the next batches:
M29 - Peated Rye Saison, own recipe (40% Chateau Peated Malt 5 ppm phenols, 20% Rye Malt).
- the most expressive yeast, as always. Perfect balance of Phenols and Esters, moderate tartness. That could be the best Saison of all six if I brewed it with boiled water. I foolishly used non-treated hard alcaline water however. Combined with high-cohumulone South African hops, it produced very unpleasant and harsh bitterness. From my previous experiences I know that harshness won't go away with time. Will have to drink this batch up somehow. Surprisingly, Peat flavour is non-existent - it didn't came through the violent fermentation.

BE-134 - Peated Rye Saison, own recipe (same grist as above)
BE-134 - Saison d'Epeautre clone (33% unmalted Spelt)
- the most Peppery one. Peppery and Clovey, I liked it a lot. Didn't notice much Esters, the nose is predominantly Phenolic, which is great. The best Saisons I brewed this summer. Boiled water used, no hop harshness issues. Unlike M29, BE-134 let some Peat flavour come through. Just a bit, to complement the Saisony Phenolics with Peaty Phenolics, neither being overwhelming. That's the effect I was hoping for. A successful experiment, will make Peaty Saison again, with BE-134 and with Scottish Peated Malt. Spelt Saison came out great as well. Finally I got what the effect of Spelt is all about: it's very much like Wheat but without that wheaty tartness, which I often find excessive in an already tart beer such as Saison. From now, I will use Spelt instead of Wheat in my Saisons.

Lalbrew Belle Saison - Saison Bouffoon, from Mosher's Radical Brewing (spiced).
- the most Lemony one. Estery/Phenolic flavours are very close to M29 (which is not a surprise) but the beer is way more acidic, which is consistent with my previous experiences from this yeast. All Saisons are more or less tart, but this one is too much acidic to my taste, up to not being pleasant. Didn't like it. The spices (Sweet Orange Peel, Indian Coriander, Allspice and Clove) are totally muted, not distinguishable at all.

M31 - Saison de Pipaix Clone (spiced)
- good balance of subtle Esters and Phenols, although I'd prefer a bit more Phenols in a Saison. Nice beer, though not a real Saison: too little Phenols to be called a real one. Last year, when I made a Karmeliet Tripel clone with it, it was otherwise: "not a real Tripel, too Saisony" to me. Good yeast but I still haven't found the right style to use it with. Added quite a bit of spices to the wort, following the recipe: Bitter and Sweet Orange Peel, Black Pepper (0.5 g/L), Ginger, Anise. The fresh wort came out so peppery hot I thought the batch was certainly a dumper. Bottle maturation mellowed it greatly, however. I like the lingering peppery note now. The rest of the spices are gone completely.

Gozdawa Noble Saison - failed batch. There was a hard-to-notice microcrack in the plastic fermenter so the freshly inoculated beer leaked out overnight on the floor. Hope to repeat this beer the next summer.