Owly055
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I brewed what I term an "Imperial Saison" today (tongue in cheek). The only thing that makes it a Saison is the Danstar / Lallamand Belle Saison yeast.
So what makes a Saison??? The style guidelines are largely BS where a Saison is concerned........... thousands of small farms brewed Saisons, and each was more or less unique to that farm. Likely most Saisons were low alcohol, as they were served to field workers (reputedly), and drunken field workers are NOT an asset. Did all of it go to the field hands? Or did some farmers brew for their own table as well........ An "imperial" version with which to drink themselves into oblivion every evening. I suspect that this was often the case.
The Saison story looks like a brew of opportunity, a wildly diverse grain bill, that might also have included cull fruits, and perhaps grains that had little market value. It's a story of using the hops that grew on the trellis over the entry gate......... whatever those were. Likely the IBUs varied greatly, but were usually quite low........... But who knows?? Some farmers were likely "hop heads", and may have pushed the IBUs up as high as 30.
I've brewed a number of Saisons this year with a variety of grains and hops....... all good. I started out with noble hops, and other hops from Europe and the UK, and moved on to other hops. One of my favorites was 100% Nugget.
Today (and yesterday), I brewed an "Imperial Saison", which I expect to exceed 8% abv. OG was 1.081. The grain bill included the usual suspects. 3 gallon brew included 3 pounds of two row, and a pound of dark munich.........But it also included 3 pounds of Wheat Montana 7 grain cereal (rolled grains), and a pound and a half of sugar.
The mash was long and complex...... The cereal was cooked at about 180, cooled and had amylase added..... and was mashed for an hour by itself. I then added the two row and Munich, and raised it slowly back into the mash range, heavily insulated it and left to work for 4 hours. When it reached 110F, I tossed in a handful of 2 row and covered with saran wrap floating on the surface for 12 hours insulated and on a heat pad........Mainly because I didn't want to finish the brew that evening, and innoculating with lacto made more sense than just leaving it over night.
As you can see, I didn't have a real "plan"....... a little sour was OK.....but not necessary. I don't expect any sour character to be detectible......... and I don't care. The idea was to run a "loose process".
I hit a PPG of 21 (estimated) with the 7 grain cereal..........not too shabby.
Hops are NOT European. This beer is anchored with Amarillo..... 2 ounces of it, one at 3 minutes, and one a 15 minute whirlpool at a starting temp of 160. A quarter ounce of Summit FWH for bittering, and half an ounce each of Willamette and Calliente at 3 minutes. 3.25 total ounces of hops for 3 gallons of beer.
Pitched Belle Saison at 70F.... Currently boiling away at 78.......... I pitched quite heavily from the trub of a previous brew......... I want plenty of spice and fruit. My thinking is that the heavy pitch will reduce the character of the Saison yeast somewhat, but the high fermentation temp will promote it somewhat. This will ferment entirely at indoor ambient temp......NO AC, NO heat. Ambient will drop to around 50 tonight, and probably hit 90 tomorrow (indoors). I'm making zero effort to manage temperature, but this IS a Saison yeast.
Comments??
H.W.
So what makes a Saison??? The style guidelines are largely BS where a Saison is concerned........... thousands of small farms brewed Saisons, and each was more or less unique to that farm. Likely most Saisons were low alcohol, as they were served to field workers (reputedly), and drunken field workers are NOT an asset. Did all of it go to the field hands? Or did some farmers brew for their own table as well........ An "imperial" version with which to drink themselves into oblivion every evening. I suspect that this was often the case.
The Saison story looks like a brew of opportunity, a wildly diverse grain bill, that might also have included cull fruits, and perhaps grains that had little market value. It's a story of using the hops that grew on the trellis over the entry gate......... whatever those were. Likely the IBUs varied greatly, but were usually quite low........... But who knows?? Some farmers were likely "hop heads", and may have pushed the IBUs up as high as 30.
I've brewed a number of Saisons this year with a variety of grains and hops....... all good. I started out with noble hops, and other hops from Europe and the UK, and moved on to other hops. One of my favorites was 100% Nugget.
Today (and yesterday), I brewed an "Imperial Saison", which I expect to exceed 8% abv. OG was 1.081. The grain bill included the usual suspects. 3 gallon brew included 3 pounds of two row, and a pound of dark munich.........But it also included 3 pounds of Wheat Montana 7 grain cereal (rolled grains), and a pound and a half of sugar.
The mash was long and complex...... The cereal was cooked at about 180, cooled and had amylase added..... and was mashed for an hour by itself. I then added the two row and Munich, and raised it slowly back into the mash range, heavily insulated it and left to work for 4 hours. When it reached 110F, I tossed in a handful of 2 row and covered with saran wrap floating on the surface for 12 hours insulated and on a heat pad........Mainly because I didn't want to finish the brew that evening, and innoculating with lacto made more sense than just leaving it over night.
As you can see, I didn't have a real "plan"....... a little sour was OK.....but not necessary. I don't expect any sour character to be detectible......... and I don't care. The idea was to run a "loose process".
I hit a PPG of 21 (estimated) with the 7 grain cereal..........not too shabby.
Hops are NOT European. This beer is anchored with Amarillo..... 2 ounces of it, one at 3 minutes, and one a 15 minute whirlpool at a starting temp of 160. A quarter ounce of Summit FWH for bittering, and half an ounce each of Willamette and Calliente at 3 minutes. 3.25 total ounces of hops for 3 gallons of beer.
Pitched Belle Saison at 70F.... Currently boiling away at 78.......... I pitched quite heavily from the trub of a previous brew......... I want plenty of spice and fruit. My thinking is that the heavy pitch will reduce the character of the Saison yeast somewhat, but the high fermentation temp will promote it somewhat. This will ferment entirely at indoor ambient temp......NO AC, NO heat. Ambient will drop to around 50 tonight, and probably hit 90 tomorrow (indoors). I'm making zero effort to manage temperature, but this IS a Saison yeast.
Comments??
H.W.
