Mango Saison

[RazorCatchPrey]

All above either estimated or calculated on iBrewmaster.

Looking for some feedback as I prepare to brew this one this weekend.

8 lbs pale malt
.75 lb Caramel 20L
.5 lb Biscuit
.25 lb White Wheat

1 oz Hersbrucker (3.9%) 60 minutes
.5 oz Hersbrucker (3.9%) 30 minutes
.5 oz Hersbrucker (3.9%) 10 minutes

Wyeast French Saison yeast in primary

7 lbs diced mango in secondary.

Anyone who has done a mango beer before- is secondary the way to go, or should I put it in my boil and leave it in through primary? And is 7 lbs the right amount for a noticeable but not overwhelming amount of mango?

Thanks in advance for any feedback and/or ideas!

 

[homebrewhaha]

For most fruit beer recipes I've seen they go in the secondary. Groovy idea. Good luck and report back with results!

 

[RazorCatchPrey]

Thanks, Homebrewhaha.

That's what I have done in the past as well, but wanted to see if anyone had other input.

Brewing tomorrow. Will let you know how it turns out!

 

[brewvall]

I have a mango ale that I make and I use 7 lbs on mango purée it is not a overwhelming taste because it is a subtle flavor as opposed to a aggressive flavor like raspberries, you are on the right track. Good luck

 

[RazorCatchPrey]

Thanks, that's the same thing I am going for. I want it to be nice and subtle to mix with the fruitiness and spiciness of the saison yeast. Thanks for the feedback!

I brewed this weekend and everything went very smoothly. After a very slow starting yeast starter, the actual primary fermentation was the fastest starting and most vigorous fermentation I've had yet. OG was around 1.056 right on the nose. I put in a blow-off tube and for about 48 hours it sounded like an aquarium pump bubbling away.

Since there was so much sediment floating up in it during fermentation, I plan on doing a 10-14 day primary, then will rack to secondary for about 21 days before kegging and bottling.

I have a mango ale that I make and I use 7 lbs on mango purée it is not a overwhelming taste because it is a subtle flavor as opposed to a aggressive flavor like raspberries, you are on the right track. Good luck

 

[RazorCatchPrey]

Update:

After one of the quickest starting and most vigorous primary fermentations I have had to date, I let it sit in primary for one week, then transferred to secondary. I took a hydrometer reading and it was down around 1.016. It also tasted great. Perfect Saison peppery-sour.

It sat by itself in secondary for eight days, then I added the mango purée.

I had forgotten how difficult mangos were to work with. I bought 11 mangos, including two that weren't really ripe. After peeling all of them, I tossed one bad one, then diced the unrepentant ones and mashed up the ripe ones. Since it is so hard to get all of the pulp off the pit, I ended up throwing the pits in with the rest in a stock pot with just enough water to cover it all and boiled it for about 20 minutes. Let it chill in the fridge for a hour, then pick out the pits and throw everything else in the fermenter.

The purée was still a little warm, and between that and the sugar in the mangos, fermentation picked up again for about a day. Now some of the mango purée is floating on top and some is at the bottom.

The unrepentant mangos had a bit of a sour apple type flavor to them, so I decided they should go in and help add a little tartness to the beer.

The plan now is to leave it on the mangos for two weeks before siphoning to the keg. I will probably cover the intake of my auto siphon with my mesh grain bag to keep out any particulates.

 

[RazorCatchPrey]

Another update:

After one week primary, one week regular secondary, and two weeks on the mangos, I just racked this beer into the keg and am force carbonating it.

About half of the mango purée was sitting at the bottom of the Better Bottle, and half was on top. My new keg came in the mail yesterday, so I put the carboy in my kegerator to crash it. Sure enough, this morning all of that mango was on the bottom of the carboy.

I lugged it back upstairs and after sanitizing the keg (no major cleaning necessary. Midwest Supplies did a great job of that already), I wrapped my racking cane with a sanitized grain bag and pulled the beer from the carboy into the keg. About 3/4 of the way through, I had a hard time getting the beer to move through the cane, so I had to readjust the filter and I took that opportunity to siphon a pint off into a glass for sampling.

Unfortunately, I didn't think to take a gravity reading.

Tasting notes:

Ok, this is room temp and uncarbonated, but for what it's worth, the mango flavor is soft but very noticeable. Little to no hops present. very light, clean mouthfeel. Sweet fruitiness on the front of the tongue with a good helping of Saison funk on the finish. The aroma is mangos and funk.

Os far I am very happy with this beer. Will update again in a few days with thoughts once it is cold and carbonated.

 

[jessup]

What kind of funk are you talking about? Regular saison strains should not contain any funk or brett strains - oldsock does says a particular strain contains brettC but can't recall if its the 3711. The mango saison does sound mighty tasty though! How did you sterilize the mango? Do you think the funk is an infection? Was the SG steady??

 

[kingwood-kid]

What kind of funk are you talking about? Regular saison strains should not contain any funk or brett strains - oldsock does says a particular strain contains brettC but can't recall if its the 3711. The mango saison does sound mighty tasty though! How did you sterilize the mango? Do you think the funk is an infection? Was the SG steady??

The saison strain with Brett C is White Labs 670, American Farmhouse. But I'm pretty sure OP's beer isn't infected; saison yeasts should give some funkiness on their own. Funky is the most accurate term to me, but in beer terms that always means brett. Maybe a less-confusing descriptor would be earthy or rustic.

 

[RazorCatchPrey]

Yes, perhaps "funk" wasn't the best term to use. What I was trying to describe was that charactaristic saison slightly sour earthiness. It was very present and made for a great drinking beer.

To sterilize the mangos I peeled, diced, and mashed them. I hadn't worked much with mangos before and didn't realize what a pain they could be. I threw it all into a small pot with a few cups of water and boiled for about ten minutes, cooled it in the freezer, then added to secondary.

I got lots of positive reviews on this one, though most people thought the mango could have been a little more forward. I was going for subtle, though, and that's what it had.

 

[phrankiebee]

How many mangos did you use to get 7lbs? also is there an extract recipe for this saison?

 

[RazorCatchPrey]

I weighed out about 10 lbs of mangos on the scale at the grocery store, figuring that I would lose a few pounds to peeling and the pits. I didn't weigh again after making the puree.

My recipe was:

8# 2 row pale malt
.75 20L
.5 Biscuit
.25 White Wheat

1 oz Hallertauer 60 min
1 oz Hallertauer 30 min

French saison yeast

Boil mango puree, then cool and add to secondary for 14-21 days.

OG 1.056
FG 1.015
ABV 5.8%
IBU 23.33
Color (iBrewmaster said 6.5, but it ended up a little darker than that from the mangos)

 

[phrankiebee]

At what gravity would you transfer to secondary on to the fruit? I am making a apricot saison right now and I have been in primary (after a slow fermentation) for 3 weeks. I took a reading last night and it was at 1.028 (og was 1.066).
Thanks

 

[brewvall]

What temp are you fermenting at? But from the looks of your gravity you still need to come down to about 1.012 or 1.010 you may have another week or so on it.

 

[gimpmeister]

One of my favorite summer desserts is granita with various gros and a hint of mint. Do you think a touch of mint would work will I this? I think the mango saison is one I want to try. Possibly as my first all grain brew.