New to Saison.

[UpsetsBrewing]

I was thinking of trying a Saison. Not educated in the least when it comes to Belgian malts. I looked up recipes online and kinda messed around with the bill and added ground pepper. Can I get some opinions on this recipe?

8 lb Belgian Pilsner
1.5 lb Belgian Biscuit
1 lb Belgian Wheat
8 oz CaraMunich
8 oz Flaked Wheat
8 oz Carapils
1 oz Amarillo (first wort)
.5 oz Willamette (first wort)
.5 oz Willamette @ 30 min
1 oz Amarillo @ 5
2 tsp Fresh ground black pepper @ 5 min
WYEAST 3724

 

[michiganhomebrewer]

I would keep it simple for your first saison. 100% Belgian Pilsner, or Belgian Pils + a few pounds of wheat. Keep the hops and get rid of the pepper. 3724 has such a great flavor profile, you kind of want to get out of it's way.

 

[Jonkl]

^^^ This. Belgian Pilsner + Wheat, plus hops and saison yeast.

 

[inflictor-of-grimness]

I would keep it simple for your first saison. 100% Belgian Pilsner, or Belgian Pils + a few founds of wheat. Keep the hops and get rid of the pepper. 3724 has such a great flavor profile, you kind of want to get out of it's way.

Agreed. Simplified malt bills are the way to go, caramel malts are not usually good in a saison. And 3724 already gives off a great black pepper character.

In addition to this, your FWH additions seem like they could make the beer too bitter. I'm not on my home computer so I can't put it in beersmith to be sure, but it definitely looks like it would be overly bitter for style.

 

[UpsetsBrewing]

Yeah, u are right about the FWH but I am looking to be a bit more bitter than traditional style. Is the pepper flavor from the Saison yeast very prominent or more of just a spice characteristic?

 

[m00ps]

It can be pretty prominent, especially when fermented colder. I've made a saison with peppercorns before. It was good, but I prefer without

As for the grain bill, definitely keep it simple, but that doesnt necessarily mean it has to be all pilsner. I like 20-30% adjuncts (rye wheat oats) in my saisons to keep things interesting. Thats the how original ones were made anyway. One harvest year the barley crop wasnt as good, so they subbed some other grains. One harvest year the hop werent plentiful so they added spices. I'll usually also add some cane sugar to help dry it out and maybe 4oz of something random. Last one had aromatic malt in it. I'd take out the belgian biscuit and caramunich though. Maybe replace them with some cane sugar.

 

[GuldTuborg]

You can always add pepper at bottling time, if you taste a sample and decide you want a more prominent pepper character. On the other hand, if you add it early, you may have to blend the batch to reduce it in intensity. If this is your first time around with a recipe like this, consider holding off on the addition until you taste it first.