Saison Ole Zion Church Saison

[Fritobandito]

I got everything I needed the other day but I had a few questions. How did you add the peppercorns and coriander? Did you just crush them with a rolling pin or beer bottle, or just add them whole?

 

[Native302]

I got everything I needed the other day but I had a few questions. How did you add the peppercorns and coriander? Did you just crush them with a rolling pin or beer bottle, or just add them whole?

I crushed the coriander roughly just enough to release the oils and I added the peppercorns whole. If I were to do this again I'd add the peppercorns in a hop bag and keep them in the primary full term. Spice/flavor from the peppercorns has diminished over time.

 

[Fritobandito]

I made this today and ended up with an OG of 1.061, which was what I expected to get with 75% efficiency. I did end up just throwing the peppercorns into the primary without a bag, so I'll see how that ends up. The autosiphon got jammed a few times with coriander and orange peel transferring from the kettle to the primary. Overall, everything went pretty smooth. I have it in the fridge now at 64 degrees and I'm gonna take it out and let it sit at room temp for a few weeks so it can heat up.

 

[Native302]

I made this today and ended up with an OG of 1.061, which was what I expected to get with 75% efficiency. I did end up just throwing the peppercorns into the primary without a bag, so I'll see how that ends up. The autosiphon got jammed a few times with coriander and orange peel transferring from the kettle to the primary. Overall, everything went pretty smooth. I have it in the fridge now at 64 degrees and I'm gonna take it out and let it sit at room temp for a few weeks so it can heat up.

Sounds like every thing went ok! Let me know how it turns out and what your FG is when you keg or bottle.

 

[JerzBrew]

I just checked the gravity of this recipe, it was down to 1.002. This was after a week in the cool basement and another in the 80 degree-ish attic. It started around 1.07. So if my math's right the ABV is in the mid 8s.

So yea, Wyeast 3711 is a beast of a yeast!

I went ahead and bottled it with a little priming sugar. Really looking forward to enjoying the rest of summer with this guy around.

 

[Native302]

WOW! it really did eat away at that. That's good to hear and I don't think you'll be let down at all. It has a nice bite up front then comes back and makes up for it later. Nice lacing too.

 

[JerzBrew]

Opened the first bottle yesterday. Despite my botched mash it tastes great, maybe a little thin. I think the spices come through really well. And I also notice strong lacing. I don't know why but I really like seeing that. Thanks again!

 

[Native302]

Thin.....? Hmmm, mine wasn't thin at all. Could be due to the mash issues. The lacing is incredible! I had one last week and was still quite amazed at how it just lingers on the glass forever. Yeah the spices aren't too overpowering, but get even better with age. I think that it hit it's peak at 14 weeks. IMHO

 

[JerzBrew]

Thin.....? Hmmm, mine wasn't thin at all. Could be due to the mash issues. The lacing is incredible! I had one last week and was still quite amazed at how it just lingers on the glass forever. Yeah the spices aren't too overpowering, but get even better with age. I think that it hit it's peak at 14 weeks. IMHO

You're right, it was the poor mash and excessive sugar that caused this "thin" flavor in my attempt on your recipe.

For the record I hit the gravity numbers of my last brew spot on. Definitely at the steep part of the learning curve now, haha.

Out of curiosity, what's your fall brew?

 

[Native302]

I did a hopped up Belgian triple, a sweet tater farmhouse saison, and a smoked pumpkin ale

 

[cehlo]

I doubled this recipe and brewed up a 10 gal batch with the plan to add some H2O and drop it down into the session ABV range. (Needed to do something for the women and the faint-hearted) Had some last minute problems and couldn't use my 25 gal brewkettle, so the boil was a bit of a challenge but we persisted. Ended up with ~ 8-9 gal and diluted up to almost 12.

Fermented in 15 gal glass carboy. Kegged 5 gal and bottled about the same last week. I don't have the g readings with me, but post boil and OG were exactly where I expected even with the issues we had. FG was actually a bit lower than expected but nothing wrong with that. Smelled and tasted great. Looking forward to drinking the finished product.

And looking forward to doing the original in the future. Next time I think we'll split the batch and make a big and little boy version.

 

[Native302]

That's awesome! Please keep us informed how it turns out. I like the idea of turning this into a session beer. I may try that and omit the peppercorns.

 

[Fritobandito]

So I finally cracked open my first bottle of this today. It's only 2.5 weeks in the bottle, but it tastes good so far. I left the peppercorns in the primary for the full 4 weeks and I can definitely taste quite a bit of pepper. It might even be a little overpowering honestly. Adding them with 2 weeks left probably would have been a better idea, but the pepper might mellow a bit.

 

[Native302]

So I finally cracked open my first bottle of this today. It's only 2.5 weeks in the bottle, but it tastes good so far. I left the peppercorns in the primary for the full 4 weeks and I can definitely taste quite a bit of pepper. It might even be a little overpowering honestly. Adding them with 2 weeks left probably would have been a better idea, but the pepper might mellow a bit.

The pepper will mellow out for sure, I opened my first one at 6 weeks and the pepper was still noticeable, after 2 months it is a perfect blend of spice from the yeast and peppercorn

 

[Fritobandito]

The pepper will mellow out for sure, I opened my first one at 6 weeks and the pepper was still noticeable, after 2 months it is a perfect blend of spice from the yeast and peppercorn

The aroma is fine and the pepper isn't too strong. It's just the taste that it's SLIGHTLY too strong. I mean it might even be just me because I tend to judge my own brews pretty harshly.

 

[Native302]

Just give it some time to mature, it'll be good

 

[thompsng]

Hey! So I brewed this, and it has been in bottles for a little over a month but there is still quite a bit of suspended material. Apparently this is possibly the result of pectin extraction during the boil. Has anyone else experienced this?

Also, I used some store brand black peppercorns instead of pink peppercorns and I have noticed that the pepper flavor is slightly stale. I boiled them as per the directions, but also threw some into the post fermentation. Could this stale pepper flavor be the result of low quality peppercorns?

Otherwise, the flavor is really awesome. I like how the hop flavor interacts with the orange peel. This beer was also my driest fermenting to date! So that is exciting...

Thanks for the recipe and the input!

Nick

 

[Native302]

Hey! So I brewed this, and it has been in bottles for a little over a month but there is still quite a bit of suspended material. Apparently this is possibly the result of pectin extraction during the boil. Has anyone else experienced this?

Also, I used some store brand black peppercorns instead of pink peppercorns and I have noticed that the pepper flavor is slightly stale. I boiled them as per the directions, but also threw some into the post fermentation. Could this stale pepper flavor be the result of low quality peppercorns?

Otherwise, the flavor is really awesome. I like how the hop flavor interacts with the orange peel. This beer was also my driest fermenting to date! So that is exciting...

Thanks for the recipe and the input!

Nick

Did you add fruit to this? Should be no pectin at all......on the other hand I did have alot of haze in the bottles, but once they are in the fridge for 72+ hours that will all settle out. It will be semi cloudy due to the wheat.

As the pepper taset is concerned it Could be old peppercorns, not sure about it though

Glad you liked the recipe and as I said before give it time to mature

Cheers

 

[cehlo]

Been meaning to update this for a while. I was really happy with the results both in the bottle and in the keg.

I used black peppercorns instead of pink and I did modify the citrus peel a bit and used equal amounts of lemon and orange peels and I also tossed in a small amount of fresh ginger that I had leftover from another batch.

The first few times I tried it, the coriander and ginger were rather prominent but have since mellowed very nicely and the citrus shines through at a nice level now. I think it's a really nice example of the saison and would definitely brew it again. I never really noticed the peppercorns and think a more peppery note would be a good thing. I would probably gently crack the peppercorns at the end of the boil or leave them in the fermenter.

Most of my friends enjoyed this on tap a few weeks ago but many of them were saison virgins and I think they were a bit confused by the slight funk of the style.

 

[Native302]

Anyone else brew this? I'm gonna do it again minus the peppercorn and orange peel, and try my luck with figs and ECY20 Bug Country.

 

[lawnboy51]

Took advantage of the great weather last night and brewed this up on the porch. LHBS was out of belgian pils and biscuit, so I substituted german pils and cara-belge. Couldn't find pink peppercorns so I subbed a blend that had white, green, pink and black. Also used 3724 instead of 3711.

I bought enough ingredients for a 10 gallon batch but just brewed 5 instead. Ordered some pink peppercorns online for the next batch. The brew shop only had 1 pack of 3724 and no 3711, but he did have the 1581 Belgian stout that says it can be used for Belgian Pale Ale, Belgian Specialty Ale, Belgian Dubbel, Triple and Quad, Belgian Strong Golden and Dark Ales, Belgian Blonde Ale, Saison so I'll be using that instead. I'll let you know how everything turns out.

 

[Native302]

That's what is all about...experimentation. please keep me posted how your 2 batches turns out. Once I heal from my surgery I'm brewing 10 gallons myself. Cheers!

 

[Native302]

Has anyone brewed this recently? How has it turned out?

 

[BeerMoneyBrewing]

That's a huge saison! Very interesting grain bill, thanks for posting the recipe, I will definitely be trying a version of this

 

[Fritobandito]

I brewed this over a year ago and left the peppercorns in the primary for 4 weeks. I would highly suggest NOT DOING THIS. Over a year later and the pepper is still way too strong and it's undrinkable. Just dumped around 40 bottles.

 

[beergolf]

Just bottled this with a couple minor changes. Used D-45 syrup and I could not find pink peppercorns so I used a peppercorn mix that did have some pink ones in the mix.

Mighhty tasty brew. Cannot wait unitl it is carbed and conditioned. Very nice.

 

[fury556]

I'll be brewing a 3gal batch of this tomorrow, minus the peppercorns. Will substitute Maris Otter for Optic, cause that's what I have

 

[fury556]

Wort is cloudy, should I be worried?

 

[KCBigDog]

I'm thinking of making this and adding a half a pound of midnight wheat to make it dark. My understanding is the midnight wheat won't change the taste much.

Thoughts?

 

[KCBigDog]

Just ordered the bill for this, and added 1/2 a pound of chocolate Wheat to make it darker in color. Looking forward to it. Just need to find some pink peppercorns.