Russian River Saison

[redrocker652002]

So, I just tried their Saison beer and it was really good. Never having had one before I enjoyed it. Anybody have a good Saison recipe for a fairly new drinker to this style?

 

[DBhomebrew]

Personally, I prefer the closely related, more sessionable grisette.

The original webpage where I got the all-grain recipe seems to be defunct, but here's an extract version. Both were really good and made wonderful summer beers. When I made the all-grain I used golden promise base. An all French Fuggle batch was good. So was an all Saaz. Really any noble-like hop would probably work.

Very recently, I brewed an all-grain grisette based on this recipe. Today, I brewed a quick extract version.

1.040 OG
30 IBU

30m boil, half the DME plus the sugar reserved for flameout.

Added 2g CaCl, 3.5g CaSO4, 1g NaCl to my rather soft water. Estimated 100 Ca, 0.8:1 Cl:SO4.

4 gallons of water, 1.5 reserved
2# Munton's Wheat DME, 1/2# reserved
1# Munton's Extra Light DME, reserved
1/2# Demerara, reserved

1.9HBU Saaz FW
1.9HBU Saaz 30m
3.8HBU Saaz 15m
4g French Fuggle Dry Hop

OYL-042 Belgian Saison II
500ml SNS starter pitched @ high krausen @ 72°F

I'll let it heat up on its own, then help it to 80 or so to finish.

 

[DBhomebrew]

Found the grist for the all-grain version. 75/20/5% golden promise/ flaked wheat/demerara

 

[Pennine]

Found the grist for the all-grain version. 75/20/5% golden promise/ flaked wheat/demerara

Got me thinking, I have a couple of packs of farmhouse I wanted to use.

 

[jrgtr42]

I put together a saison recipe that I've rather enjoyed. 75/15/10 Pils, vienna and rye, plus a pound of table sugan to dry it out.
Magnum and saaz hopa, saison yeast.
I may experiment next time with coriander seed and orange peel, I haven;t decided yet.

 

[Pennine]

I've got one going now too, pils, wheat, munich and sugar. Will bitter with magnum and WP/DH with Citra/Eukanot

 

[worlddivides]

I've got a recipe I made for a dry-hopped rye saison (about 20% rye malt, which qualifies for the title) that I'm looking forward to making. The previous saison I made was Pilsner malt, Munich malt, and sucrose, but this time it's Munich malt, rye malt, wheat malt, and sucrose for a slightly darker and spicier saison.

 

[BrewerofBeers]

This saison blends a crisp, dry malt backbone from Weyermann Barke Pilsner with layered depth from Ashburne (light toast), Abbey (dark fruit and subtle sweetness), and small amounts of Carafoam and Melanoidin for head retention and malt richness. Light bitterness from Magnum supports late additions of low-alpha Saphir for gentle herbal and floral notes, and Mandarina Bavaria in the whirlpool and dry hop adds bright, mandarin-like aroma. Fermented with WY3711, it has a dry and floral finish, delivering a refreshing, modern twist on the classic Belgian saison.

Weyermann Barke Pilsner Malt 77.6%
Ashburne 9.6%
Abbey 8.1%
Carafoam 2.4%
Melanoidin 2.4%

Mash 148F

60 min Magnum (35 IBU)
15 min Saphir (11 IBU)
Clarifier in boil
Postboil/whirlpool 140F 30 mins about 0.36 oz per gallon Mandarina Bavaria
Dry Hop 3–5 days about 0.24 oz per gallon Mandarina Bavaria

Ferment with WY3711 French Saison

 

[Derek Robinson]

I am a die-hard saison lover and have brewed a dozen or more. To me, the key to Russian River (and Saison Dupont) is to stay away from the yeast strains that give the strong banana/clove profile. You want to select and highlight a saison yeast that has citrusy/black pepper notes and make sure that your beer dries out without becoming too watery.

I keep my mash very simple with mostly belgian 2-row and add some carapils and wheat for head retention and mouthfeel. I also use classic euro hops, but add in a little citrus forward hops at the end.

Best of luck!

 

[Sipina]

Got me thinking, I have a couple of packs of farmhouse I wanted to use.

+1 for farmhouse

I got something similar fermenting with farmhouse right now.
Vienna, carapils and wheat low mash temp and some magnum for bittering and late additions are styrian golding, curacao orange peel and coriander. I pitched the yeast at 25 degree celsius.

 

[redrocker652002]

Great info folks. Thank you very much. Keep it coming if you have any recipes that you like in this style please post them. I want to add this style to my list as well. Thanks to all who replied so far.

 

[Kickass]

stay away from the yeast strains that give the strong banana/clove profile. You want to select and highlight a saison yeast that has citrusy/black pepper notes

Which yeast(s) would you recommend?

 

[Derek Robinson]

Which yeast(s) would you recommend?

Wyeast 3711 French Saison Yeast
Omega Yeast Belgian Saison II
Imperial Yeast Napoleon (B64)

Temperature matters. I typically pitch at around 70degF and ramp up to 80-85deg after two days of fermentation. If you are lucky, you will get to final gravity 1.007 or below within two weeks. Sometimes you have to wait it out.

 

[BrewerofBeers]

3711 is one of my favorite yeasts, even the starter tastes good. I always refrigerate my starter and decant before pitching. It was the second yeast I ever got, after WLP001. From session beers to 12% ABV behemoths to a robust biere de guarde, this yeast is a beast and very nicely flavorful. I don't get a lot of pepper though. More floral and citrusy to my taste.

 

[Sipina]

3711 is one of my favorite yeasts, even the starter tastes good. I always refrigerate my starter and decant before pitching. It was the second yeast I ever got, after WLP001. From session beers to 12% ABV behemoths to a robust biere de guarde, this yeast is a beast and very nicely flavorful. I don't get a lot of pepper though. More floral and citrusy to my taste.

Did you ever try Belle Saison? How does it compare to 3711? Less complexity or quite there?

 

[Derek Robinson]

Did you ever try Belle Saison? How does it compare to 3711? Less complexity or quite there?

I haven't tried that one, but would be very interested if someone else has.

WLP565 is another good strain, but it tends to stall during fermentation.

Has anyone tried WLP4021? The description is promising.

 

[BrewerofBeers]

Anyone ever try adding Champagne (sparking wine) to a Saison? I have 16L of (basically) the same recipe I posted above and am thinking about adding 3 oz Brut California Champagne to half the the batch between krausen and bottling.

 

[Sipina]

Anyone ever try adding Champagne (sparking wine) to a Saison? I have 16L of (basically) the same recipe I posted above and am thinking about adding 3 oz Brut California Champagne to half the the batch between krausen and bottling.

It might work nicely, just watch out for sulfite levels - if too much it could stop fermentation.

 

[Sipina]

Anyone ever try adding Champagne (sparking wine) to a Saison? I have 16L of (basically) the same recipe I posted above and am thinking about adding 3 oz Brut California Champagne to half the the batch between krausen and bottling.

Can you get some white grapes juice or juice concetrate? You could add it to the fermentation vessel, add some food for the yeast to add enough FAN and you're good to go.

EDIT: You said you don't get a lot of pepper .... you could try to do a ferulic acid rest. With that you will make more precursors in the wort for the yeast to make more phenolic compounds. That should increase the the pepper you're looking for.