Saison - Any tips on brewign this style?

[Grinder12000]

Any tips I should know about. Fermentation temps and so forth? I've never brewed a Saison (or even tasted for that matter) but our clubs latest brewing challenge is a Saison.

 

[etrain666]

Let the yeast shine and keep your recipe very simple. Avoid specialty grains. I go with Pilsner, Flaked Wheat and some Flaked Rice to keep it dry. Noble hops seem to work best. Personally, I really like Saaz.

I highly recommend White Labs farmhouse blend. Ferment warm for about three weeks. It will dry the beer out and be ready to go. Or, if you want more Brett funk, let it sit another 4-6 weeks.

 

[mb82]

Depending on yeast choice you will need to ferment it warm/hot. Wyeast 3711 and Danstar Bell Saison both don't mind normal ale temps.

The cool thing about the style is there really are no rules except to use a Saison yeast.

 

[mikeoholic]

Mash low and dump in a pound of sugar. You want it nice and dry.


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[smalliewader]

I pitch all my saisons around 80-85*. Wrap up in a blanket and let them go into the 90`s. I use wlp565 and they are always fantastic. No fusels before someone starts preaching about the pitch temp.

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[mikeoholic]

I also enjoy warmer ferments on my saisons.


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[beergolf]

Saison is a pretty loose style but I like to let the yeast shine. Depending on the yeast you use temps may play a big part in this.

Use a simple recipe, some pils, maybe a little wheat, some sugar and hops. Hop to a BU:GU ratio of about .49. My favorite hop for a saison is Strisselspalt, But have good saisons with many other hops.

 

[IL1kebeer]

Make sure that you carb it to 3.0-3.5 volumes, instead of the 2.0-2.5 that typical American ales get carbed at. This will make a significant difference in nailing the style.

 

[Beer_Eugenics]

Don't fear the heat, high volumes and high temps.

 

[kingwood-kid]

I pitch all my saisons around 80-85*. Wrap up in a blanket and let them go into the 90`s. I use wlp565 and they are always fantastic. No fusels before someone starts preaching about the pitch temp.

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I fermented a saison in my garage when the temps were over 100 every day for a week. It wasn't harsh in the least. Buy some Saison Dupont and culture up yeast from the bottle, and you'll get great results that you can't get from anything bought at the LHBS.

 

[Hopinista]

Saison is a pretty loose style but I like to let the yeast shine. Depending on the yeast you use temps may play a big part in this.

Use a simple recipe, some pils, maybe a little wheat, some sugar and hops. Hop to a BU:GU ratio of about .49. My favorite hop for a saison is Strisselspalt, But have good saisons with many other hops.

+1 I always use Strisselspalt in my saisons, I also ferment hot too, and add candidates sugar/syrup or honey

 

[ReformedBrewer]

I fermented a saison in my garage when the temps were over 100 every day for a week. It wasn't harsh in the least. Buy some Saison Dupont and culture up yeast from the bottle, and you'll get great results that you can't get from anything bought at the LHBS.

Someone told me not to do this because dupont uses champagne yeast in their bottling?

 

[Brewmenn]

based on what i read I'll wait til summer to try it.

 

[Grinder12000]

I was intending on used WLP568 Belgian Style Saison Ale Yeast Blend (WLP568).

I'll have to figure out how to ferment warm - my basement is 58 degrees. hmmmm Upstairs it's a toasty 68. Maybe I'll put the carboy above the fire place LOL

I was thinking of maybe 1.5 lbs of Candi Sugar.

Should I START at 80 degrees and then bring it down? or START at 70 and bring it up??

 

[dyqik]

Start at 70, and let it rise and then heat it as well into the mid 80s to low 90s over a couple of days. Hold it there until it completely finishes.

 

[beergolf]

I was intending on used WLP568 Belgian Style Saison Ale Yeast Blend (WLP568).

I'll have to figure out how to ferment warm - my basement is 58 degrees. hmmmm Upstairs it's a toasty 68. Maybe I'll put the carboy above the fire place LOL

I was thinking of maybe 1.5 lbs of Candi Sugar.

Should I START at 80 degrees and then bring it down? or START at 70 and bring it up??

A good way to get the temp up is to get a big cooler, fill it with water and put your fermenter in there. Then a good aquarium heater can be used to control e temp. I use an Aqueon Pro 150 and I can get the temps up to 20-25 degrees over ambient.

Satrt out at 70 ish and then slowly ramp the temp up and you are good.

I love saisons and brew them often. I really like to have agood supply for when the weather warms up.

The mash is about done on a spelt saison that I am brewing right now. Boil to start soon.. yum

 

[Grinder12000]

a BIG cooler. Maybe just a big plastic container. My heater should be able to keep up with 15 gallons as it was for a 60g fish tank. This will be good for ALL my beer. Excellent idea since my basement never gets about 65.

 

[dyqik]

I've just kegged one that fermented in my 60F basement. It was in my ferm chamber with a 20W seed germination heat pad strapped to the side of the ale pail, and then wrapped in bubble wrap. I needed a bit more heat to be honest, as I couldn't get it above 83F.

 

[adrock430]

Re: grain bill, I do 70:15:15 pils, vienna, flaked wheat. Some do 80:20 pils:munich. I don't add sugar, dupont yeast will get to 1.004 regardless.

 

[klinus]

I had a saison fermenting in my wardrobe, around 23C (73F) and it turned out perfectly. Dont know if it would have been even better with higher temps though, but I passed my estimated fg (should have been 1.014 according to beersmith, got down to 1.010). Fermented with WLP566.

 

[Grinder12000]

I have a Saison brewing (actually two) and I hear "slowly raise the temp from 70F to middle 80s".

Whats the time frame on this. It's been fermenting for about 14 hours now and I have it from 70 to about 75 now. Faster? Slower?

Comments?

BTW - the big carboy is using White Labs Belgian Style Saison Ale Blend WLP568 while the smaller one is Safbrew T-58 and I'll add Champagne yeast in maybe another 12 hours!

That is a 55g fish tank heater to slowly raise the temps.

 

[beergolf]

I usually add about 2-3 degrees per day.

The fish tank heater trick works great doesn't it? Very easy to controll temps.

 

[Grinder12000]

The fish tank heater trick works great doesn't it? Very easy to control temps.

too easy to play wit hit LOL and my cat loves the water!