Session saison attempt

[emr454]

Trying to use the summer heat to my advantage in my next brew. I want a sessionable saison that's nice a crisp, effervescent, and a little funky. Here goes:

5 gal batch
3.75 gal boil

Est OG: 1.040
Est FG: 1.008
Est ABV: 4.1%

5 lb Belgian pale malt
2 lb Light Munich
2 oz. torrified wheat

1 oz Saaz @ 60
1 oz EKG @ 15

Belle Saison yeast

mash at 150 for 60 minutes, boil for 60 minutes, chill, top up to 5 gallons, and pitch yeast below 70F.

I plan to keep fermentation temps under 70F for a day or two and let it free rise to ambient room temp.

Thoughts/comments/suggestions are appreciated.

 

[stru]

You may want to decrease the amount of Munich a good bit. That's a lot for my taste. Maybe go with 1/2lb of Munich and replace the other 1 1/2lbs with pilsner. I guess it depends on how much Munich character you're looking for.

 

[emr454]

You may want to decrease the amount of Munich a good bit. That's a lot for my taste. Maybe go with 1/2lb of Munich and replace the other 1 1/2lbs with pilsner. I guess it depends on how much Munich character you're looking for.

I'm not sure yet. The recipe is just a mashup of a few others I came across on the net.

 

[OscarBrau]

This is similar to NB's Petite Saison. I've only done the extract version, but it's a great beer. The saaz seems a little wasted at 60, since it is a low AA% hop and you will only get bitterness from it. I would do ekg at 60, and use both ekg and saaz, or just one of them, later in the boil.

 

[wolves63]

Munich malt is a very strong flavor and I think would overshadow the flavor profiles from the yeast you are looking for.

If you wanted a good malty flavor I would suggest vienna malt. It is more stuble and a little creamier, you could easily get by with 1 lbs.

But I would not use more than 1 lbs of vienna or 1/2 lbs of munich.

I prefer vienna just a more rounded flavor in my opinion.

 

[noggins]

I'm not sure yet. The recipe is just a mashup of a few others I came across on the net.

Don't take this the wrong way, and I'm definitely not trying to start an argument about something I know very little about(saisons), but how many saisons have you attempted so far? I know building recipes from scratch is fun, but it sounds like you may have better luck going with one of the recipes you made the mashup from first before you start tweaking it(if this is what you did, please stop reading now, it just gets worse). Maybe brew up a few different posted recipes from the forum to find out what you do and don't like about each one, then go from there.

I'll be the first to admit I've made tons of mistakes at brewing, most of them were because I wanted to hurry up and make something that was my own; which usually lead to me making something terrible. I'm just guessing here, feel free to ignore me or tell me you've made tons of batches and were just looking for a couple little tweaks, but speaking from experience you'll probably have better luck going with a confirmed good recipe or even a recipe kit at least your first few attempts on a new style or method.

 

[robcj]

Don't take this the wrong way, and I'm definitely not trying to start an argument about something I know very little about(saisons), but how many saisons have you attempted so far? I know building recipes from scratch is fun, but it sounds like you may have better luck going with one of the recipes you made the mashup from first before you start tweaking it(if this is what you did, please stop reading now, it just gets worse). Maybe brew up a few different posted recipes from the forum to find out what you do and don't like about each one, then go from there.



I'll be the first to admit I've made tons of mistakes at brewing, most of them were because I wanted to hurry up and make something that was my own; which usually lead to me making something terrible. I'm just guessing here, feel free to ignore me or tell me you've made tons of batches and were just looking for a couple little tweaks, but speaking from experience you'll probably have better luck going with a confirmed good recipe or even a recipe kit at least your first few attempts on a new style or method.

I don't think that's very helpful or very fun either. The OP should feel free to experiment with recipe creation. My very first brew years ago was a recipe of my own formulation and I rarely make a beer I didn't design myself, even if I'm not yet familiar with the style. To me, it's the best part of the process and I spend hours researching my recipes and then tweak them over time with each brew. If you're going to make something yourself, may as well make it your own.

Regarding the OP's recipe, I agree with the others and would swap all or most of the Munich for Vienna. I like my Saisons clean and crisp.

 

[emr454]

Don't take this the wrong way, and I'm definitely not trying to start an argument about something I know very little about(saisons), but how many saisons have you attempted so far? I know building recipes from scratch is fun, but it sounds like you may have better luck going with one of the recipes you made the mashup from first before you start tweaking it(if this is what you did, please stop reading now, it just gets worse). Maybe brew up a few different posted recipes from the forum to find out what you do and don't like about each one, then go from there.

I'll be the first to admit I've made tons of mistakes at brewing, most of them were because I wanted to hurry up and make something that was my own; which usually lead to me making something terrible. I'm just guessing here, feel free to ignore me or tell me you've made tons of batches and were just looking for a couple little tweaks, but speaking from experience you'll probably have better luck going with a confirmed good recipe or even a recipe kit at least your first few attempts on a new style or method.

This will be my first attempt at a saison, so this style is all new to me. The main reason I combined a few recipes is to use what I have available locally. Can't get azacca, belma, or Nelson sauvin hops at my lhbs, and I've never seen melanoidin malt there either.

 

[emr454]

This is similar to NB's Petite Saison. I've only done the extract version, but it's a great beer. The saaz seems a little wasted at 60, since it is a low AA% hop and you will only get bitterness from it. I would do ekg at 60, and use both ekg and saaz, or just one of them, later in the boil.

Munich malt is a very strong flavor and I think would overshadow the flavor profiles from the yeast you are looking for.

If you wanted a good malty flavor I would suggest vienna malt. It is more stuble and a little creamier, you could easily get by with 1 lbs.

But I would not use more than 1 lbs of vienna or 1/2 lbs of munich.

I prefer vienna just a more rounded flavor in my opinion.

Regarding the OP's recipe, I agree with the others and would swap all or most of the Munich for Vienna. I like my Saisons clean and crisp.

Looks like Vienna is a winner for saisons.

Now for the hops, I can do ekg at 60 and saaz at 15 to make better use of the higher AA of ekg. Mainly picked these due to finding them in other recipes, suggesting noble good for saisons.

 

[emr454]

This is similar to NB's Petite Saison. I've only done the extract version, but it's a great beer.

Hehe...I just realized You can get the full ingredient list for all of NB's recipe kits right on the website

 

[beergolf]

Another thing to consider... Belle Saison will not stop at 1.008. I should go much lower 1.004-1.000. So if you want a lower ABV beer then take that into consideration.

I agree your original recipe has way to much Munich.

 

[juan_bernado]

Trying to use the summer heat to my advantage in my next brew. I want a sessionable saison that's nice a crisp, effervescent, and a little funky. Here goes:

5 gal batch
3.75 gal boil

Est OG: 1.040
Est FG: 1.008
Est ABV: 4.1%

5 lb Belgian pale malt
2 lb Light Munich
2 oz. torrified wheat

1 oz Saaz @ 60
1 oz EKG @ 15

Belle Saison yeast

mash at 150 for 60 minutes, boil for 60 minutes, chill, top up to 5 gallons, and pitch yeast below 70F.

I plan to keep fermentation temps under 70F for a day or two and let it free rise to ambient room temp.

Thoughts/comments/suggestions are appreciated.

Looks pretty similar to a Saison that I brewed successfully.

Malts I've used:
82% pale malt
16% Munich
2% rolled spelt

Hops:
FWH with Perle at 30 IBU

Belle Saison

@ 6% alc

Came out to a nice and refreshing brew with lots of yeast character.

 

[rhys333]

Don't take this the wrong way, and I'm definitely not trying to start an argument about something I know very little about(saisons), but how many saisons have you attempted so far? I know building recipes from scratch is fun, but it sounds like you may have better luck going with one of the recipes you made the mashup from first before you start tweaking it(if this is what you did, please stop reading now, it just gets worse). Maybe brew up a few different posted recipes from the forum to find out what you do and don't like about each one, then go from there.

I'll be the first to admit I've made tons of mistakes at brewing, most of them were because I wanted to hurry up and make something that was my own; which usually lead to me making something terrible. I'm just guessing here, feel free to ignore me or tell me you've made tons of batches and were just looking for a couple little tweaks, but speaking from experience you'll probably have better luck going with a confirmed good recipe or even a recipe kit at least your first few attempts on a new style or method.

Looks to me like the OP has done the research before attempting this. There's a wealth of info out there on appropriate ingredients and amounts so its not that hard to nail it first time. Might want some tweaking, but that's where the fun is. I brew my own recipes almost exclusively and couldn't be happier with results. That said, it doesn't hurt to try a proven recipe once in a while to see how they compare.

 

[m00ps]

agreed you cant really go wrong with a saison malt bill so long as you keep the specialty malts to a minimum or exclude them entirely. The original recipe looks good, and so does the revisions. Either way, the beer will be about the yeast. I use an aquarium heater and rope tub deal to get mine fermenting into the 90s. When I dont use that, I like to insulate my fermentor with a heavy winter jacket so it free rises to the 80s. This will get you the best yeast character.

Im a big fan of using flaked oats/wheat/rye in saisons to counteract the high degree of attenuation from the yeast. Gives a nice soft full body which is great with the high levels of carbonation. Ive got one now thats 50% pils 50% flaked rye/wheat

 

[JKaranka]

Yep, I bet it finishes closer to 1.002