Smokey Saison Question

[ChadChaney]

I am working on brewing a dark Saison and I want to add some smoke character to the beer. I am not looking for a smoke dominated beer, just a bit of depth for character. My plan is to use Belgian Pils, Briess Pale Ale malt, and torrified wheat for the base and I have not decided what to use for the color and slight roast and/or sweet character yet, open to ideas. I want this beer to be complex yet at the same time easy to drink. I plan on using Wyeast French Saison yeast and keeping the gravity on the low end, 1.050 or so. Can anyone help me with the smoked malt amount, I have never used it before. The malt I have is Briess Smoked Malt. Thanks in advance..

 

[Schumed]

Dark candi syrup is what you want for color and flavor for a Saison

Smokiness sounds terrible in a Saison but I personally hate smoke flavor....so don't let that discourage you from trying it out....I would add at the most 5% of your grail bill

 

[progmac]

i made a classic rauchbier (german smoked lager) with 65% smoked malt and no aroma or flavor hops. the smoke level was about right although both flavor and aroma faded fast. this beer would fit into your description of a "smoke dominated beer" although in the world of smoked beers is pretty tame

i think for your purposes you may be well served by 5-20% smoked malt. it is hard to say though because it sounds like you will have a lot of other variables. i'm not sure that "easy to drink" and smoked malt go together at all unless you really have a taste for smoked beers. at 5% i would consider just leaving it out altogether.

perhaps you can get where you're going with some carafa III and caramel?

why two base malts?

 

[tennesseean_87]

sugar+3711=dry as a bone. If you use that for flavor, consider mashing high to compensate.

 

[kingwood-kid]

You have the cherrywood-smoked malt I hope? It's supposed to be slightly sweet, which I think you could use. I would think about using a dark crystal for roast and color to augment this. Smoky goes well with slightly sweet, but not so well with bitter. So I would hop at very low levels. As mentioned above, whatever you can do to build the body would be helpful as well, be it via mash temp, carapils, wheat/rye or flaked something.

 

[ChadChaney]

I had a Stillwater dark saison with a hint of smoke that was just awesome, aiming for something along those lines. I can definitely add some carapils and flaked wheat or oats for the body. I am assuming it is the cherrywood smoked malt. I will be hoping at low levels for sure. I do not have any candi syrup or access to any in time for the brew, so I am thinking maybe a little midnight wheat and some caramel malt?