Thoughts on this wacky recipe idea

[elkshadow]

So I had a wacky idea for a beer today. A big English brown hopped kind of like an IPA and fermented with Wyeast 3711 French Saison. Am I nuts or what?

Style Name: Yeah right!
Batch Size: 3 gallons (fermentor volume)

Original Gravity: 1.082
Final Gravity: 1.003
ABV: 10.29%
IBU: 63.65
SRM: 21.93

FERMENTABLES:
9 lb - United Kingdom - Maris Otter Pale (89.4%)
0.5 lb - United Kingdom - Amber (5%)
0.25 lb - United Kingdom - Chocolate (2.5%)
0.25 lb - United Kingdom - Crystal 60L (2.5%)
1 oz - United Kingdom - Roasted Barley (0.6%)

HOPS:
0.75 oz - Perle- 60 min, IBU: 35.22
19 g - Cascade- 15 min, IBU: 13.33
19 g - Cascade- 10 min, IBU: 9.74
19 g - Cascade- 5 min, IBU: 5.36
0.25 oz - Perle- Dry Hop

YEAST:
Wyeast - French Saison 3711

Thoughts? I'll probably make this on Christmas day. If I do I'll update this if there is interest. Cheers!!

 

[brick]

I don't know how the esters are going to play with the hops, but what's the worst that could happen? This one might be really interesting to start drinking young (like any other IPA) and then keep some around to see how it ages. In the beginning your hops will dominate, but the esters may start to take over as the hops fade.

I say brew it. My only comment is that your FG looks low. Something that big will probably finish closer to 1.020 even if it attenuates well. (Maybe that's just a typo.)

 

[beergolf]

I say brew it. My only comment is that your FG looks low. Something that big will probably finish closer to 1.020 even if it attenuates well. (Maybe that's just a typo.)

You must not have ever used 3711. That yeast is a beast and often does ferment down that low.. There is no way it would stop at 1.020. 1.003 might be a little lower that it will finish, but not much.

 

[FRS]

I just bottled an ipa made with a saison yeast (danstar belle saison). I split the batch with Conan in the other half. The saison half came out very good, much less hop forward than the Conan half, but with some nice Belgian notes. Mine went from 1.068 to 1.004,these saison strains really plow through wort!

Another option is to use a Belgian wit strain; apparently Flying Dog uses one in their Belgian ipa (raging *****) and I think it is delicious!

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Home Brew mobile app

 

[brick]

That's crazy. I had no idea a strain could do that!

 

[elkshadow]

That's crazy. I had no idea a strain could do that!

And the best part is the beer isn't puckering dry like you would think it is.

The last 5 beers I've made have all been over 1.083 and all have finished at 1.003 using 3711. I've had success with it up to 12.6%ABV.

Well, I'll post an update when I get this going.

 

[elkshadow]

I brewed this today. Adjusting for different AA numbers I ended hopping it thusly:

60 min
1 oz. Perle
.25 oz. Cascade

15 min

19 grams Cascade

10 mins

19 grams Cascade

5 mins

19 grams Cascade

And I'm going to dry hop with .75 oz. Cascade in a couple weeks.

Smelled awesome, very dark brown, hydrometer sample was very bitter and I could pick up the roasted barley in it. This is probably more a stout than a big brown. Can't wait to see how it turns out.

 

[elkshadow]

Update:

This beer has gone from 1.080 to 1.016 in 5 days. I'm hoping it goes down to 1.003 or so because it is very bitter. It tastes good but there is no Belgian yeast character at all. Maybe that is all being overpowered by the hops and roasted barley but I'm hoping some of that banana character will come through in the finished product. I'm thinking of putting it in a closet with a little heater to get it up to 90 or so to finish strong. It's going to be a while til it's finished but right now it just tasted like a plain old stout. :shrug:

 

[Culbetron]

Won't a drier finish accentuate the hop bitterness as the residual sugars disappear?

 

[elkshadow]

Won't a drier finish accentuate the hop bitterness as the residual sugars disappear?

Yes normally it would. However, 3711 doesn't really finish what you think of as "dry" even though it goes so low. Also, I mashed this at 155 because I knew the hops could over take it and the yeast would take it so low.

I guess I mean I hope the alcohol content goes higher because I like the ethanol taste better than the bitter aftertaste it has now and over time they both would mellow together.

Again, it's a long way from finished and I'm sure it's still too yeasty to get a clean taste but my overall impression is that the hops and grain bill are going to overpower the yeast character unless I make it hotter to finish.

 

[elkshadow]

So I bottled this one today after 6 days of dry hopping with 3/4 oz. Cascades. It smelled like alcohol and hops with a hint of coffee. It is dry and stout with almost no Belgian yeast character at all. It came in at 9.5% abv going from 1.080 to 1.008. It tasted like a light body dry Imp Stout. Not enough body or sweetness to be an Imp Porter. More coffee than chocolate for sure. It is delicious believe me.

It fermented a little cooler than I usually ferment because of the season but I'm going to make it again when it's hot and see if I can bring out the banana/clove. There's definitely chocolate/coffee/roast flavor going on and there's definitely IPA type hop bitterness/flavor/aroma going on but the Belgian yeast character I was hoping would send it over the top is not there.

I'll report back in a month or so when I start getting into the bottles.

ETA: I don't know how many of my beers can go down to 1.003 and not taste dry but this one stopped at 1.008 and tastes way drier than the others.