Fruit and Spice Beer Tis' The Saison - Spiced Raspberry Ale

[h-bar]

Recipe Type

All Grain

Yeast

Wyeast 3724

Yeast Starter

No

Batch Size (Gallons)

5

Original Gravity

1.050

Final Gravity

1.009

Boiling Time (Minutes)

60

IBU

14.2

Color

Deep red

Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)

1 week 75 F

Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)

1.5 Weeks 75 F

Tasting Notes

Smells like fresh raspberries. Tastes slightly sweet/tart, with a dry/spicy finish.

4# Belgian Pale
3# Vienna
1# Munich dark
0.5# Special B
0.25# Carapils


0.5 oz Willamette - 60 min
0.5 oz Willamette - 10 min
1 Cinnamon stick - 10 min
Orange peel from one medium orange - 10 min
1/2 tsp whole allspice - 10 min

Mashed at 150 F, no sparge

Fermented for one week, and then transferred to secondary. At this point, I added:
5 lb thawed frozen raspberries
2 vanilla beans

After about a week and a half, I tasted it, and it was delicious! Decided it was time to bottle! I was so excited about this one, I cracked one open after only a week. It's nicely carbed, and still great tasting. It doesn't have a huge head, but lacing is retained throughout. Picture to follow. I'm going to have a hard time not letting it age any further, or sharing!

 

[h-bar]

For some reason, my ipad makes it look fuschia. It really is a darker red.

 

[Steve3730]

Wow I might have to try this. Any clue what the extract recipe would come out to? AG is too much for my small aprtment

 

[h-bar]

So sorry, I didn't see your post until now. For an extract recipe, you could use 7# Light DME and use the same amount of Munich, Special B and Carapils as steeping grains. Unfortunately, there isn't a Vienna extract, so you'll just have to use light DME. Or, you could reduce the light DME and do a mini mash that includes the Vienna.

 

[cowpoly]

Okay, so this was my first BIAB, no chill brew and HOLY CRAP I am impressed! A few mods I did (aka the ingredients I didn't have):

OG: 1.045
FG: 1.005
ABV: 5.25%

4# Belgian Pale
3# Vienna
1# Munich dark
0.5# Special B
0.25# Carapils


0.5 oz Willamette - 60 min
0.5 oz Willamette - 10 min
1 Cinnamon stick - 10 min
Orange peel from one medium orange - flameout
5 cloves - flameout
.5c table sugar - flameout

I used no-chill to drop my wort temperature, which was just me leaving my kettle on the back porch with the lid on and a towel covering the top overnight. I used Safbrew T-58 yeast.

I'm a super micro-brewer and only do 2 gal batches at the moment, so for raspberries I used 14oz frozen raspberries per gallon of wort. Also, no vanilla bean as in the original recipe. Next time I'll likely put in cloves.

For fermentation:
Primary - 2 weeks @ about 75F
Secondary - 1.5 weeks
Bottling - today was 1 week and I tried it. Will let a couple age up to 1 month

 

[h-bar]

Looks great! Glad it turned out well for you

 

[brewnoob007]

Just curious about what saison yeast strain you used recipe sounds delicious

 

[dawn_kiebawls]

Mashed at 150 F, no sparge

Resurrecting this thread. New to brewing and wanting to make this my first AG batch. For the mash, I'll be using a converted 10g cylindrical cooler. Did you just put the pre-boil volume in with the grain and run it into the BK? I wouldn't think you could yield a 1.050 OG without a sparge, but I don't know much yet. Which is why I'm asking this noob question! Thanks again!

 

[h-bar]

I posted this recipe when I was first doing AG myself! No sparge is a terrible idea! I can't believe I specified that.

I would mash 5 gallons, and then sparge to your desired pre-boil volume. I usually shoot for 6.5, and expect to lose 1 gallon boiling. I usually get 75% doing that, and I also use that kind of mash tun now.

 

[GiavaBear]

Wow this looks delicious h-bar! I think I may give your recipe a go for my Christmas beer this year! I'm 3 brews into this, and I have a couple noob questions for you if you don't mind. What yeast did you pitch? What sanitization techniques, if any, did you use for the raspberries and vanilla beans going into the secondary? Also, just spit-balling, I had a goofy idea of halving the raspberries with tart cherries, I wonder the effect the dual fruits would have.

Thank you for your help! Cheers!

 

[h-bar]

I used Wyeast's belgian saison. Any saison yeast strain will do, however. I know that Wyeast's can get stuck sometimes, but it didn't do that for me. Just make sure you pitch enough for your batch size.

I used frozen raspberries from the grocery store, and just added them as-is. I'm sure there are those who would argue this isn't the most sanitary way to do things, but I had no problems. For the vanilla bean, I actually handled that somewhat stupidly the first time. I didn't know that it needed to be split! Use a small, sharp knife to split it so the seeds and flesh are exposed. Then, add it to some high quality vodka in a small jar. Use only enough vodka to cover the bean. I'd recommend kind of pushing it down into the jar so you don't have to use too much. Let that soak for a day, and add all of it to the beer. Should be good after a few days. Alternatively, you can add chopped vanilla bean to the boil for just a "hint" of vanilla.

 

[treacheroustexan]

Thanks for bumping this thread... adding this to my brew list!

 

[dawn_kiebawls]

I just added 2lbs of raspberries into primary tonight, I was a little worried the full 5lbs would have made it to berry-y for my liking, though I will likely add the rest when my vanilla beans show up in the mail! Very excited about this one. I took a gravity reading and its showing my FG (pre berry addition) was 1.012. Is that to high? I missed the mark on the OG and came in at 1.042, so is it possible the yeast only took it down 30 points over 11 days?? Either way, the sample tasted and smelled wonderful! Lots of spicy notes from the yeast and all spice, next time I will add more orange peel and possibly some zest. Cant wait for this one to finish up!

 

[h-bar]

1.012 is reasonable. It may be finished. I usually can't taste a difference of 0.002 anyway!

 

[dawn_kiebawls]

I usually can't taste a difference of 0.002 anyway

Thanks! I went with the full 5lbs of berries and ended up turning the heat up a little bit. I was worried about the risk of bombs more than a little bit of taste difference, but I will check gravity again in a week or so and if its stable I'll get it in some bottles! Also, how much vanilla came through in yours? I ordered some beans and they still haven't shown up so I may or may not add them in. Thanks again!