What I learned about Saisons

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Stauffbier

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I recently concocted a recipe for what I call White Pepper Rye Saison. Tonight I did a "side by side" with my version and a Le Merle Saison. I learned two things;

1) I did a pretty good job of building this recipe.
2) I can't drink a lot of Saison in one sitting!

The yeast profile of typical saisons seems to be a little too peppery/spicey for my pallet. I can only handle a couple in one night. They do go great with a cigar, though...

:mug:
 
You're going to have a big krausen in your tummy. That cheeseburger you're planning on eating later won't digest either. You'll wake up at 2AM with a gullet full of funky beer, a mean krausen and a semi digested cheeseburger. Do you have a bottle of ipecac handy?
 
Too late! I already ate a patty melt! Krausen is rising as we speak! I knew I forgot to add ipecac to my grocery list!
 
There was actually two patty's involved, but I'll give you credit.

I actually haven't tried a lot of commercial versions of saison, so for a short time I was thinking I screwed up my batch. It turns out, it came out great, and I'm just not a huge fan of the style. I know, I know... you shouldn't brew something you haven't really tried before, but I needed "hot fermentation" options. My house is an oven this time of year, so I just decided to go for the saison in spite of my lack of experience with them... One or two is good. After that I gotta move on to something else!
 
I have a saison percolating right now. My basement is a balmy 71 this time of year. The airlock fumes smell promising.
 
They do put out a great aroma during fermentation. I started mine at 70 and ramped it up to about 80 within a 3 week period. I also made a smoked saison soon after. That one has been in the bottle for about 3 weeks, but the smoke is overpowering. I'm hoping it might mellow after some age, but if not it will go good with BBQ. Or, it might also work wonderfully for boiling bratwurst!
 
My fig saison with orange, grains of paradise and cardamom is pretty funky as well. I have a feeling it's going to be much better next summer, the spices are pretty in your face right now.
 
That sounds interesting Revvy. I have a holiday recipe I call Pfeffernusse ale that uses cardamom along with a few other spices. It was good after 2 or 3 months, but after 10 months it was even better. That's the good thing about homebrew. If you don't like it now, then just sit on it for a while!
 
but it's a champagne bottle. And I'm by myself..If I crack it I'll have to finish it.....and that means one druck revvy...but it does sound good.

That's what happened to me tonight! The Le Merle was a pint belgian bottle.. Gotta finish it once opened, then coupled with a 12 oz of my saison for the comparison... Mikey now has a good buzz! That's what saturday's are for, though.... Right?!
 
Saisons are great,however, they can be low gravity or knock you d*** in the dirt beers. Saison yeasts finish lower than brew software calculates, so you end up with a much bigger brew than you anticipated. A low gravity Saison is refreshing, a bigger one and you are toast. They usually go down easy so it is east to over indulge.

I love them and have brewed a of them and have learned to make them on the lower Og scale.
 
I've got 2 kegs of carbonated saison and I've only had one glass (at least a week ago). I don't know why I even brew these things. I guess I'll bottle it at some point. I went 3724, then 3711 to finish it at 1.0004.

Yeah, I won't be brewing them next year. Hell, I'll likely still have some of the ones I brewed this year at that point. I used the new WLP560. It only got down to about 1.005, but as far as the style goes it's a good saison yeast. Just not my style.
 
Feel free to mail me any bottles you don't want.

I love Saisons, Trippels, Dubbels, BSAs, Quads, etc, and am especially fond of their sour beers.
 
Saisons are great,however, they can be low gravity or knock you d*** in the dirt beers..

Yeah, that's really what they're supposed to be, quaffable beers the franco/belgian farmers drank in the heat of summer/late fall whilst working in the fields.....they're supposed to be beers that quench their thirst, and provide workers with much needed carbs, a true liquid lunch...and for us, since we don't farm they're supposed to be panty droppers in a sense, meant to be drunk at Shakespeare in the park performances with a lovely lass on a checked picnic blanket, something unique, and complex, a beery replacement for wine, but still a sipper, at least the goal I set out for them when I make them every few years...But like you said, I always end up making mine the opposite of the spectrum, hammer beers that end up kicking me in the teeth.....and no seduction happens because we're both passed out....
 
Yeah, that's really what they're supposed to be, quaffable beers the franco/belgian farmers drank in the heat of summer/late fall whilst working in the fields.....they're supposed to be beers that quench their thirst, and provide workers with much needed carbs, a true liquid lunch...and for us, since we don't farm they're supposed to be panty droppers in a sense, meant to be drunk at Shakespeare in the park performances with a lovely lass on a checked picnic blanket, something unique, and complex, a beery replacement for wine, but still a sipper, at least the goal I set out for them when I make them every few years...But like you said, I always end up making mine the opposite of the spectrum, hammer beers that end up kicking me in the teeth.....and no seduction happens because we're both passed out....

This is why I made mine a bit smaller. It was supposed to be a 4.9% beer that I could gulp whilst mowing the lawn, but the yeast I used attenuated a little more than I expected. It still ended up at a respectable 5.6%, though. For me it's not so much the high ABV that comes with typical saisons as it is the spicey yeast character that gets me. I can't seem to stomach too much at once. I do enjoy one or two, but then it starts to get to me.
 
Yeah, thanks to this thread I've totally gotten trashed. I've been drifting down youtube memory lane, looking up all manner of obscure music from back when I was a punk ass kid in my 20s producing music shows for public radio, I've just been repeating Ann Peebles doing "I can't stand the rain." for some strange reason....I'm lamenting lost youth while my extremities are getting numb, and my liver is bloating. :)
 
Yeah, thanks to this thread I've totally gotten trashed. I've been drifting down youtube memory lane, looking up all manner of obscure music from back when I was a punk ass kid in my 20s producing music shows for public radio, I've just been repeating Ann Peebles doing "I can't stand the rain." for some strange reason....I'm lamenting lost youth while my extremities are getting numb, and my liver is bloating. :)

Ha! Funny! I was on youtube music doing the exact same thing earlier, and my song is Allison Krauss, Cloudy Days.... Must be something in the air, or in the mug... :tank:
 
Sounds like most of you guys have quite some experience with saisons. I will be brewing my second all grain batch next week and am planning on doing a saison. The only commercial one I have had as well is Le Merle and I thought it was outstanding. It alone has inspired me to give it a try. Stauffbier, you mention yours was quite similar. Would you be willing to share your recipe?
 
Sounds like most of you guys have quite some experience with saisons. I will be brewing my second all grain batch next week and am planning on doing a saison. The only commercial one I have had as well is Le Merle and I thought it was outstanding. It alone has inspired me to give it a try. Stauffbier, you mention yours was quite similar. Would you be willing to share your recipe?

PM sent!
 
I currently have a Saison on tap spiced with Coriander and I freakin love it....It's ~5.5% abv. Yesterday while weed eating I stopped by the brewshed and put back a 1/2pint...very refreshing, slight spice, and that lovely Belgian funk!

There will be a rebrew!
 
that lovely Belgian funk!!

I think this is what it boils down to..
You either love that Belgian funk, or you don't.

I don't hate it, but with most Belgian beers I can't drink them all night. One or two is my limit before the flavor overwhelms me. I suppose I'm not a big yeast fan, because I tend to always prefer beers with clean, American strains...
 
Saison/Farmhouse is probably my favorite beer style. It's extremely versatile and forgiving but you could spend a lifetime brewing different farmhouse ales with different malt, spice, hop and yeast combinations. I just drank lots of Funkwerks saisons this week and I am culturing some Dupont strain out of the Dupont bottle I drank Friday night. It's just starting to form a little krausen.

I also scored a bottle of Jester King's table saison and a bottle of one of their wild farmhouse ales (Boxer's Revenge) last night. I also have a bottle of Lost Abbey's Carnevale Ale, some Southern Star Walloon (a grisette) and Le Mort Vivant (biere de garde). Great Divide's Collette is pretty good and I really enjoy Le Merle as well.
 
Saison/Farmhouse is probably my favorite beer style. It's extremely versatile and forgiving but you could spend a lifetime brewing different farmhouse ales with different malt, spice, hop and yeast combinations. I just drank lots of Funkwerks saisons this week and I am culturing some Dupont strain out of the Dupont bottle I drank Friday night. It's just starting to form a little krausen.

I also scored a bottle of Jester King's table saison and a bottle of one of their wild farmhouse ales (Boxer's Revenge) last night. I also have a bottle of Lost Abbey's Carnevale Ale, some Southern Star Walloon (a grisette) and Le Mort Vivant (biere de garde). Great Divide's Collette is pretty good and I really enjoy Le Merle as well.

I haven't come close to trying so many examples of the style. I'll have to look for a few of those, and sample them.
 
I've got a mash soured saison bottle conditioning right now that I'm chomping at the bit to try. The gravity sample before bottling tasted amazing, the lacto tartness from the sour mash really works well with the yeast. I used WLP566 because I was nervous about the fact that even White Labs says the WLP565 has a tendency to stall. Went all the way from 1.064 to 1.004 for a 7.9% monster.
 
I've got a mash soured saison bottle conditioning right now that I'm chomping at the bit to try. The gravity sample before bottling tasted amazing, the lacto tartness from the sour mash really works well with the yeast. I used WLP566 because I was nervous about the fact that even White Labs says the WLP565 has a tendency to stall. Went all the way from 1.064 to 1.004 for a 7.9% monster.

For me, the higher the ABV goes, the less I like these beers. I try to keep them under 6%.
 
I haven't come close to trying so many examples of the style. I'll have to look for a few of those, and sample them.

You should be able to find Jester King's regular offerings in El Paso. The specialty beers are hard to find. Even big accounts usually only get a few bottles. The Central Market I stopped at last night only had three bottles of Boxer's Revenge and two were already being held for other people. We just happened to be there at the right time with the right employee working the beer and wine area. He is a sour fan and had the bottles hidden in the back. Some of their beers I like (Le Petit Prince and Noble King) and some I dislike thoroughly (Drinkin the Sunbelt).

Collette was a summer seasonal so you may be able to find a few six packs around town.

Le Merle should be available in El Paso as should Saison Dupont and one of Dupont's organic saisons, Foret. If you can't find Saison Dupont in the bottle BJ's usually carries it in their bottle selection for a reasonable price.

I'm not sure if Funkwerks distributes to New Mexico but if they do, they would be good ones to find. Not all their saisons are complex or over the top but they make a great, straight forward saison on the higher end of ABV (Saison) and a session version (Casper) and some other interesting options (like Tropic King, White and Scepter) but unfortunately they make a lot of phenomenal offerings that never go beyond the tap room.
 
So it turns out my White Pepper Saison is really good with tacos! But.... everything goes good with tacos!
IMG00782-20120819-1709.jpg
 
Maybe you'd like some funky versions, which I tend to prefer:

Saison Brett by Boulevard
Saison Rue by Bruery
Sofie by Goose Island (get one of these and age it 1 yr or more, you won't be sorry)

There are more, but those 3 are my favorites. Saison is my favorite style, I could drink it all night. Keep trying some, it may grow on you.

Also, +1 to Funkwerks, they make some great saisons
 
Stauffbier said:
There was actually two patty's involved, but I'll give you credit.

I actually haven't tried a lot of commercial versions of saison, so for a short time I was thinking I screwed up my batch. It turns out, it came out great, and I'm just not a huge fan of the style. I know, I know... you shouldn't brew something you haven't really tried before, but I needed "hot fermentation" options. My house is an oven this time of year, so I just decided to go for the saison in spite of my lack of experience with them... One or two is good. After that I gotta move on to something else!


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I brewed Petite Saison from NB because I wanted a hot weather beer. I've never had one before. I screwed up and had a large boil over at the beginning of the boil losing about 2 gallons! Since I didn't know if I should add water (my first all grain) I ended up with about 2.5 gallons in the keg. It's been carbing for a week now and I tasted today.......it's OK, but I've nothing to compare since I committed a brewing sin by brewing a style I've never had. The ABV was up near 7% which was a little high for a petite saison and it is very bitter. Definitely only going to be able to drink one or two in a sitting.
 
moti_mo said:
Maybe you'd like some funky versions, which I tend to prefer:

Saison Brett by Boulevard
Saison Rue by Bruery
Sofie by Goose Island (get one of these and age it 1 yr or more, you won't be sorry)

There are more, but those 3 are my favorites. Saison is my favorite style, I could drink it all night. Keep trying some, it may grow on you.

Also, +1 to Funkwerks, they make some great saisons

I have a 2009 bottle of boulevard brett-saison I'm cellaring. It's an excellent beer.
 
That sounds interesting Revvy. I have a holiday recipe I call Pfeffernusse ale that uses cardamom along with a few other spices. It was good after 2 or 3 months, but after 10 months it was even better. That's the good thing about homebrew. If you don't like it now, then just sit on it for a while!

Stauffbier I would love the recipe for this pfeffernusse ale, grew up eating those cookies every holiday, sounds like the perfect holiday ale. I would greatly appreciate you sharing it.
 
Stauffbier I would love the recipe for this pfeffernusse ale, grew up eating those cookies every holiday, sounds like the perfect holiday ale. I would greatly appreciate you sharing it.

I am of German heritage, and I bake these for the holidays every year. I use all of the same spices in the beer as I do in the cookies. I'll look it up later today. It's about time for me to get it out, anyway. I'll PM it to you later...
 
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