So after hoping saison wouldn't win in the poll (and voting several times for the braggot), it looks like a last ditched effort to push it over the edge happened. I'm still not quite sure how I want to go about it, so I'll open up this posts' comments to advice on what direction to take. So far, I've ordered some basic malts (Pils, Munich, Caramunich) and Wyeast 3724; and I have Magnum and Saaz hops to use. My thoughts are to keep it fairly low in gravity (OG of 1.055-1.060), keep fermentation lowish for a saison (mid to upper 70s), IBUs 15-25 and pitch the Roselare cake into secondary. I'll still mash low enough for the 3724 to get it to at least 1.020 but ferment on the cool side so the esters don't get out of control and clash with the funk. The only other ideas I had for this are 1)fruit and 2)oak. Both very much in balance and in the background, but enough to provide some more complexity and interest.
Bring on the ideas! I plan to brew next Wednesday; taking today off to enjoy not hauling around massive amounts of boiling water.
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I voted for the red current wheat wine as I think the Rosalare flavors would more appropriate there, but if you are doing a saison why not go a little darker in color and throw in the red currents (fruit) and a little oak as well. I think the spice of the saison yeast, will match well with the currents and oak and the secondary on the rosalare will finish off the beer nicely. The darker grains will also tie the whole thing together. I enjoy your blog and look forward to seeing where you go with this beer. I am brewing a saison for each season, so I would be interested to see how this mix goes, should you choose to go in this direction!
ReplyDeletehaha not a fan of the over the top phenolics of saisons?? Im not either, so I feel your pain, I as well voted for the wheat wine
ReplyDeleteI think the saison is open to a lot of interpretation and the style guidelines that require a bone dry beer are more reflective of "todays" saison, I have a feeling things were significantly different turn of the century (1900) and even the last bjcp guidelines listed it as being a sweeter beer
Go crazy with all the additions you want, let it ferment cool, although with the dupont strain your gonna have a real PITA fermenation on your hands, if you can I would suggest getting the blaugies strain, which I just have happend to have found recently, as it can finish out at a much cooler temp
Thanks for the feedback so far. Well, I have quite a bit of darker specialty grains around so I can darken it up a bit. The last two saisons I brewed were actually on the darker end of the spectrum. The first with Dupont and second with Blauges strains. I found the phenolics pretty similar, but the Blauges a little easier to work with. I think I may go with some sort of fruit puree (red currant, pineapple, litchi, or my new favorite: passion fruit). I think maybe the mix of saison, Carafa, passion fruit, oak and Roselare would be interesting!
ReplyDeleteI might stick with the Dupont strain only because it will give you a relatively PITA fermentation, especially if you keep the temperatures cool. This way, when it sticks at 1.024, as it tends to, for its eight day rest (or whatever the heck it's doing), you can go ahead and rack it over and pitch the bugs, leaving them with plenty of food to eat.
ReplyDeleteDirk, yeah that was the plan. I won't mash any higher than normal, probably the 148-149 range instead of my usualy 147 for saisons. Plus, as far as I know, the Blauges strain is unavailable (or nearly a year old now).
ReplyDelete