The How My Averagely Perfect Saison Turned Out Thread

Fracts are nice, I have a couple, but you can't get the same accuracy on a fract for FG as you can with a FG hydro.
I hear ya about the volume though. It would be nice to have a little tiny mini FG hydro that uses a small amount of liquid. I wonder if they exist?

 

I actually tried to buy one, one time, but NB was out of them. Then I sort of let it slip. Since I keg, accuracy hasn't been as much of a concern. I'll probably grab one eventually, they're cheap enough.

I really like using it for OG, but my understanding was that accuracy suffers for FG. Obviously, there are calcs that can help correct the reading...but I haven't really looked into their margin of error.

I should say I feel more comfortable with the hydrometer for FG, but I don't know if there is any rational reason to feel that way.

 

So in this whole thread there seems to be exactly one pertinent post. I'm really curious about this beer and it's turned into another refractometer thread.

 

I think it's a reasonable concern, but not enough to get me to regularly use a hydrometer. I'm currently just using the calculator in Brewcipher and it has been plenty accurate for my use. Some good reading material on the calculations;
http://seanterrill.com/2012/01/06/refractometer-calculator/

Sean notes that the standard deviation for his sample size of 68 beers was 1.3 gravity points. Therefor you could expect essentially all(99.7%) results to be within 4 points. I can live with that. You still should see any change in gravity as well and I don't think there is cause for concern when bottling when gravity remains consistent. There is no harm in double checking with a hydrometer at times as well, but for me, I'm more than happy with just the refractometer.

 

Sorry for the hijack. I'll try to bring it back.

I plan to brew this beer on Sunday. I'll post how it goes. We didn't discuss much past the initial primary and ramp. I plan to leave this beer in the fermenter for at least 6-8 weeks before bottling. Does anyone plan to keg this?

 

Brewed yesterday, OG a little high 1.046 I think it will be fine.
Co-pitched at 68F, ramping 2 deg every 12 hours to hit 80F in three days, and then plan to hold that for another 5 to 7 days. Then shut off and let condition at 68F for 4-6 weeks.

Thoughts on the ramp? Too fast?

 

I ramped up over 4 days, and left it at 80° for 18 days total. I can't tell you if your's is too fast...but my sample tasted delicious.

 

Brewed yesterday. I was going to do 10 gallons and split with Orval dregs in one bucket and 644 in the other, but I just tasted a APA that used the 644 and it was missing the trois "magic" so I decided to not use that again.

Instead, I did 12 gallons split into 3 buckets. One got the brett as a copitch, one is going to get the brett somewhere between 36 - 48 hours in, and the last is going to get brett at bottling. As a member of the gang of 37 (or what ever that was), I am going to do my part to figure out the best time to add brett to a saison I'll report back in a couple of months.

 

Not as high as my OG... I reconfigured the mash tun a little bit and way overshot my efficiency. Ended up at 1.052. After 2.5 weeks (today), I'm down to 1.007. I was considering bottling after 3 weeks, but at this point I'm going to let it sit for at least another week and a half. Hydrometer sample tasted great; can't wait to see where this goes.

 

Patience, Rockhopper. These are Brett beers, after all.
Mine is on day 4. OG came in at 1.046, temp reached 80 F by day 3.5 or so. I had planned to let it sit in the primary for a couple-three weeks before checking gravity and taking a hydro sample.

 

I haven't followed the thread so I figured the beer had been brewed by now, that's why Vike was asking how it turned out. And since I'm about to brew a brett saison, I NEED TO KNOW NOW. Just kidding, but it's time to brew some summer brett beers.

 

newb question.. do you pitch the brett with the other yeast or wait a couple days to pitch the brett

 

In this recipe, it's pitched simultaneously.

 

Ingredients picked up today. I plan on brewing it on Saturday. My hope is to begin drinking this by August. I will likely bottle some of this as well for some age experimentation.

 

Yes, but it was a matter of some debate. @cwehr13 - you can make a brett beer any number of ways.

• all brett,
• part brett and part saccharomyces at the beginning
• sacch at beginning an brett later
• etc.

If you read the American Sours book by Old Sock, you'll see there are about as many ways to make this style as there are people brewing it. Like other styles, it boils down to knowing your ingredients, knowing your own process, and knowing what you want to get out of your beer.

 

7 days in, ramped from 68F to 80F, 1 degree every 12 hours (I slowed the ramp down from original plans), SG measured at 1.0065, I'm hoping to get at least another 4 pts lower over the next couple weeks.

Smells and tasted really nice right now, pineapple and banana dominates the profile.


The set up is PID controlled heat tape, white felt is just being used to help insulate. TC is simply taped to the side of the corny. I'm also monitoring the internal temp with a probe, which also reads exactly 80F. The plastic hair net is used as a dust cover.

 

Brewed it on Saturday, still nice activity but was comfortable removing the blow off tube this morning. Very excited for this beer, I have been experimenting with saisons recently in an attempt to make one to have on tap at all times, haven't been able to nail one down yet, hopefully this fits the bill.

 

brewed it Friday night, probably bottle after a month. I'll try like hell to only drink a 6 pack a month to see how it develops, but no promises !

 

Just shy of two weeks bottle conditioning, as I couldn't wait and wanted to see how it was carbing, it's really nice. I'm getting a subtle Brett component. Still tasting fruity and clean, with a really nice spicy noble hop component.

If anyone is on the fence about brewing this, just do it, this is probably my favorite Saison I've brewed so far...and it's not even "ready" yet.