The How My Averagely Perfect Saison Turned Out Thread

I'm jealous that this is in your glass right now with carbonation and everything... Mine is sitting in the carboy as the most active part of fermentation is slowing down. Definitely excited to see how this one turns out!

 

If it tastes anything like it looks it must be fabulous

 

That's good to hear. Looks nice, how many vols did you carb to?

 

I went with 3.2 vols...just because I wanted a slight buffer with the Brett.

 

What do you mean by a brett buffer?

 

Good point , although 3.2 seems reasonably high to me.

 

Saisons are 3.0-3.5, so I went for just low of middle.

 

Tasting the hydrometer sample right now, 2 weeks after brewing. Gravity is 1.005. I find this watery in texture, with overt phenolics and detectable alcohol taste (it's only ABV 5.4%). There is a slight astringency to the finish. I'm not really enjoying it. Perhaps I will have a difference of opinion when carbonated.

 

I tried mine after 3 weeks (hydro sample), so maybe your's is just green. I did not have noticeable alcohol or any astringency.

 

I just sampled mine too, SG now at 1.005 at two week mark at 80F. I shut off the heater, it will condition at ~72F for the next couple of weeks. Interesting how different it is from last week. The banana and pineapple have disappeared. It's very bland now but has decent mouth feel and just a touch of funk in the nose. No astringency or alcohol notes in this sample.

 

Getting some pretty consistent FGs here...despite a bit of OG fluctuation.

 

In hindsight, I don't think the Vienna malt is adding anything to this beyond a few gravity points

 

I tripled the recipe and did a complicated 15 gallon batch of it. Ten gallons went into the conical , 4 gallons went into a fermenting bucket with an addition of a gallon of rye/barley wort. The rye saison will ferment with WLP 565. 5 gallons of the brett saison will be racked onto 12 pounds of crabapples until the end of June. When I get back from my vacation in late June I'll have 3 different saisons based on the recipe.

 

Have you used crabapples in beer before? In a saison? What kind of flavors do you get?

 

I make a crabapple beer almost every year that I get a crop. They give a pleasant mild apple flavor, are somewhat tart and make good summer beers. The last one I did was a Belgian blonde ale that was very good. You know it tastes like apples, but not as strongly as a cider.

 

This certainly looks amazing. Great job!

 

I'm curious @JohnSnowNW 's decision to bottle and serve relatively quickly. Is this customary for Brett saison? It should reach terminal gravity pretty fast (mine did) but should you let it sit a while in a secondary while it Brettifies ?Wondering how you all are thinking about this.

 

I guess he is probably going to try it over a period of time. I've had several batches go south when bulk aging so my new plan for funky/sour beers is to get them in the bottle after 3 or 4 weeks and let them do their thing

 

I was just checking carbonation, I don't plan to be drinking this, outside of tastings, for several months.

It is my opinion that beers secondary just as well in the bottle, as they would in the fermentor. There are exceptions, of course.