First Saison. Advice?

Add .5 - 1.0 pound of regular table sugar during the boil (I add with 15 minutes left). Not only will this increase the gravity of the wort, but it will help dry out the beer, right in style with a saison.

If you were doing all grain, another option would be to mash at a lower temp for a longer duration to extract more fermentables, which would also produce a dryer, stronger beer.

 

Table sugar is the way to go, especially when using malt extract.

 

Some thoughts:

Grist

I personally do not think utilizing crystal malts of any kind is appropriate for a Saison. A Saison should be light colored and very light bodied (a Final Gravity like 1.005 or lower). I would recommend that you nix the Caravienne and don’t use any crystal malt at all.

If you desire a higher original gravity (e.g., around 1.060) then all you need to do is use more extract. For example, you can ‘bump up’ the amount of Briess Pilsen DME. Also adding 1 lb. of table sugar would increase your OG. Maybe you would like:

· 3 lbs. 3 oz. of Pilsen LME
· 2 lbs. Wheat DME
· 1.75 lbs. Pilsen DME
· 1 lb. Table Sugar

Yeast

I personally have never used T-58 to make a Saison. A characteristic of a Saison yeast strain is that it is a highly attenuating . I have no idea whether T-58 will get you down to 1.005 (or lower). Maybe somebody familiar with T-58 will chime in.

I would recommend that you utilize a Saison yeast strain. Wyeast 3711 is a good choice. If you want a dry yeast, Danstar has a new Saison strain available: Danstar Belle Saison Yeast.

Spicing

I personally prefer for my Saison beers to derive their spicy flavors from the Saison yeast. Please report back how the lemon zest and green tea manifested themselves in your beer (if you go that route).

Good luck with your Saison!

Cheers!

 

Almost all spices I add come after primary fermentation is complete and I get my best results that way. Obviously YMMV but I have a strong preference to this method.

 

“I think my target here will be an OG of 1.060 and FG approaching 1.010”. If you genuinely desire a Saison with that much body (FG = 1.010) then you might not want to utilize a Saison yeast strain. Maybe T-58 would be a good choice for you?

As an example of a Saison strain, I brewed a 1.060 Saison a few years ago using 3711 and it took that beer down to 1.001. My grist for that batch was 6 lbs. of Muntons Extra Light DME and 1 lb. of table sugar.

Also, if you really want a 1.010 final gravity you might want to consider just using extract since the sugar will have a tendency to dry out the beer (lower final gravity).

I personally really, really like the dryness (final gravity less than 1.005) of a Saison but everybody has differing tastes.

Cheers!

 

Agreed. Get your spice from the yeast. Use 3711 @ 64-67 and you will have a dry saison with a great mouthfeel and great citrus phenols. I dry hop with an ounce of citra to accentuate the citrus. Do not use crystal. Do use a touch of wheat. Do use plain old table sugar to bump up your OG.

 

Steeping in this?

 

Just my $.02, but if you use 3711, you may not even need table sugar. It should take it down to close to 1.00 regardless. I supposes it doesn't hurt to use it if you want to, though.

 

A saison that uses T-58 and ends at 1.010 will be missing a lot of saison characteristics in my opinion.

 

honestly. why not brew the recipe for the first time. Then tweak.

 

+1... I always like to have a baseline to compare all my additions with. Especially when you can use secondaries with fruit, oak, (Belgian) sugars, different yeasts, flavor extracts, etc... You'll be able to find out much quicker what tweaks you like and how you can improve upon your initial batch.

 

This is just me personally. I would ditch the caravienne, green tea, and lemon. Up the Pilsener DME to get to the gravity you desire. Up the hops as well, both a touch more bittering and maybe a FO addition of the Saaz and Styrian Goldings. Use 3711 and you won't need to add any sugar. When it's all said and done, (8 weeks after bottling, and make sure the yeast if finished before bottling, I give a week between gravity reading for 3711) figure out what you like and dislike, adjust the recipe and brew again.

 

Fwiw, I agree with what others have said about going basic your first time out. Saisons are all about yeast as far as I'm concerned. Pils malt, maybe a little wheat, some cane sugar, is really all you need, and the yeast will supply more than enough spiciness to keep it interesting. 3724 is really great in this regard but difficult to manage. Maybe use 3711 first time out.

 

Im doing a saison in 2 weeks with 3lbs of orange blossom honey directly in the fermenter. Gonna use the Danstar Belle Saison. Big fan of the Danstar. Very excited! FG is 1.005

 

N=1 and all, but I made a smash with 2-row and 3711, fermented at 64F, and it came out damn near perfect. Very saison-like, yet with tons of body and mouthfeel. I'm going to make another one soon, same yeast, maybe a different base malt, but no crystal malt, just base malt. I'm not going to use sugar, as it was right where I prefer them dryness-wise, but I wouldn't be against the idea.

 

Utilization of sugar when fermenting with 3711 is totally optional. 3711 is so highly attenuating that it could argued that sugar really isn’t needed. When fermenting with other Saison stains (e.g., 3724) then sugar is likely a good idea if you want a very low final gravity (e.g., <v1.005) for the Saison.

Cheers!

 

I don´t like T-58,I used it several times with poor results.Only a good hit on a high OG belgian tripel aged 12 months.