Mad Fermentationist Saison Blend

Has anyone brewed with this yet?

 

African or European?

 

I have a pack but have not brewed yet. Maybe this weekend, but could be challenging to fit it in. I think it will be 85% pils, 7.5% wheat malt, 7.5% oat malt. I think I will skip kettle hops but will dry hop with either Waimea, Jarrylo, or both.

 

How long to leave in the primary? I've never brewed with brett before (or lacto/pedio for that matter).

 

As long as you'd like, I usually keg mine after 2-4 weeks, prime, and allow to carbonate and get funkier until the sour tap opens up. If you are bottling, it is safest to wait until the gravity stabilizes before packaging.

 

I made a brew with this blend last weekend. Described here:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/commun...g-april-17-edition.501673/page-2#post-5393266

6 days later, I'm tasting a hydrometer sample. Sure, it is early in the game, but this is in the spirit of tasting throughout the process. Great yeast-derived pineapple candy. Pleasant, juice like tartness and sweetness. I did not use hops. I did acidify with some lactic acid at the time of pitching, although I don't have a pH meter so it was a bit of guessing based on some back of the envelope chemistry calculations and estimations. This was mostly a measure of protection because I didn't hop. There likely are more sugars left to ferment (residual sweetness). The beer has attenuated from 1.070 to 1.020. When the brett starts working, there may be a fair amount for it to chew. Originally I thought I might dry hop, but am now considering some rhubarb and/or berries (blue, straw, or maybe cran?) that have been in my freezer for a while. On the other hand, it's pretty drinkable right now.

 

My most recent batch is very pineapple-forward, but it's got Galaxy and Vic Secret at whirlpool and rosemary honey in the fermentor.

Interested to hear how yours turns out, I don't think I've used it on a beer that strong!

 

Sweet!

I did a white wine saison with the blend recently that was a huuuuge favorite among the people that tried it. Light, crisp, refreshing, with hints of lemon, black pepper and a little tartness. Will def be getting more of it and actually harvesting it this round.

 

An update, my MF blend saison has been in the keg for 3 weeks. The brett character is starting to come through as a concord grape or grape juice kind of character, but that could also be the Nelson hops contributing to that. Very dry, slightly tart, fruit and a spicy finish. The spice is diminishing slowly, but I think the brett is starting to transform the phenols. Wish I would have bottled this one. It'll be gone too quickly to see how it evolves over the next six months.

 

I have mine sitting in a secondary right now. After primary it tasted great. A little peppery, a little earthy and a slight amount of tartness. It's now just waiting for the wild sumac in my backyard to ripen so that I can add that to it. hopefully I can get that done and get it carbed before my wedding, since this is supposed to be on tap at the reception!

 

I believe it'll depend on how well it sells. If people want it, I assume Jeff will keep it going.

For what it is worth this thread over on HBT has lots of results too.

 

I was eyeing the sumac near my parents' house last week, not ready yet, but I grabbed some yarrow for a gruit-gose I brewed Saturday (ground ivy was the other addition).

 

Mine got very sour, didn't measure pH. No hops.

 

Yeah, mine with this yeast blend usually finishes around 3.6 pH with low hops. I love the blend of light sour with saison goodness. Going to be kegging my white wine saison with 3lb/gallon of pluots this weekend

 

My most recent batch didn't have any hops before 185F. Finished at pH 4.16.

 

For those, like me, who wondered what kind of character thyme honey has, here you go:

Its intense and complex aroma has been described as; floral, spicy, dried flowers, magnolia flowers, cedar, herbs, flowers, rubbed, clove, burnt plastic, pencil drawing, mulled wine, and Marsala. The flavor has been described as: salty, thymol, pharmacy, plastic, pencil, dates and pepper.

 

Darn hop-related compounds and their inhibition of lactobacillus sp.!

 

Not sure if you were aware of this technique, but you can dry hop in the primary to stop acidification.