Not happy with peppercorns.

I don't know the answer, but my instinct is to go "light" on the peppercorns if I were you.

 

I have had some great beers made with peppercorns. Try a blend of Malabar and Tellicherry. An alternative is to use grains of paradise. With spices a little goes a long way.

Ginger is good, go small with the additions.

I have had a ginger mead that uses copious quantities and is wonderful, but the ginger is balanced with the honey.

 

All of my early Saisons used black peppercorns in them. My summer saison recipe still contains a very tiny amount. The earthy heat is an interesting addition, but it needs ot be really soft.

 

Absolutely those are suitable. Check out the label on Hennepin, you will see ginger and grains of paradise (plus corriander & orange peel). For ginger try about 1/8 ounce. I am a big fan of gop, try 1/8 - 1/4 tsp and of course late addition to the boil.

There are two schools of thoughts for Saisons: Let the yeast provide all the flavor (DuPont) or add spices(Ommegang). I am in the second camp and have had good results. At the levels listed above the flavors will be subtle.

 

Black peppercorns, Coriander, and maybe a bit of orange peel are staples in my Saisons. Otherwise, I tend to let the yeast do the work. Curiously, the peppercorns were my own original idea ...before I discovered how common it is

 

I am of the camp that I let the yeast ‘make’ the spices. If I wanted to make a Saison which had a noticeable pepper (the spice) flavor I would brew a Saison using 3711. Wyeast 3711 has always produced a noticeable pepper flavor in the Saisons that I brewed with it.

Cheers!

 

I have had great luck with pink peppercorns in saisons. If you do not like the harshness of a black peppercorn in a beer, maybe pink is the way to go.

 

came in to suggest green peppercorn

 

Can't knock it until you rock it!

Seriously, try it, then make a decision. If it sucks? who cares. Make your brew buddy drink it.

 

I've got my starter of this going. I tasted some of what I decanted off and after 24 hours it was already fantastically peppery. Solid.

 

Here's an easy and fun way to determine which way to go: Saison DuPont and Hennepin are fairly easy to get. Have a sober trusted friend pour you and your friend two blind samples of each brew. Winner take all, and if your picks are mixed that means you can not tell the difference.

Now you have two of the better saison yeast strains in the world only separated from you by the bottom of the bottle. You can harvest the dregs directly in the bottle you just poured from. Rest assured these are the real house strains from each brewery.

You get to drink some of the best Saison in the world and harvest top quality yeast. Is Homebrewing a great hobby or what?

 

I like Hennepin just fine, but for me, orange peel and coriander are for wits, not saisons. Homebrewers tend to overspice saisons by about a metric butt ton. As a reference, the Anchorage Love Buzz recipe from this interview with Gabe Fletcher, calls for 1g of peppercorns per 5 gallons.

I've used baby ginger in 2 saisons. First time with 2 grams was good, but 3g was too much for me in a 6 gallon batch. IMO you should never be able to identify what spices are in a saison, or really any beer.

 

“First time with 2 grams was good, but 3g was too much for me in a 6 gallon batch.”

Using spice in making beer can be tricky since there are ‘variables’:

· How much spice should you add?
· When should you add it to the boil (10 minutes of boil, 5 minutes of boil, add it at flame-out, etc.)?
· How potent is the given spice you are adding (more potent means you should use less)?
· Etc.

Cheers!

 

True indeed. This was fresh, baby ginger. Added at flameout both times.