What should I brew this weekend?

Do a Christmas wheat beer. Wheat beer with "holiday" spices nutmeg, corriander, cinnamon, etc. I think that would be pretty tasty

 

I say go with the Saison. Saison is essentially a "spiced" beer even if you're not really using spice, and fits perfectly for Thanksgiving/Xmas, even at the dinner table where I find most "Christmas" beers to be a bit much. M27 is fruity and spicy/peppery with a high attenuation - seems good enough for me on it's own! I have in mind a fair amount of wheat, some light caramel and a handful of Special B (for an underlying dark fruit beneath the citrus of the 007), and dried pineapple sage for a fruity/herbal edge.

OR, follow A2HB's suggestion but keep the spicing limited, especially the cinnamon (if at all), and perhaps use a different mix. I once did a pumpkin barleywine for Michael Jackson (I called it "Crack-O Jack-O" - he didn't seem to like that!) with the main note being from Ceylon Mace. He noted "I don't know where the pumpkin is", but why does it have to utilize the standard spicing? - it was brewed with Princess pumpkin in the mash, and had pumpkin pie spices added. Also coming to mind, and unfortunately I forget the names, are some of the Weihenachten biers that I've sampled in Germany. They've got a slightly stronger ABV, are a bit more toasty, caramelish and full (most likely utilizing some Munich malts), but have only an edge of spiciness. I think with a delicate edge of caramel and spice and the orange from the 007's you might have something nice there.

 

A dark saison would make for a good, dry winter beer! at least that's what I'll be brewing soon... still trying to nail down a recipe, but that style goes great with spices and/or sweet orange peel.

 

Hmmm, let's see... not sure you need that acid malt... I love the oats... I'd up the mash temp given the attenuation of M27 (or drop the IBUs by 5)... in general I think the gravity and bitterness are right on.

Just a small amount of Special B will give you color and that dark fruit hint. Biscuit malt is also a good option, and perhaps even a better idea given the oats, but don't use both, it's too much (at least for a first go-round).

Also, I should have noted, at higher fermentation temperatures you can get more banana than you might want, so keep that in mind. And I like Lukass' suggestion of orange peel (I'm assuming bitter orange peel) but I wouldn't go too far at all with that, and I'd look for a little something to give it some herbal backing (probably tossed in at whirlpool... Thai basil, Pineapple sage, thyme, rosemary - just a pinch).

 

I wouldn't consider that much caramel 40 and Special B to be a "dark" saison, just not golden. In fact a lot of Saisons utilize some Vienna malt, which can be quite similar (perhaps both Special B & Biscuit together is not such a bad idea looking at it in that light). I think you're very close - go with what you know if you've been scoring well! A good brewer goes on instinct, that's the art of it. And maybe VikeMan will weigh in, I'm sure he can at least clarify the mash temp and IBU for you.

 

I personally wouldn't go any higher than 72˚F, especially with honey in the mix.

BTW, does anyone know what hops Ithaca uses for their Pacific Gravity Double IPA? That's got a massive orange note in both the aroma and flavor - although they're also using orange peels.

 

If you've got a proper mash & fermentation, temperature has nothing to do with attenuation. The level of attenuation is created in the mash, and then followed up by the choice of yeast in determining how far it will normally go. So I wasn't thinking of drying the beer out, it just seems that fermenting in the 80's is quite high, but if that's what's recommended then go right ahead. My concern would be the formation of higher alcohols and esters, especially with sugar in use.

As for honey versus sucrose, sugar is basically sugar, and almost completely fermentable so I don't think you need to worry about sweetness. Honey is generally around 38% fructose, 30% glucose, and >2% sucrose. Fructose is slightly sweeter than sucrose, which is sweeter than glucose, followed by maltose - but if you're fermenting it out none of that will matter.

As a side note to that, the sugars produced in the mash are kind of the opposite in terms of sweetness. The typical sugar profile produced from malted barley is roughly 50% maltose, 10% glucose, 8% sucrose, and just 2% fructose.

 

I'm not sure how honey would affect it but i think a lot of saisons are routinely fermented in the 80's (I know Dupont does that or higher). I recently did an all pils 4.0% table saison that fermented between 75 and 82 with ECY 14. It scored well and judges noted mosty peppery taste.

 

007 makes a great single hop IPA! Don't waste them on a saison!!!

 

Honey makes absolutely no difference for fermentation temp.

 

Exactly my point. The higher temperature accentuated the peppery notes, throwing off the overall profile of the yeast. But it's tit for tat, always a trade-off, and up to the brewer, which is part of the art of it. If you want a hefeweizen that's loaded with banana just ferment it really warm. Personally, that's not what I want, and the same goes for a Saison, I'd like it to be more balanced.

 

I believe it does, but I'm only going based on personal experience; I don't know the science behind it, but I believe it has to do with the order in which the yeast breaks down the sugars, and at higher temperatures I've sometimes found higher alcohols and rough esters. At cooler temperatures I'll agree, but beyond roughly 75˚F I'm cautious. Again, just my opinion, but there's absolutely no question that yeast metabolize sugars in different ways, and there are a lot of enzymes that are going full throttle transporting sugars through the cell walls and metabolizing them at full speed during a hot ferment. "Free range" fermentation might work with a well-mashed and well-pitched batch, but I'd rather be cautious and generally work with more of a deft hand.