Session Saison - Feedback, Please

[Nosybear]

Okay gents, have at it....

https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/543869/session-saison

What I'm looking for is a light bodied, moderate alcohol, spicy Saison, very dry, something I can drink pints of and not wonder how I'm going to get past the "fermentation character." As I mentioned in another thread, I'm looking for a sessionable Saison du Pont. Your feedback is appreciated....

 

[Nosybear]

Mod 1 already made: Replaced the wheat malt with spelt malt, added an ounce of Carafa for colour and a touch of nuttiness, upped bitterness to 27 IBU.

 

[thehaze]

Pilsner as a base malt is a very good idea. You say " spicy and dry ", I automatically think of Rye. So get 10% Rye in the mix or maybe a bit more, depending on how you " like " the Rye character. Rye blends well with the esters and phenols from a Saision yeast.

Keep the flaked wheat, but drop the sugar and the Vienna malt. They are not needed. I would drop those.

I am not familiar with the yeast you have chosen, but as any other Saison yeasts, I think it will be wonderful. I just love Saisons!!!

Mash low - 149F/65C - for 60-90 minutes, keep the grainbill clean and ferment HOT!

It will turn out awesome.

PS: If you wish to add a new/different dimension to your Saison, I would think about dry hopping. I know, it may seem totally unneccessary, but I have done it. Just use something like Citra, Mosaic, El Dorado, Denali, Eureka, Ella, etc.

 

[thehaze]

It seems you wrote at the same time I replied.

This was my latest Saison:

4000 gr Pilsner
500 gr Rye
500 gr Spelt
100 gr Chocolate Spelt
200 gr Oat Hulls

OG: 1.060
FG: 1.007

It was supposed to be a 5% Saison, but had crazy eff. with my Grainfather and a new grain crush. 7% of goodness. I dry hopped it with Rakau and Falconer's Flight 7C'S.

I like the Spelt addition.

Maybe Carafa would be a bit too much/astringent... I used Chocolate Spelt and although it gave a beautiful amber colour, it is definitely better in darker beers.

 

[oliver]

Saaz and Styrian combination of hops will give you the ideal spicy and balanced hop profile for a saison, (my opinion).

I just brewed a saison, I didn't particularly like it only because I thought it was perfectly balanced and didn't have anything special to it. Recipe was

70% Belgian Pale, 20% White Wheat, and 10% Vienna.

Even amounts of Styrian and saaz equalling 30 IBUs
50% Styrian @ 60
50% Saaz @ 20
50% Styrian @ 5
50% Saaz @ flameout

my water was Ca:75, Cl: 75, SO4: 75

AND, the kicker here if you're trying to make a session beer. USE LESS GRAINS, I promise. Saison yeasts love to eat and eat and eat and eat and eat and eat and eat and eat. THe last two saisons I had planned were supposed to be 8% and 6% and they ended up being 10.5% and 7.75%...

 

[Nosybear]

Thanks for all the advice! I've set the custom attenuation at 80% to compensate for the aggressive yeast. I think I'll go with my mod, maybe rethink the color malt and let you know how it comes out.

 

[GFHomebrew]

Thanks for all the advice! I've set the custom attenuation at 80% to compensate for the aggressive yeast. I think I'll go with my mod, maybe rethink the color malt and let you know how it comes out.

UH uh I'd go 90% attenuation as an average from my experience I got 90% + attenuation from my two Saisons I've brewed.

 

[Nosybear]

80% gives me a margin of error. I want to keep the ABV under 5.5%. Just bounced the recipe off the LHBS staff and they concur: brew as modified.

 

[Nosybear]

I'm drinking a 5.7% Saison at the brewery attached to the LHBS. I want mine drier. But this is quite good.

 

[J A]

I've got a malt bill all weighed out for a Saison to be brewed tomorrow. I had intended a different recipe, but mistakenly grabbed my bin of white wheat malt for a recipe that definitely didn't need that. And I had to sub some specialty malts because I was out of one of the ingredients. I re-did the original recipe but saved this one and I think it'll make a quite nice saison:
https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/529816/fortuitous-french-saison