Saison recipe for feedback please.

Markok

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Hello fellow brewers. I know it’s late in the season to start a Saison, especially one that calls for Brett which will require 6 months in the fermenter however, I’m going to give it a go nonetheless. The pdf that I hope is attached is a recipe I found on the White labs web site. It calls for WLP565 Saison I Ale Yeast initially then WLP653 Brettanomyces Lambicus once the gravity falls to 1.010. Does this sound worthy of the time and effort? I just love the funk of Brett.
 

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  • Oak-Aged Brett Saison.pdf
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I make saisons quite regularly. The one thing I don't see in the recipe is corn or sugar. These are usually added to lighten the beer up a bit and lower the FG. I see this recipe has an FG of 1.010. I usually see saisons with an FG of 1.004 to 1.006.

This looks like a well-designed recipe, though, and should be pretty good. I have not used in a saison style. I usually see it in sour style ales.

I will also not that I am not patient enough to age a beer for 6 months. I'm ready to drink it after 4 or 5 weeks.
 
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I make saisons quite regularly. The one thing I don't see in the recipe is corn or sugar. These are usually added to lighten the beer up a bit and lower the FG. I see this recipe has an FG of 1.010. I usually see saisons with an FG of 1.004 to 1.006.

This looks like a well-designed recipe, though, and should be pretty good. I have not used in a saison style. I usually see it in sour style ales.

I will also not that I am not patient enough to age a beer for 6 months. I'm ready to drink it after 4 or 5 weeks.
Thanks Bubba. I’ll probably take your advice and add some table sugar at high Krausen. I did notice that the FG is estimated at 1.005. It’s just that the Brett is added at 1.010.
 
Thanks Bubba. I’ll probably take your advice and add some table sugar at high Krausen. I did notice that the FG is estimated at 1.005. It’s just that the Brett is added at 1.010.
The type of sugar can add subtleties in the flavor. Many recipes call for dark Belgian sugar. I have used Louisiana ribbon cane syrup and that adds a very nice flavor.
 
The type of sugar can add subtleties in the flavor. Many recipes call for dark Belgian sugar. I have used Louisiana ribbon cane syrup and that adds a very nice flavor.
I see the BJCP SRM accepted range for this style is 5 to 14. I would guess since 14 is pretty dark, the dark candy sugar wouldn’t exceed this color. When I think of this style, very light colors come to mind.
 
Looks perfectly acceptable. I try to keep a mixed culture saison on hand. I brew one of either a 4% or 6.5% version each 6 months. It lasts at least 12 months. I age them in bottles and it improves for 4-6 months. After that it may get better, but it's not as noticeable.

I don't use sugar but I'll mash for 90-120 minutes to dry it out. I don't do a primary/secondary approach. All the yeast goes in at primary (it's a harvest from commercial bottles so I couldn't split even if I wanted to). It'll stay in the fermentor until it gets to around 85% attenuation, around 4-6 weeks, then I'll bottle. With the brett there's some risk with this approach, so you'll want heavy bottles. Haven't had any gushers yet and with a few more batches under my belt I'm getting a good idea of the final attenuation, so the bottling sugar is getting easier to predict.
 

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