Notes: Recipe start, and water prep 0815
I wanted a traditional farmhouse saison, so no water adjustments, no salts, no protofloc, only campden tablets (no chloramine in water back in the day, so I'll add campden tablets)
Aim is to mash as low as possible so it will be dry when fermented! But my fermenter drops about 7 cels during an gour mash, so I'll aim for 67/8 cels, so should drop down to 60 cels or thereabouts!
....and I'm going to leave 5l overnight to cool with a muslin bag over the top in my garden at 100 cels.
..... the remainder (20l) I have a wlp566 saison yeast but it doesn't provide enough saison character for my liking , soin July 2025 I grew the wlp566 with the dreggs of 3 bottles of home brewed beer the night before, a plum lambic, a bretted beer, an imperial brown stout, so I added this to a jar of 2 year old wet wlp566 (fingers crossed this is going to work!. I made my last saison in July 2025, so its more viable yeast, but some of the brett / lambic notes didn't come through.
I've just searched for typical spices used before the use of hops in belgian saisons , this was the answer
"
For bittering: Yarrow, bog myrtle (sweet gale), and wild rosemary. Yarrow and bog myrtle, in particular, were common bittering and preserving agents before brewers discovered the superior properties of hops.
For flavor and aroma:
Juniper berries: Provided a peppery, pine-like flavor.ginger. Added a spicy, thirst-quenching note.
Grains of paradise: Contributed a warm, peppery, citrusy flavor.
Coriander: Added citrus and spice, especially when lightly crushed.
Other botanicals: More exotic and regional additions could have included anise, cinnamon, nutmeg, caraway seed, mugwort, and even spruce tips.
"
I didn't have any Yarrow/ Bog Myrtle, then searched again re rosemary, google ai suggested 15-20g for bittering for 32l, since I only had dired I will use 30g first wort
google ai :
"
For a 32L (8.5 gallon) batch of beer, start with a conservative addition of 15–20 grams (0.5–0.75 ounces) of dried rosemary at the start of the boil to add subtle, earthy flavor. A longer boil time, such as a 60-minute addition, will extract more flavor and some bitterness, while a later addition (e.g., 5–15 minutes) will preserve more aroma.
"
AND FOR FLAVOUR:
BLACK PEPPER, CORIANDER, JUNIPER BERRIES, caraway seeds, nutmeg = 5 spices use 0.1g/l total x 32l /5 spices = 0.654 g of each, I'll use 0.5g of each spice
VOLUMES
tot water = 38l
Mash In vol = 9.3l (31.1kg x3l), SpargeWater = 33-9.3 = 24
losses =33 -3.1x0.85 l (malt) +1 (mash tun) =3.6
post mash collection = 38-3.6=28l, = preboil = 34.4l
post boil =34.4 /1.1 = 31l
fv vol =31-1l (hot break etc), FV vol = 20 + 5 spont fv +5l for growing yst
racking FV vol =20-1.5 =18l, aim 18l keg, + 4l spont fv in bottle
NO CaCl added , NO AMS, Strike temp 75 cels, grain temp 22.8 cels, added a quarter of a tablet of campden tablets as there was no chloramine in water back in the day!
water ph 6.25 - 7
MASH IN
0915 somash 65.9 cels (9.3vol), ph 5.5-5.75 (20 mins into mash)
1015 eomash, 59 c temp (lost 7 cels over the hour),ph 5-7
recirc 1025-1028, (very clear!!! tastes v good, nice caramel notes). collection start 1028, end 1105
first runnings 1.078, 19.5 cels, ph 4.5-6.25 and lrunnings 1.016, tastes ok
PREBOIL
BOIL (Ing) from 1028, sg 1.022 , wort 33.5l collected (4.5l LOST), tastes great, the crystal really comes through, add 30g of Rosemary first wort
sparge start 1029 end 1045
1121 BOIL start , 90 min boil, sg 1.022
1231 add spices ie nutmeg, coriander, juniper berries, black pepper, caraway seeds
1251 END of boil, sg 1.025, pH 5-7, 31l
Wort tastes great, a nice sweetness, a slight hint of mint (needs double) *** forgot to add 0.5kg of sugar
COOL OVERNIGHT SO TRANSFER AROUND 80-90 CELS, PITCH YEAST WHEN 30 CELS ACHIEVED, COVER WITH A MUSLIN BAG
REST ie stir/ sit 1130 - 1145
rest 1255 - 1310
Placed 5l into an fv and placed in my garden under the shelter of the bbq, it was raining and cold
Bottled about 4.25l in bottle for growing yeast
chil start 1325 - 13
transfer start 1411 , end 1417, 27-30 cels end , 19l +2l with hot break
vol = 25-2l to grow yeast = 23l to FV
Finished clean up 1415
SAISON SPONT FERMENTED
29-10-2025, og 1.024, 5l, 80 cels, ph 5-6 , left the lid of covered with a nylon bag in the garden till 30-10-2025,
30-10-2025 0630 brought inside, temp was 10 cels, placed in kitchen next to the radiator
31-10-2025 @0800 sg 1.024, 28cels
01-11-2025 @1000 sg 1.024, 22 cels
02-11-2025 @0930 sg 1.022, 22 cels
03-11-2025 0900 sg 1.022, 22 cels, more bubbles, spice taste is dampened, feels a little viscous on tasting
Taken gravities sporadically no change in the SG ie 10/22, added
orval yeast dreggs that were about 2 years iold around the start of january
18-01-2026 1245 sg 1.008, will put into 2ndary and prime and bottle maybe 3g/l sugar as I think the brett may still bring down the sg further
21-1-2026 2000, degassed, added 4tbs of dark sugar about 40 g =3g/l, jeg gushed, put lid back on, but seal twisted, washed down with hose so water got into the keg. Drank two bottles of orval, put dreggs of teast into the keg to clean up any infection.
24-1-2026 botted about 3.8l primed with 12g/l of dark sugar (approx 4 l 60% efficiency) , tasted a bit lacto, some black peppercorn, and a bit of cardboard too, lets see in a couple of months FG 1.006 so abv is 2.3% abv
1-3-2026 took a bottle into Water Into Beer homebrew club, I don't think they liked it, they mentioned it was lemony!
SAISON YEAST WLP566 &BOTTLE DREGS from july 2025
29-10-2025, added 0.5kg of sugar straight into the fermenter, so og 1.031?, 20l, 30 cels, ph 5-6 , covered with lid, sitting in front room
30-10-2025 0700 no bubbling, a v small krausen, temp 20 cels
31-10-2025 @0800 sg 1.017, 20 cels (turned radiator on )
01-11-2025 @1100 sg 1.010, 22 cels
02-11-2025 @0930 sg 1.008, 22 cels, racked 19.5l into keg, put the remainder in jugs in the fridge approx 3-4l, will bottle when sediment has dropped
04-11-2025 From the jugs , I bottled 3.25l, and will wash yeast
20-03-2026 @1100 Fg 0.998, so now its (24+2)*0.129 = 3.4% abv, and still tastes good, the nutmeg doesn't dominate as it once did
SUGGESTED SPICES FOR A SPICED SAISON WHICH I HAVE MADE A FEW TIMES
0.1g/l , coriander , =0.1x ?l=? g est, actual 0g at 100 cels
0.83 g/l ginger = 0.83 x ?l = ?g, actual 0g at 100 cels
5g/l Orange peel = 5x ?l= ?g est , actual 0g at 100cels, 0g at 70 cels (total ??g)
(NaCl salt for the malt
ie homebrew source 0.5 tsp /gallon ***6g/tsp , so for 1 gallon = 0.5 x 6g = 3g / gl
so1gallon = 4.45l, so g/l = 3/4.45 = 0.674 g/l salt in wort ALTHOUGH GOOGLE AI RECOMMENDS 0.050 delicate - 0.150g/l stouts)
For 3-3.2 atm priming
""""""""""""""""""""""""""
= 3.2-0.85 (co2 in beer at 20 cels) = 2.35 atm
Wt of CO2
=atm x density of CO2 = 2.35atm x1.9635g/l=4.61 g/l
Sugar reqd
= wt of CO2/ 0.489 = 4.614225/0.489= 9.43g/l
OR RACK AT
""""""""""""""
sg = sugar reqd per litre / sugar reqd for 1 sg =( 9.43g/l)/2.72 g/l = 3.5
rack at
fg + sg reqd for 3.2 atm = 5+3.5 = 8.5
HWE of sugar is 368 l degrees/ kg
OG = ((HWE xeff)x wt kg) / vol l
So sugar to raise 1 sg = (1x1)/ 368x1 = 2.717g/l
So 1g of sugar will increase sg = (368x1x0.001)/1= 0.368 sg
1 vol of CO2 = 1.5 sg (google)
Density of CO2 = mol mass/ vol = 44.01/22.414l = 1.9635 g/l
Sugar adds 48.9% of its weight of CO2 during fermentation |
