The Untraditional Saison (sort of)
So here I am again at the end of summer (or early fall), writing another entry about a saison. Last year I wrote about my 2016 saison, where I talked a little bit about the tradition of saison and how I used it to make that beer.
This year is a little different. This year I went in the opposite direction. This year I wanted to make a saison but I had no European pils or noble hops which is most of the times ingredients in this farmhouse style ale.
Uncertain I asked Drew Beechum on Twitter to see if I would be shunned for making a saision with American 2-row. Drew is one of those guys who prides himself in making saisons of all stripes. He gave me his blessing and added that he’s made plenty of saisons with 2-row. I also had a ton (actually still have a ton) of Jarrylo hops that I picked up as part of craigslist deal and didn’t know what to do with it. I recently made a Belgian table beer with it and it turned out well with that hop. Looks like my saision for 2017 was shaping up.
Lastly, I had my fermentation chamber (video on that here) all freed up. I wanted to push my yeast as far as I was willing to go, comfortably. So I decided to ramp things up over a few days after pitching pretty cool.
Here’s the details:
Profile: Saison
- SRM: 9
- IBU: 29
- PBG: 1.041
- OG: 1.050
- FG: 1.002
- ABV: 6.3%
Grain Bill
- 83% American 2-Row
- 10% flaked wheat
- 7% Old fashioned oats. (left over from my session NEIPA)
Mash Profile:
148 for 60 minutes.
Boil Additions:
- .5 oz Jarrylo @60 (12.0% AA)
- 1 oz Jarrylo @5 (12.0% AA)
- 2 oz Jarrylo 0 (12.0% AA)
Yeast:
Bell Saison Belgian-style yeast, pitched at 64 (thanks again Drew). I had to break out my recirculating set-up (video here) to get it chilled while my ground water was still pretty warm.
Fermentation schedule:
- Day 0-3 ferment at 64
- day 5 ferment up to 75
- day 6 ferment up to 80
- day 7 ferment up to 90
- day 12 cold crash
Tasting notes:
The beer come out well. It was crisp and light. The taste lingers, but not too long on the tongue. After a few weeks in the keg the citrus started come through. This would be a great beer to bottle and age for a bit.
Final notes:
So here I am again, regretting I let another summer go by and only making one saison. Guess I’ll need to start making some more.