So . . . It's A Saison, Is It?

[Jens-Kristian]

This is the third time I'm airing this beer on the board.

On May 2nd I brewed a Belgian type beer that I felt was slow to ferment and therefore asked about that (using 1388) and found from youe help this was quite normal.

Anyway, it has now gone down from 1074 to 1012 (and is apparently still going). It's still in the primary but I plan on racking to secondary tonight.

Having checked various style sheets since realising it didn't really fit Trippel or Dubbel all that well I've found that what I have on my hands is a Saison. To my defence, I make up my own recipes from scratch as I feel that is at least a third of the fun. (the other two thirds: Actually brewing and then the last, drinking).

Anyway, the Saison is supposed to be a bit fruity. I used some sweet orange peel in the last minutes of the boil and that has left just a hint of citrus in there - a nice, subtle hint, I think.

However, I wouldn't mind putting ina a little more in the secondary; The style sheets also suggest a number of herbs and spices that work well and therefore I'm considering a bit of aniseed, of which I am aware mainly to be cautious with as a little goes a long way.

To achieve just a hint of the aniseed, too - as in, I don't want the beer to taste of licorice, but it'd be nice if you can just sense it is there - how much would you use for a 28 litre batch? How would you go about it?

I'm thinking that I'll take something like 5-10 grammes, boil it in perhaps half a litre of water and then just add the water to the secondary . . . Does that sound sensible?

I'm also considering adding a couple of bits of apple. Not much - maybe one peeled apple.

As for dry-hopping, which I'm not certain I'll do as I don't have a sock and don't want to have to filtre too much of that out when I do the bottling in a couple of weeks time, I have a few different hops in the freezer:

Saaz (2.8%), Hallertau Aroma (7.8%), Pacific Gem (16.9%), Challenger (7.6%) as well as some Fuggles and East Kent Goldings.

I'm thinking of some Pacific Gem as it has that "berryfruit flavour" (heck, it's the first time I've used this one so I'm merely taking that from its description).

How do you reckon that'd all work? :blink:

Cheers,

Jens-Kristian

 

[Pumpy]

I suppose you could do a test on a litre of water and then scale it up aniseed is a nice flavour but could spoil it in the wrong percentage , wont the sugar in the apple restart the fermentation ?

Pumpy

 

[berapnopod]

J-K, what does it taste like?
Does it need spices and/or dry hopping?

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Especially not if your reason for trying to fix it is to match a style guideline.

In any case, Saisons have a wide range of flavours and recipes. One of the more well known examples (and my favourite) is Saison Dupont, which I believe doesn't use any spicing or dry hopping.

If you do want to dry hop, then my choice would be Goldings out of the lot you have.

Berp.

 

[Jens-Kristian]

Pumpy: I suppose you could do a test on a litre of water and then scale it up aniseed is a nice flavour but could spoil it in the wrong percentage , wont the sugar in the apple restart the fermentation?

Thanks - I think I'll try and do that. And yeah - I would think the sugar in the apple would do that and it is something I'm a little wary about as it's already on 8.1% which is actually a tad bit more than I prefer. I don't brew to get high alcohol - I mainly want good taste. On the other hand, I would guess that the limited amount of sugar in one apple shouldn't cause too much trouble . .

Berapnopod: J-K, what does it taste like?
Does it need spices and/or dry hopping?

To be honest I'm finding it a little difficult to figure out right now. To me, the alcohol taste is just that bit on the heavy side, meaning that some of the more mellow tastes seem to drown a little. It tastes alright though for a brew that has after all only really completed the primary. It can change a hell of a lot between now and bottling - and then a fair bit after that.

I wasn't really going to do anything in order to get it within the style - it was more a matter of making it perhaps a little more interesting. I suppose that's what I feel it lacks a little . . interestingness.

Thanks for the comments . . I've decided I'll sleep on it and see what I feel like. I agree though that there is little reason to do a heck of a lot if it is actually a good beer.

Cheers,

Jens-Kristian

 

[Stuster]

Hi J-K

If you have a smaller container that you could do the secondary in, why not get the best of both worlds and experiment on half of it. Leave it a few more days then bottle half of it. Have a try with your ideas, using Pumpy's plan of scaling up from a small volume on the other half. Then you can see the difference these changes have made.

I think there's some sort of synchronicity going on here, because not only are we using the same yeast, but I used Pacific Gem in the dubbel I've just made. Too soon to tell how it'll turn out as I just bottled it a couple of days ago, but did taste good then. Not sure how it'd be to dry hop with. I did read somewhere on this site and SteveSA had used this hop and thought it was more of a vanilla flavour/aroma than the blackberry I've seen it described as. Anybody else used/tasted this hop?

Do wait a few days if you are going to bottle some as the last two beers using this yeast finished at 1008. Eventually.

 

[Kai]

J-K, what does it taste like?
Does it need spices and/or dry hopping?

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Especially not if your reason for trying to fix it is to match a style guideline.

In any case, Saisons have a wide range of flavours and recipes.

I was going to say almost exactly the same thing.

 

[tangent]

To my defence, I make up my own recipes from scratch as I feel that is at least a third of the fun.

i agree!
and what Berp and Kai said. Sometimes the tinkering that seems so fun ends up making you do something crazy, like chucking in an apple. (maybe try this on the next brew)

good luck, let it age, if it's good give us the recipe.