Quote:
Originally Posted by PlinyTheElder
Anybody have Saison experience? I want to brew up 5 gallons, but I currently don't have a chest to ferment it in, so I'd be fermenting at room temp (~74). I know some of the saison yeasts actually do well at higher temps, but is that only at the end when you let it free rise to drop the FG? Also, anybody have good recipes?
I brew a decent amount of Saisons, I brewed 7 of them this year so far, all slightly different. I keep the malts similar, 70% Pilsner, 10% Munich, 10% Wheat/Rye/Oats, 10% simple sugars If I'm going for a bigger Saison. Mashed low at ~146-148 for 90 mins. Although I may change this up a bit, Im going to do a all Pilsner saison with noble hops, similar to Dupont. Dryness is key, Ive had some under attenuated Saisons (one of which was mine) and they are very odd.
I usually change up the hop profile for some variation, I use a clean bittering hop like Warrior when I'm using big Citrus American hops Amarillo/Citra/Centennial. Ive also done some more traditional hop schedules with noble hops, hallertauer, saaz etc that wer nice and earthy.
Ive been using WLP 565 for most of them this summer, but have 2 with ECY08 that I'll be kegging soon. Other people have issues with it stalling out but thats never been the case for me. I chill the wort in the mid 60s and pitch, let it free rise to room temp for 24 hours then hit with my heating pad on low for 48 hours ~82f, then turn the heating pad to high and ramp to 90f to finish. At which point I just turn it off and let it go back to room temp and primary for a total of 14-21 days.
I may modify this profile a little bit since I just built a better fermchamber and should be able to ramp to the tenth of a degree.
I brewed one this spring with tons of Sorachi Ace at 10, 5, and flameout, dry hopped with Simcoe which was one of my favorites, 1.065 SG and finished bone dry at 1.002.