Strawberry Basil Saison

[NickMc31]

I've been intrigued to brew with basil, and a strawberry basil saison keeps calling my name. Anyone ever tried brewing with basil? I've read recommendations of steeping .5 oz of fresh leaves per 5 gallon batch. How about strawberries? When I brew my raspberry wheat, I add about .5 lbs of frozen red raspberries per gallon in secondary. I'm thinking strawberries will need to be more like 2 lbs per gallon. Thoughts? Any advice are greatly appreciated.

Sláinte!

[squeegeethree]

Basil is a great herb. But like anything with flavors and aroma it has a half-life and will dwindle with time. I recommend you make a series of basil teas first to experiment with amounts. There are varieties of basil with more intensity and less vegetable matter. You might want to seek out or grow those.
I have never brewed with strawberries. IMO strawberries are all about aroma and their taste, once the sugars have been fermented out, will be next to non existent. So I think you are right about adding as much as possible.

[wilcolandzaat]

Dont know about strawberries think there Will be not so much flav. From the strawberries. If you do use fresh ones. Mayby. A natural syrup. Might help. Most the time syrups. Got a stronger. Flavour. You might want to add them to secondary. 5 to 10 days. Before. Kegging or botteling

[NickMc31]

Planning my Strawberry Basil Saison brew day. I've decided I'll be using the Northern Brewer Lemondrop Saison recipe (attached) for my base, adding .75oz fresh basil with 5 mins left in boil and 8-10 Ibs frozen strawberries in secondary.

Question is, should I forego the final 1oz of Lemondrop hops at flameout to avoid over-bittering with my addition of the basil?

I'll be using the Omega Yeast Saisonstein's Monster yeast.

[brew_cat]

I would only use the bittering addition. Late additional hops is just going to muddle the basil. I would brew it without the strawberries once to establish your base

[NickMc31]

So you're recommending ONLY using the US Magnum and eliminating both Lemondrop additions, is that right?

[sneezles61]

What does Barke malt bring to the party? A tail wagging' good time?
Sneezles61

[brew_cat]

Thats just me

[squeegeethree]

I don't think this will benefit from bittering either. But I would do the opposite and do all the additions at flameout and a little hops stand.

[NickMc31]

Yeah, I confused the bittering/aroma order.

[squeegeethree]

Flameout is aroma. The 10 min times could be called "flavor" by today's standards of aroma additions. When I started 10 min additions were considered aroma times but by and large that has changed.