Hi all. I kind of pulled this recipe out of my rear but it sounds decent. I was going for a fairly light and crisp body with a moderate malt backbone and a respectable ABV. I put the Carapils in there instead of the traditional flaked wheat for the sake of clarity and the cane sugar to dry it out and boost the gravity.
[quote=“rambleon”]Hi all. I kind of pulled this recipe out of my rear but it sounds decent. I was going for a fairly light and crisp body with a moderate malt backbone and a respectable ABV. I put the Carapils in there instead of the traditional flaked wheat for the sake of clarity and the cane sugar to dry it out and boost the gravity.
Everything looks good, but I would 86 the caramunich (or cut it back to .25 lb and dump the carapils) and sub in 1-2 lb of wheat malt/white wheat.
Also, boil some water, cool it, mix in the sugar, and add it around day 3-4 of fermentation so the yeast will chew on the longer chain sugars first.
Not sure what gravity you are coming up with, but my personal opinion is that Saisons shine when they are below 1.065OG and drier than Oscar Wilde (it so happens that the BJCP agrees with me!). I’ve tried to push it before on a ‘tripel’ saison or on higher gravity saisons, and the alcohol really just gets in the way of the great subtle phenols/esters of this style.
to the extent you can pitch around 65, hold fermentation there for 1-2 days, then raise the temp, do that. It will limit fusels and attenuate the beer really well, and give you great yeast character that isn’t over the top.
You don’t need all of that specialty malt. I use 50/50 mix of continental pils (usually Weiermann) and Maris Otter. This gives me plenty of color. I think those darker grains get in the way of the hops and yeast character. You also don’t need sugar. The saison yeasts will finish dry with out it.
East Kent Goldings for bittering and Styrian Goldings for flavor and aroma. I have made good examples with 565/WY3724 and 566. I am planning on using 3711 for my next batch once it warms up. WL530 also works great with this recipe. I usually splint the batch between these two yeasts.
