Brewed the Petite Saison d-Ete extract kit. Used the dry yeast Safbrew T-58. Followed all instructions on the recipe sheet that came w the kit. Added the (re-hydrated) yeast when the wort temperature was 68 degrees. The fermenter sat in a dark closet at 67 degrees for 5 days. Then I set it in a water bath, and it sat there (in the dark still) at 64 degrees for another 5 days. Bottled on March 27. The bottles sat in a dark closet at about 70 degrees for 16 days.
Drinking time comes, there is very little head (none, basically) and the saison tastes very much like a commercial pilsner, maybe w a little bit of acidic/tannin off-taste (but it could be my imagination).
I haven’t drank a lot of saisons (but I sure enjoy those that I have) and mine doesn’t seem very indicative of the style. Or, maybe I am wrong and it is in line. I should have used the (recommended) liquid yeast (Wyeast 3711 French Saison) and am betting this is my problem (I made an ordering error and went ahead and brewed w the Safbrew…)
Any thoughts? Thanks guys.
The saison style is all about the yeast selection. You did not use a saison yeast, so you have not made a saison, but rather some other sort of blonde Belgian ale. Not a big deal – you’ve still made a good beer, so enjoy it for what it is!
You also fermented a little on the cool side for saison, which might begin fermentation in the 60s but should end up in the 70s or even 80s.
If you want to try a dry yeast for a future saison, the Danstar Belle Saison yeast is excellent. The liquid saison yeasts of course are well loved by many brewers.
Another thing with saisons is they can take a long time to finish fermenting. Allow a good 3.5 to 4 weeks to reach final gravity, otherwise you could end up with a gusher.
Now you’ll know just a little bit more about how to brew a saison for next time. I’ll bet your Belgian ale is very tasty anyway, no real loss there!
:cheers:
Just finished drinking a petite saison extract and this is probably one of the top three beers ( out of about 25) that I’ve ever made. After checking my notes, my temps were very near what yours were, same yeast. rehydrated. I always use distilled water–this could be one difference. I did ramp the ferm temp up to 70 after a few days–the highest temp I recorded (this is beer temp, not ambient) was 73. Bottled mine on March 18----23 days after fermentation began. My final gravity was 1.011
I’m getting a very nice, subtle clove aroma, plus a little spicey, peppery taste that the kit predicts. I primed 4.65 gals with 4.68 oz table sugar. It has a small head, but it remains to the bottom of the glass, and the carbonation is very good…
I’m in the same boat, Josiah, I don’t really know what a true saison should taste like, but this is really a good beer. Could have been you needed to up the temps a little like Dave said, and you might could have left it on the cake a little longer. Mine lost 2 points in the final week, plus, that extra week allows the yeast to clean up a little after itself.Hope you have better luck if you try it again. I’d really be interested in seeing how the liquid saison yeast would change things.
Cheers,
Ron
I have only had the local and regional saisons from Tallgrass in Manhattan, KS (“plum” saison, which was okay, not nearly as good as some of their others), from Free State in Lawrence, KS (a couple, I think, and very good, like all their beers) and the KC, MO Boulevard’s Saison-Brett (which is tremendous).
This was the second beer (of 4, all NB kits) I had brewed (have my 3rd - the Dundalk - in the secondary now, and just brewed the Patersbier tonight). So, I am not experienced in brewing in general nor in saisons specifically. Should have got the saison yeast and fermented at a higher temperature it sounds like as well as leaving it in the fermenter another week or so.
I will definitely brew it again and will try the liquid yeast (as long as the 2 I just tried w liquid yeast work out okay…) as well as the temperature and time adjustments.
It DOES have a lot of carbonation, just very little head, though mine also was tenacious all the way to the bottom of the glass. I was very impressed and pleased with that. What should I call it? Just a Belgian blonde ale?
It is not too bad. I drank an Oskar Blues Yella Pils an hour or so after having one of my petit saisons and found the flavor profiles similar, which seems odd.
I’ll be honest with you… it’s going to be pretty similar to your patersbier. The “saison” that you brewed is sort of like a “patersbier lite”. Your latest patersbier should be just a little bit stronger in alcohol, but not as bitter. Hope you like them!
I was not gonna secondary the Patersbier - do you think 3 weeks in primary is enough?
I have used both T-58 and Wyest French Saison (as well as White’s farmhouse blend) before and I can tell you from experience, with a side-by-side comparison, that T-58 is a much more subtle funk than the liquid yeast. Do not be put off, saison can be a very funky style and I think you did the right thing by starting with T-58. I was worried when I tried my first saison with liquid yeast that I not like to drink 5 gallons of it (finished the last one earlier this week 
). As someone famous once said, we have no errors only happy mistakes. You know more about T-58 and about saisons than you did a month ago, so you can correct what you think needs correcting and move on to the next batch of delicious homebrew. Cheers my friend.
3 weeks in primary should be fine. But just to be sure… check the specific gravity about 3 days before you plan to bottle or keg, then check again on bottling/kegging day looking for the same reading to make sure it’s done fermenting.
Has anyone tried to dry hop this? I ordered this kit to brew this weekend, along with 2 oz of Citra’s and thought that I’d give that a try…thoughts?
:cheers:
Citra is super strong. Use a very small amount, no more than 0.5 oz, to keep it from being a total Citra bomb.
I have also brewed this kit many times before in the past without what I thought to be true ‘saison’ character. My most recent attempt was with an old kit (left over from my extract days). I pitched the WLP566 Belgian Saison II (did a starter) then a temperature ramp during active fermentation 70-72-74-76-78 then back to 72 to finish up. I was trying to get the banana and clove notes I have lacked in the past. Here’s where I messed up. I added a 1/4 tsp of clove at flame out. Too much clove. Now I want to rescue the beer. It is kegged and carbed and drinkable but I thought if I could do maybe bitter orange peel in the keg it might work with the clove maybe soak it in vodka or boil it separately first. Do you think this might help? Or should I just suck it up and drink my mistake. Other Ideas I had toyed with are: Oaking it or Adding pumpkin extract to make it a cheaters pumpkin saison. I am not afraid to drink my mistake but I also love experimenting. Any thoughts?
Make a few gallons of hard cider, add a cinnamon stick, blend it with your clove saison, and call it “apple pie saison”. Cider is the easiest thing to make in the universe. Warm up some fresh orchard cider (use the good brown murky stuff from a real orchard) to 160 F for 15 minutes, cool, pitch a pack of Cote des Blancs or saison yeast, and let 'er sit for a couple of months. Done.
I like that idea, like a Graf. Thanks, I actually have a cider in secondary. So I can easily test this out.
