77 replies to this topic

[matt6150]

So I've never brewed a saison on my own before. I brewed a rye saison once but it was either a club brew or some kind of community brew here, can't remember. So looking for a few tips and a good recipe. I have some 3711 going on the stirplate now. I'm looking for something basic. This will end up becoming a pineapple saison.

[Poptop]

One of my favorite things to brew; Simple Saisons as well as those with twists and turns. Noble hops as well as American hops. The rules are pretty broad if any. 3711 is a winner! If you are going to use pineapple, I would personally keep the grain bill as simple as possible, no caramel, no dextrin, only noble hops (30 IBU's) and highlight the spiciness of the yeast and fruitful pineapple. This month's Zymurgy has a nice article on Saisons by Trinity Brewing and below is a fun read. httpss://www.homebrewersassociation.org/attachments/0000/2499/MJzym08_Saisons.pdf https://www.trinityb...salessheet2.php Enjoy the brew session. Saisons are so very cool (to me).

[Poptop]

PS: check out Trinity's pretty inspirational website.

[neddles]

Yeah I can't say which yeast would go best with fruit. Off the top of my head I would say probably only add hops at 60 min. unless you have a tried and tested flavor hop to go with the pineapple. I would think most hops wouldn't go all that well with fresh fruit but probably there are some. 

 

Grain bill can be as simple as possible from 100% pils to some sort of pils/wheat mix to lighten it up. Can add a bit of vienna or even munich if you want it a little maltier. Pretty much anything goes as long as it compliments your pineapple addition and can still finish reasonably dry. I have heard several times that light additions of honey malt does well in fruit beers but I have no experience with it myself. Actual honey may be even better if you have a big OG and want to ensure dryness.

[MtnBrewer]

PS: check out Trinity's pretty inspirational website.

Jason's saisons are a little too out there for me. Plus he's an asshole.

[armagh]

How are you planning to get pineapple flavor?  I've made meads using pineapple and it is high grade rocket fuel unitl it calms down, which can be a while.

[Poptop]

Geez I hope that quality doesn't carry over into the taste of his beers... On a side note, I never tasted one but I like the crazy infusions/additions I read at Trinity's site. I also like Boulevard's Tank 7 and would like to try any Farmhouse offering from Prairie or Pretty Things. At the same time I always have at least a couple 750's of Dupont and Moinette, which I consider perfect baselines/platforms for both low and high abv Saisons... Why is Jason an asshole?

[MtnBrewer]

Why is Jason an asshole?

He's a hell of a good brewer but he's arrogant as crap. Thinks he's better than everybody, which obviously is impossible since I'm better than everybody. Here's a story that happened recently. I'm taking a class on brewery operations and we've been going around interviewing small-scale brewers to find out how they got started, how they found funding, how they chose their location, what they'd do different, etc. We were scheduled to visit Trinity a few weeks ago. When the instructor got there, he told us that Jason had bailed and had dumped it all on one of his assistants who didn't know anything about the brewing side of the operation or how they started up or anything like that. (Note that I was there early and saw Jason about 30 minutes before class.) She was very nice and tried to answer our questions the best she could but she just didn't have the information we needed. So we hung around for a little while and then decided to go down to another brewery (Red Leg) just down the street. There we had the opposite experience. Red Leg had just installed a new 7 bbl system and was going to brew on it the first time the following day. Despite this and despite the fact that we had no appointment, the owner (Todd) dropped everything he was doing to give us a tour of the new system, the cold room they just built, the canning "line", etc. The cherry on top is that at the class the following week, the instructor informed us that he has now been banned "for life" from Trinity for abusing Jason's staff. I can testify in court that no such abuse occurred. We asked a few questions, found out that she really didn't know much that was useful to us, thanked her for her time, paid our tabs and left.

[Big Nake]

He's a hell of a good brewer but he's arrogant as crap. Thinks he's better than everybody, which obviously is impossible since I'm better than everybody. Here's a story that happened recently. I'm taking a class on brewery operations and we've been going around interviewing small-scale brewers to find out how they got started, how they found funding, how they chose their location, what they'd do different, etc. We were scheduled to visit Trinity a few weeks ago. When the instructor got there, he told us that Jason had bailed and had dumped it all on one of his assistants who didn't know anything about the brewing side of the operation or how they started up or anything like that. (Note that I was there early and saw Jason about 30 minutes before class.) She was very nice and tried to answer our questions the best she could but she just didn't have the information we needed. So we hung around for a little while and then decided to go down to another brewery (Red Leg) just down the street. There we had the opposite experience. Red Leg had just installed a new 7 bbl system and was going to brew on it the first time the following day. Despite this and despite the fact that we had no appointment, the owner (Todd) dropped everything he was doing to give us a tour of the new system, the cold room they just built, the canning "line", etc. The cherry on top is that at the class the following week, the instructor informed us that he has now been banned "for life" from Trinity for abusing Jason's staff. I can testify in court that no such abuse occurred. We asked a few questions, found out that she really didn't know much that was useful to us, thanked her for her time, paid our tabs and left.

Guy sounds like an asdjole.

[chadm75]

Just brewed 10 gallons about a month ago and it's tasting delicious.  A little tip with using 3711...ferment it as hot as you can.  I ferment my Saison in the garage in the 85-90° range.  If you ferment is at regular ale temps, my experience is you get a subpar beer.  

 

My recipe is simple although I add just a touch of 40L for color.  88% Pils, 5% Munich, 5% Table Sugar (added to the boil), 2% 40L...Hallertau @ 60 mins, Styrian Goldings @ 10 mins totaling about 25 IBU's.

 

Cheers and enjoy!

[SchwanzBrewer]

Just brewed 10 gallons about a month ago and it's tasting delicious.  A little tip with using 3711...ferment it as hot as you can.  I ferment my Saison in the garage in the 85-90° range.  If you ferment is at regular ale temps, my experience is you get a subpar beer.  

 

My recipe is simple although I add just a touch of 40L for color.  88% Pils, 5% Munich, 5% Table Sugar (added to the boil), 2% 40L...Hallertau @ 60 mins, Styrian Goldings @ 10 mins totaling about 25 IBU's.

 

Cheers and enjoy!

 

The sub par part has been my experience as well. Couldn't get full attenuation with it. I never tried letting it ferment hotter though. I may add that to my line up of beers to experiment with. 

[matt6150]

Awesome, thanks for all the tips guys. I was planning on fermenting outside so high 80's during the day shouldn't be a problem. Was thinking of using a heat mat at night just to make sure I didn't loose temp as it will usually dip into the upper 60's.

 

armagh, for the pineapple I plan on brewing 10 gals. and splitting it up between pineapple extract from olive nation and the other with a bunch of fresh pineapple in secondary. This will be an complete experiment for me regarding everything basically.

[MtnBrewer]

Awesome, thanks for all the tips guys. I was planning on fermenting outside so high 80's during the day shouldn't be a problem. Was thinking of using a heat mat at night just to make sure I didn't lose temp as it will usually dip into the upper 60's.

You'll definitely need to make sure that the temperature doesn't drop at night. I don't know if 3711 does this but with 3724, if the temp drops even a degree or two, it will just shut down.

[HVB]

Awesome, thanks for all the tips guys. I was planning on fermenting outside so high 80's during the day shouldn't be a problem. Was thinking of using a heat mat at night just to make sure I didn't loose temp as it will usually dip into the upper 60's.

 

Medical heating pad will work well for that.  Try and find one that does not have the auto off feature or just wire around it.

Edited by drez77, 09 July 2014 - 10:11 AM.

[matt6150]

You'll definitely need to make sure that the temperature doesn't drop at night. I don't know if 3711 does this but with 3724, if the temp drops even a degree or two, it will just shut down.

Really, ok will do. I think I might just keep them in the ferment chamber with the heat mat and a light bulb.

[Mya]

personally I think I would skip the pineapple and keep the whole project as simple as possible, or at least, do half without the pineapple, at least until you know how the process works and the beer tastes on it's own

[Poptop]

Guy sounds like an asdjole.

I couldn't agree more. An arrogant attitude like that will eventually run off followers even if the beer is stellar. It's similar to respectfully emailing a brewery to humbly inquire about one of their beers in the hope of obtaining a little road map. I've done this with a few breweries with great luck. However one brewery wouldn't even respond after two very nicely written emails. To this I will not drink their beer any longer. A response of "no" would have been better.

[Poptop]

personally I think I would skip the pineapple and keep the whole project as simple as possible, or at least, do half without the pineapple, at least until you know how the process works and the beer tastes on it's own

Must agree especially to enjoy what the yeast brings to the table. Also I'm a huge fan of 565 and although I've heard many horror stories, I've never had a stuck ferment. Then again it's pretty easy for me to ferment at high temps

[Mya]

I couldn't agree more. An arrogant attitude like that will eventually run off followers even if the beer is stellar. It's similar to respectfully emailing a brewery to humbly inquire about one of their beers in the hope of obtaining a little road map. I've done this with a few breweries with great luck. However one brewery wouldn't even respond after two very nicely written emails. To this I will not drink their beer any longer. A response of "no" would have been better.

there seems to be a small sliver of pro brewers who have a serious attitude problem towards home-brewers, it's small but exists

[matt6150]

I will admit I'm not the biggest saison fan and a plain Jane one seems fairly boring to me. I have a crap load of pineapple in the freezer I need to use up.