I decided near the end of 2012 that my "brewyears resolution" would be to brew more farmhouse style ales. My two favorite styles to drink are very forward American hopped ales and farmhouse "rustic" style ales. I've spent the majority of my 5+ years of homebrewing focusing on the former, yet never attempting the latter. However, I will not stop brewing hoppy ales, just maybe not as much (I've already brewed one so far this year).
My First Attempt at a Saison
For my first attempt at a saison I used 9# 2-row and 2# rye. I mashed true to style around 149 for 60 minutes. I had some left over sorachi ace hops and never having, but always hearing good reviews, I decided to go along the route of Brooklyn Brewing and use all sorachi ace. I also dry hopped it with 1 oz. US Saaz to get a bit of spicy/earthiness. For spices, I used .5 oz crushed coriander, .5oz lavender, and 1.5 oz. rose hips. The spices seem to blend/mix well, but the lavender seems to be a little overpowering. The spices, in general, could be cut slightly back since they do take a prominent stance in the aroma and flavor. The sorachi ace also lends a prominent lemon note to the nose and flavor. These critiques are coming from only 5 days of being in the keg. I used 3711 for my first saison. I read numerous reviews of the varying saison yeasts and decided 3711 would work best for my low fermentation temperature. I fermented it at my standard temperature for my ales at around 62-68 degrees.
After 2 weeks it was at 1.004 with a starting OG of 1.055. It remained there for another week before it was kegged.
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| Coriander, Lavender, and Rose Hips |
Along with the "normal" version of the spiced saison, I also bottled a 6 pack worth and then added 9 drops from a sterile pipette of WLP670 that I took straight from a starter for another saison in the works. I would have used a straight brett culture, but did not have any readily available. The WLP670 is a mix of a saison strain and brett strain. Figured it was worth a shot and so far no explosions. I will probably wait at least a month before I crack one open.
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| Bottling Conditioning With WLP670 |
I will post a formal review of this spiced saison, including the one above. I have many other things to write about:
- 100% Brett L Oatmeal Stout
- Galaxy/Citra Pale Ale
- Table Saison
- 100% Belma saison with WLP670
- Some Various 1 year+ sours, some of which are to be bottled shortly
