Looking for input on making a good saison

Originally posted by mtoast

Originally posted by erway
On a side note...When are one of you guys gonna make one of these with a bordeaux wine yeast and report back? Common, there’s got to be someone that wants to try this.

Is Lalvin RC 212 "bordeaux-ish" enough for you? If so, I’m on it.

Originally posted by erway

Originally posted by mtoast

Originally posted by erway
On a side note...When are one of you guys gonna make one of these with a bordeaux wine yeast and report back? Common, there’s got to be someone that wants to try this.

Is Lalvin RC 212 "bordeaux-ish" enough for you? If so, I’m on it.

I don’t know shit about wine yeast. Check with Wyeast which one would work.

Well I’ll cross my fingers!

Originally posted by erway
Unfortunately, this is a style that I thinks necessitates doing AG or at least the vast majority. There is no extract that I know of that will be 90%+ fermentable, and that is, without a doubt, one of the defining characteristics of a saison.

FYI Briess seems to be the worst. Using the Pils DME, I made a 7P pale ale for my pregnant wife, figuring that it would finish at 3 because the Briess lacks much fermentable sugar...I was wrong. It finished at 4! Only 1.5% ABV which is fine. Hence the name...Preggers Pale Ale.

I’ve always been curious about saison’s and fusel alcohol. I’ve always thought that fermenting at temperatures above 80 would risk the creation of fusels, and give the beer a harsh edge. Do the Saison yeasts keep these to a minimum when you’re fermenting at high temps?

Originally posted by tagz
I’ve always been curious about saison’s and fusel alcohol. I’ve always thought that fermenting at temperatures above 80 would risk the creation of fusels, and give the beer a harsh edge. Do the Saison yeasts keep these to a minimum when you’re fermenting at high temps?

Reading at 72 hours- OG - 1.052 Current reading - 1.030

When fermentation started it was around 88-90 deg and has slowly settled in at 78 so I moved it to another part of the house where it should range between 80-85. Very fast almost violent fermentation that has slowed way way down, a krausen cap still on top though

Nice straw color and tasty (in a worty way)

Update, the beer is still in primary after 30 days... In spite of what Erway prophesied it DID ferment down to 1.011 which is withing style guidelines for a Saison.. However, at less than 6% ABV I wasn’t satisfied.. So after reading stuff about adding beano I decided NOT to do that but to add 1 pound of cane sugar and 1.5 tsp of Alpha Amylase and see what happens... I figure wost case I strenthen it a bit and maybe add some more funkies and best case the Amylase does its thing and brings it down into the single digits for the dryness I’m hoping for....

Originally posted by erway

Originally posted by mtoast

Originally posted by erway
On a side note...When are one of you guys gonna make one of these with a bordeaux wine yeast and report back? Common, there’s got to be someone that wants to try this.

Is Lalvin RC 212 "bordeaux-ish" enough for you? If so, I’m on it.

I don’t know shit about wine yeast. Check with Wyeast which one would work.

Originally posted by GEOBRAU
Update, the beer is still in primary after 30 days... In spite of what Erway prophesied it DID ferment down to 1.011 which is withing style guidelines for a Saison.. However, at less than 6% ABV I wasn’t satisfied.. So after reading stuff about adding beano I decided NOT to do that but to add 1 pound of cane sugar and 1.5 tsp of Alpha Amylase and see what happens... I figure wost case I strenthen it a bit and maybe add some more funkies and best case the Amylase does its thing and brings it down into the single digits for the dryness I’m hoping for....

Originally posted by ryan

Originally posted by GEOBRAU
Update, the beer is still in primary after 30 days... In spite of what Erway prophesied it DID ferment down to 1.011 which is withing style guidelines for a Saison.. However, at less than 6% ABV I wasn’t satisfied.. So after reading stuff about adding beano I decided NOT to do that but to add 1 pound of cane sugar and 1.5 tsp of Alpha Amylase and see what happens... I figure wost case I strenthen it a bit and maybe add some more funkies and best case the Amylase does its thing and brings it down into the single digits for the dryness I’m hoping for....

Add the Wyeast French Saison yeast. It’s a far superior attenuator to the Dupont strain. If you mashed around 145 and used all base malts, it will get down to 1.002-4 no problem.