Inspiration
Really beautiful weather out today while brewing - a sunny day with the early feelings of the crisp air of fall coming through. This beer is based on another AHA recipe called Birra Corina, the notes from the website are:
Luis Cuellar of Croton-On-Hudson, NY, member of the Homebrewers of Western Loudoun (HOWL), won a gold medal in Category #20: Saison during the 2019 National Homebrew Competition Final Round in Providence, RI. Cuellar’s Saison was chosen as the best among 253 entries in the category.
I used some of the ingredients from this recipe, but ended up doing a few things differently. I used different hops, based on what I had on hand. I've always been a fan of Saaz in Saisons, so think it'll be a nice match. I also didn't have Red Wheat, so I used the Wheat malt I had on hand. Other than that, the biggest change I've made to this recipe is that I'm primary fermenting with the Wild I yeast I harvested recently that contains a Tired Hands Saison dregs and 3 Fonteinen Gueze dregs. I've become tired of making clean Saisons that aren't complex. So I decided to take the gamble and do primary with wild yeast. I also read this from Jester King this week about their sour beer production:
At Jester King, we ferment all of our beers (other than our Spontaneous program) with a mixed culture of wild yeast and bacteria, most of which has been captured from the land around the brewery. All of our beer is then refermented in the bottle to produce carbonation. This means that there is living yeast in the bottom of each and every one of our bottles.
If you are trying to produce a beer at home that tastes like a Jester King beer, culturing this yeast from the bottle is way to go. Not every beer will have viable yeast to build from, though. A beer that has been aged in oak for over a year, refermented with fruit, then refermented in the bottle, will not have the freshest yeast. I recommend culturing from a bottle of Le Petit Prince or other similar low ABV offerings. Another way to get the Jester King house culture into your homebrew would be to primary ferment with a suitable yeast (Wyeast 3711 French Saison or White Labs 565 Belgian Saison work great) and then add the bottle dregs post fermentation. This type of mixed culture fermentation will take much longer for the desired flavor and aroma profile to become present. A Jester King beer will primary ferment for anywhere between 6-10 weeks, generally. Our mixed culture will take most beers all the way to a specific gravity of 1.000, which is what we call “bone dry.” I would not recommend packaging your beer until the gravity has reached a similarly low specific gravity.
At packaging, we add enough dextrose to reach an average CO2 level of 3 volumes. If the beer has sat for a while, we'll add a touch more of the mixed culture to ensure proper refermentation. We allow a bare minimum of 3 weeks for after packaging for our beers to condition and carbonate. The mixed culture will kick up some pretty crazy flavors and aromas in the first week or two, all of which will be absorbed or dissipate with time in the bottle. The most important thing to remember when making this type of beer is patience. To quote the famous barrel head hanging in the cellar of Brasserie Cantillon, “Le temps ne respecte pas ce qui se fait sans Lui,” or “Time does not respect what is done without him.”
So I decided to add everything at the beginning and hope that in 6-10 weeks I can see a Saison with an assertive sourness come to life. We will see.
Luis Cuellar of Croton-On-Hudson, NY, member of the Homebrewers of Western Loudoun (HOWL), won a gold medal in Category #20: Saison during the 2019 National Homebrew Competition Final Round in Providence, RI. Cuellar’s Saison was chosen as the best among 253 entries in the category.
I used some of the ingredients from this recipe, but ended up doing a few things differently. I used different hops, based on what I had on hand. I've always been a fan of Saaz in Saisons, so think it'll be a nice match. I also didn't have Red Wheat, so I used the Wheat malt I had on hand. Other than that, the biggest change I've made to this recipe is that I'm primary fermenting with the Wild I yeast I harvested recently that contains a Tired Hands Saison dregs and 3 Fonteinen Gueze dregs. I've become tired of making clean Saisons that aren't complex. So I decided to take the gamble and do primary with wild yeast. I also read this from Jester King this week about their sour beer production:
At Jester King, we ferment all of our beers (other than our Spontaneous program) with a mixed culture of wild yeast and bacteria, most of which has been captured from the land around the brewery. All of our beer is then refermented in the bottle to produce carbonation. This means that there is living yeast in the bottom of each and every one of our bottles.
If you are trying to produce a beer at home that tastes like a Jester King beer, culturing this yeast from the bottle is way to go. Not every beer will have viable yeast to build from, though. A beer that has been aged in oak for over a year, refermented with fruit, then refermented in the bottle, will not have the freshest yeast. I recommend culturing from a bottle of Le Petit Prince or other similar low ABV offerings. Another way to get the Jester King house culture into your homebrew would be to primary ferment with a suitable yeast (Wyeast 3711 French Saison or White Labs 565 Belgian Saison work great) and then add the bottle dregs post fermentation. This type of mixed culture fermentation will take much longer for the desired flavor and aroma profile to become present. A Jester King beer will primary ferment for anywhere between 6-10 weeks, generally. Our mixed culture will take most beers all the way to a specific gravity of 1.000, which is what we call “bone dry.” I would not recommend packaging your beer until the gravity has reached a similarly low specific gravity.
At packaging, we add enough dextrose to reach an average CO2 level of 3 volumes. If the beer has sat for a while, we'll add a touch more of the mixed culture to ensure proper refermentation. We allow a bare minimum of 3 weeks for after packaging for our beers to condition and carbonate. The mixed culture will kick up some pretty crazy flavors and aromas in the first week or two, all of which will be absorbed or dissipate with time in the bottle. The most important thing to remember when making this type of beer is patience. To quote the famous barrel head hanging in the cellar of Brasserie Cantillon, “Le temps ne respecte pas ce qui se fait sans Lui,” or “Time does not respect what is done without him.”
So I decided to add everything at the beginning and hope that in 6-10 weeks I can see a Saison with an assertive sourness come to life. We will see.
Recipe
Boil Time: 90 min
Batch Size: 18 liters
Original Gravity: 1.040
Final Gravity: 1.005 (estimated)
ABV (standard): 4.5%
Fermentables
Pilsner Weyermann 65%
Wheat 17.5%
Rye Malt 17.5%
Hops and Spices
11 g - Columbus Type: Pellet Use: Boil for 60 min
7 g - Perle Type: Pellet Use: Boil for 15 min
3 g Coriander seeds: Boil for 0min
15g - Saaz Type: Pellet Use: Boil for 0min
Mash Guidelines
Infusion, Temp: 68 C, Time: 90 min
Sparge, Temp: 76 C
Yeast (all added at primary)
WLP Belgian Saison I 565 x 2
100 ml yeast blend from Wild I (Wyeast 3726, dregs of Tired Hands and 3 Fonteinen)
Water
Amsterdam Source + 5 g Gypsum added to mash
Mash pH: 5.70
Mash pH add: 2.5ml = 5.40
Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.036 / 22L
Add: 3L water because gravity too high
Boil pH: 5.61
Boil pH add: 4.5ml = 5.04
Mid-Boil Gravity: 1.034 / 22L
Original Gravity: 1.040 / 18L
pH: 5.38 (this is higher than anticipated, and I don't know why this is happening. I'll do some research and take more samples throughout the boil of the pH next time to monitor change). Would have preferred 5.1-5.0
Post-Brewday Notes
Notes from original recipe:
Mash at 156°F (68°C) for an hour. The higher temperature is for extra body to compensate for the low ABV and high attenuation of the saison yeast. Sparge at 170°F (76°C). Boil wort vigorously for 90 minutes, following indicated hops schedule. Add yeast nutrient and Irish moss at 15 minutes. Add the crushed coriander seeds at flameout. Chill to 64°F (18°C) as fast as possible. Aerate and rack to fermentation vessel. Pitch yeast and hold fermentation temperature at 64–68°F (18–20°C) for the first 5 days, then let free rise to 80°F (26°C). Don’t transfer—let beer sit in primary for around 20 days to ensure it’s clean and ready. Carbonate with priming sugar, targeting 3 vol. (6 g/L) if using Belgian bottles or 2.5 vol. (5 g/L) if using regular bottles. Keep bottles at 75°F (24°C) for two weeks, then cold-condition for at least two weeks before consumption.
Reality:
Brewed 11/09/2020
Transferred to primary tank that had previously been used for Wild I, added yeast as directed above. Temperature of primary fermentation roughly 21-22°C for first 2 days
Amsterdam hit with a heat wave, so the closest I could get this to being low is 24-25°C for 2 days
15/09/2020: Move to 27°C @ 1.012
21/09/2020 @ 1.005: Tastes more sour and with more brett than the last time I tasted it. If this beer hits 1.000 in the next week, I'll likely bottle some of it, and put the rest in a glass 5L jug to long-term age. Quite a nice Saison with no noticeable off or raw flavors. The only thing that makes it taste raw is that the Brett and sour dregs are starting to find their way into the beer and haven't fully developed yet.
24/09/2020: 1.004 Tastes really nice already, and changed quite a lot in the last week or so. The beer now has a Brett character coming on that's really nice and I look forward to seeing how it develops. Strangely, there isn't any noticeable sourness yet, so I'm not sure if that will come in time or not. We will see. The beer is round and very full-bodied, creamy and smooth. Overall this is a really incredible and well-balanced base for a Saison beer. I would love to make this again with fruit/spicing/different dregs. Potentially bottling this, kegging it or ageing it should prove to be really interesting.
30/09/2020: Packaged to x2 5L Glass jugs
2020/10/01: Added dregs from Lemon Tart Ale Studio Oedipus no.32
to one of the 5L jugs (Jug b)
Tasted 2020/11/12:
Jug a: Light nose, smells faintly sour and a little funky, but is fairly subtle. Is not very sour or flarvorful. A very sessionable beer with a slight bitterness peeking out. Tastes thin and a little weak at the moment. This needs more time to develop.
Jug b: More brett, still very limited sour aroma on the nose. Smells funkier and fuller than Jug 1. Tastes a little more sour, lemon-forward and more funkier overall. Still a little thin in body.
Added dregs from a wild yeast captured from the house that was a really nice sour flavour to Jug a to try and get the acidity higher.
2021/07/06: Packaged
x4 normal 2a
x4 normal 2b
x2 w1+2a
x2 2a+2b
x2 2a+w3
x2 1+2b
x2 2b+w3
The other half of each were combined and will be turned into half fruit and the other half to use for the next year's blend.
Batch Size: 18 liters
Original Gravity: 1.040
Final Gravity: 1.005 (estimated)
ABV (standard): 4.5%
Fermentables
Pilsner Weyermann 65%
Wheat 17.5%
Rye Malt 17.5%
Hops and Spices
11 g - Columbus Type: Pellet Use: Boil for 60 min
7 g - Perle Type: Pellet Use: Boil for 15 min
3 g Coriander seeds: Boil for 0min
15g - Saaz Type: Pellet Use: Boil for 0min
Mash Guidelines
Infusion, Temp: 68 C, Time: 90 min
Sparge, Temp: 76 C
Yeast (all added at primary)
WLP Belgian Saison I 565 x 2
100 ml yeast blend from Wild I (Wyeast 3726, dregs of Tired Hands and 3 Fonteinen)
Water
Amsterdam Source + 5 g Gypsum added to mash
Mash pH: 5.70
Mash pH add: 2.5ml = 5.40
Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.036 / 22L
Add: 3L water because gravity too high
Boil pH: 5.61
Boil pH add: 4.5ml = 5.04
Mid-Boil Gravity: 1.034 / 22L
Original Gravity: 1.040 / 18L
pH: 5.38 (this is higher than anticipated, and I don't know why this is happening. I'll do some research and take more samples throughout the boil of the pH next time to monitor change). Would have preferred 5.1-5.0
Post-Brewday Notes
Notes from original recipe:
Mash at 156°F (68°C) for an hour. The higher temperature is for extra body to compensate for the low ABV and high attenuation of the saison yeast. Sparge at 170°F (76°C). Boil wort vigorously for 90 minutes, following indicated hops schedule. Add yeast nutrient and Irish moss at 15 minutes. Add the crushed coriander seeds at flameout. Chill to 64°F (18°C) as fast as possible. Aerate and rack to fermentation vessel. Pitch yeast and hold fermentation temperature at 64–68°F (18–20°C) for the first 5 days, then let free rise to 80°F (26°C). Don’t transfer—let beer sit in primary for around 20 days to ensure it’s clean and ready. Carbonate with priming sugar, targeting 3 vol. (6 g/L) if using Belgian bottles or 2.5 vol. (5 g/L) if using regular bottles. Keep bottles at 75°F (24°C) for two weeks, then cold-condition for at least two weeks before consumption.
Reality:
Brewed 11/09/2020
Transferred to primary tank that had previously been used for Wild I, added yeast as directed above. Temperature of primary fermentation roughly 21-22°C for first 2 days
Amsterdam hit with a heat wave, so the closest I could get this to being low is 24-25°C for 2 days
15/09/2020: Move to 27°C @ 1.012
21/09/2020 @ 1.005: Tastes more sour and with more brett than the last time I tasted it. If this beer hits 1.000 in the next week, I'll likely bottle some of it, and put the rest in a glass 5L jug to long-term age. Quite a nice Saison with no noticeable off or raw flavors. The only thing that makes it taste raw is that the Brett and sour dregs are starting to find their way into the beer and haven't fully developed yet.
24/09/2020: 1.004 Tastes really nice already, and changed quite a lot in the last week or so. The beer now has a Brett character coming on that's really nice and I look forward to seeing how it develops. Strangely, there isn't any noticeable sourness yet, so I'm not sure if that will come in time or not. We will see. The beer is round and very full-bodied, creamy and smooth. Overall this is a really incredible and well-balanced base for a Saison beer. I would love to make this again with fruit/spicing/different dregs. Potentially bottling this, kegging it or ageing it should prove to be really interesting.
30/09/2020: Packaged to x2 5L Glass jugs
2020/10/01: Added dregs from Lemon Tart Ale Studio Oedipus no.32
to one of the 5L jugs (Jug b)
Tasted 2020/11/12:
Jug a: Light nose, smells faintly sour and a little funky, but is fairly subtle. Is not very sour or flarvorful. A very sessionable beer with a slight bitterness peeking out. Tastes thin and a little weak at the moment. This needs more time to develop.
Jug b: More brett, still very limited sour aroma on the nose. Smells funkier and fuller than Jug 1. Tastes a little more sour, lemon-forward and more funkier overall. Still a little thin in body.
Added dregs from a wild yeast captured from the house that was a really nice sour flavour to Jug a to try and get the acidity higher.
2021/07/06: Packaged
x4 normal 2a
x4 normal 2b
x2 w1+2a
x2 2a+2b
x2 2a+w3
x2 1+2b
x2 2b+w3
The other half of each were combined and will be turned into half fruit and the other half to use for the next year's blend.