Parsnip Saison

As the leaves change and cooler weather moves in, root vegetables are harvested. The cold nights boost the sugar and flavor of parsnips and carrots. Parsnips, are usually harvested after the first frost. I've wanted to brew a Parsnip beer for about a year now. The earthy, slight licorice flavor of roasted parsnips is always delicious with dinner. Simply cut into matchsticks and roast with salt, pepper, and thyme until done.

With frost on the ground Parsnips arrived at farmer's market's. I quickly gathered over twenty pounds to roast into a Saison. The earthy, peppery, and lemon peel flavors of Saison style beers should blend well with the parsnips. I roasted twenty three pounds raw to thirteen pounds cooked. It took an hour just to cut the parsnips, and I have decent knife skills. I didn't even peel em', just rinsed with water. If I'm after an earthy flavor from the parsnips why would I peel away the layer that was in contact with the soil. After roasting the parsnips I added hot water to the cooked parsnips and pureed with an immersion blender before being added to the mash. I'm treating the parsnips much like pumpkin, squash, and any vegetable that could benefit from the enzymatic activity of the mash. I was stunned by the parsnip aroma and flavor in the wort. The parsnips were noticeable to the point of a smile. Hopefully some aroma and flavor will remain in the end, post fermentation. Lightly hopped with German Tettnanger for bittering. I decided during the boil to remove any late kettle hop additions to let any parsnip flavor emerge and not be covered up by hops.

Pale Malt, Belgian Pilsner, Wheat Malt, Torrified Wheat, (9%) Vermont grown Raw Barley and Flaked Barley. Vermont grown Parsnip. German Tettnanger hops. French Saison yeast.

NHC Results: Saison

A favorite beer style of mine to brew and drink is Saison. The style guidelines according the BJCP are quite broad in color, starting gravity, and final gravity allowing brewer's to put their own stamp on a style with rustic French farmhouse roots. You can take the style and make it hoppy, add spices/herbs to the mix, ferment with fruit, and age it with alternative yeast strains (ie: brettanomyces). At this point it seems like anything goes, as long as you use a Saison yeast strain at some point, I think it's fair to call it a Saison.

At the Burlington Beer Co. tasting event this beer was described as: "A French country farmhouse style ale brewed with barley, wheat, rye, and oats. Pink Peppercorns and Sumac Berries are added at end of boil, boosting the inherent lemon pepper flavors in classic Saison style ales. This is an easy drinking, yet complex, aromatic ale" 

Category 16c: Saison

Pilsner Malt

Torrified Wheat

Rye Malt

Flaked Oats

Munich Malt

mash at 149*

Delta                :60

Nelson Sauvin   :0

Pink Peppercorns  

Sumac Berries

14.3*P (1.057sg)

Wyeast 3726 Farmhouse

Judging

Aroma

#1- cloudy yeast character, pleasant, tropical notes

#2- herbal, fruity (citrusy) with a pine-like hop. Moderate pepper elements. As beer opens, more white-wine like character

Appearance

#1- pale straw with a continuous bubble

#2- very pale yellow with thick, finely beaded white head, good clarity

Flavor

#1- light tropical fruit and hints of lemon, very mild overall flavor, pleasant and easy to drink, malt character is almost non-existent

#2-tropical fruit notes initially faded into a more hop driven beer, malt backbone is light and supports wine like character, bitterness is restrained

Mouthfeel

#1- good level of carbonation, full on the tongue but light in body

#2- medium body lightened by CO2 level, carbonation is prickly

Overall Impression

#1- very pleasant and easy to drink, tropical notes are uncharacteristic to style, makes me think of Nelson Sauvin hops, needs some additional malt complexity, maybe additional wheat and munich malt

#2- well made, very interesting Saison, hop flavor higher than expected but all together makes a very interesting beer, consider a more complex malt bill, maybe 10-20% munich

#1- BJCP Recognized        33/50

#2- BJCP National Judge   36/50

Overall 35/50---Very Good (30-37)

The judges thought my Saison was...meh

The previous post in the To Style Series I discuss how I entered an Oatmeal Stout in two similar categories (dry stout and oatmeal stout) with surprising results. Well, I did the same thing with this next batch of beer. I brewed a 'Saison' and entered it as such in category 16c but I also entered it as a Belgian Pale Ale into category 16b. It's been an educational experience thus far doing this To Style Series of batches/posts, outlining recipes, posting feedback from judges, and critically thinking about how to improve subsequent batch's of beer.

This beer was also served at the first tasting for my brewery in planning as "Vernal Equinox: A farmhouse inspired ale traditionally brewed in the Francophone region of Belgium This style is quickly becoming a favorite of American Craft beer drinkers and brewers. This beer is brewed with barley, rye. wheat, and oats creating a bready background. With whole leaf east kent golding hops providing balanced bitterness and flavor, rounded out with whole leaf Czech saaz hops for aroma. The unique saison yeast lends a peppery, fruity, almost tropical fruit aroma and flavor. A complex, aromatic, thirst quencher."

Saison
Best Malz Pilsner      47%
Rye Malt                  20%
Wheat Malt              14%
Flaked Oats              8%
Munich Malt              7%
Cara Pils                   3%
Acidulated Malt         1%

mash 154*f

EKG     1 oz.     first wort   whole leaf
EKG     1 oz.      :60           whole leaf
Saaz      2 oz.    whirlpool   whole leaf

13.2*P (1.053sg)
Wyeast 3711 French Saison

Judging

Entered in Category 16c Saison

Aroma

#1- Orange peel? Feel like maybe a wit crossover.

#2- Fruity - lemon and spicy phenols and and citrus

Appearance

#1- Great color, clarity appropriate for style

#2- Straw color with slightly hazy clarity. Nice small bubbles. White head on side of glass.

Flavor

#1- Slight astringent hop flavor

#2- Soft malt with hoppy and slight sour, astringent finish. Bitterness is high.

Mouthfeel

#1- Carbonation high but works

#2- Light to medium body, with good carbonation. Crisp.

Overall Impression

#1- Balance could have been better between malt/phenol/spice.

#2- Good drinkable beer with no perceived faults except bitter hops make the finish astringent.

#1- Professional Brewer  27/50

#2- Certified                   27/50

Overall 27/50---Good (21-29)

Same beer entered as a Belgian Pale Ale in category 16b with same judges

Aroma

#1- Nice aroma - spicy undertones with a malt background.

#2- Malty, fruity with spicy background. More malt/biscuit as it warms.

Appearance

#1- Color is too light for style. Wish it was a little more copper to red to golden.

#2- Pale straw color. Hazy. Nice Head

Flavor

#1- Malt is enjoyable but bitterness is strong on finish.

#2- Fruity and spicy. Light malt flavor with a spicy/phenolic finish. High hop bitterness.

Mouthfeel

#1- Could be maltier

#2- Medium to light body

Overall Impression

#1- Not too bad a beer. A little darker next time with higher mash temp?

#2- Good drinkable beer. Like a mix/blend of wit and pale. Soft, drinkable beer - just not fully to style. 

#1- Professional Brewer   30/50

#2- Certified                    28/50

Overall 29/50---Good (21-29)

The hop rate is calculated to only 30 ibu's so I'm a little surprised the judges reacted to the "noble hop" bitterness that way. This beer went over very well at the tasting with some naming it as their favorite of the nine featured. I've really fallen in love with creating Saison inspired beers brewing thirteen different Saison's over the last two and a half years. Using spices, fruit, and hops to put interesting twists on the classic Saison. I have to admit I was a bit disappointed with how this beer performed. Guess I'll dial back the first wort and sixty minute hop additions to lower the bitterness. The yeast character is continuing to develop in the bottle and the bitterness is mellowing with time as I enjoyed a bottle last night.

Chateau Federal Saison

After living together for almost two years my house mate, Josh Tierney, is moving to Portland, Maine to brew for Allagash. Congratulation man! This batch of beer will be our last collaboration at the federal (our house). For this one off batch we pulled out all the stops. Using spices, fruit juice, and a unique yeast choice (for style). Our goal was to brew something that would age well and we could enjoy together for years to come. Taking stock of what was available at the federal we decided to push Wyeast 9097 English Old Ale blend (an attenuative ale strain and a Brettanomyces strain) into Belgian territory by fermenting warm and allowing the Brettanomyces yeast strain to develop (age min. 6 months) a sour and funky character. We also wanted to increase the tropical fruit flavors in the finished beverage so we kicked around the idea of using mangoes, coconuts, pineapples, papaya, and guava. To finally decide on using pineapple juice (best option at store). We then decided to add Coriander, Red Peppercorns, and Saffron to really promote the development of traditional 'Saison' flavors while it ages and melds together. With a starting gravity of 21*Plato (SG 1.084) and potential abv over 9% this is not a shy Saison and anticipation is the only word that comes to mind when thinking about this colloid aging in a glass carboy upstairs. Cheers Josh, looking forward to sharing one in Portland when it's "ready".

Recipe: American Two Row, Honey Malt, Belgian Aromatic Malt, and Acidulated Malt. First wort hopped with UK Golding. Bittered with Super Galena hops. With Cascade and Delta hops added near end of boil.  Ground Coriander, Red Peppercorns, and Saffron at end of boil. Fermented with Wyeast 9097 Old Ale blend.

Saison d'Brettanomyces Bruxellensis

Fermented with a Saison yeast strain then inoculated with Brettanomyces Bruxellensis. Over the last few years this has become a very popular style across the country.  A great example of this reinvigorated style is brewed by Boulevard Brewing Co.'s Saison-Brett, which I've had the chance of trying and was quite impressed.  The use of Brettanomyces also helps to dry out the Saison, a problem in many American brewed Saison's. For me the Saison style should have a final gravity below 2.5*Plato (1.010SG), many of my Saison style beers I've brewed finished around said gravity but they still don't seem dry enough to compare to Saison Dupont, the definitive Saison. Fellow home brewer Jamey Barlow just kicked ass with his at Batch 300 the Bruery competition (I've had it, it rocked!).

Knocked out into primary January 16th. After fermenting in primary with a Saison yeast strain I racked to secondary where I inoculated the beer with Brettanomyces Bruxellensis (BB). I'll allow to age in secondary for 2-3 months at which point I'll begin tasting the beer to see how much BB character is present. Also, thinking about dry hopping at some point closer to bottling depending on how the flavors develop.

Recipe: American Pale Malt, Gambrinus Honey Malt, and Belgian Aromatic. First wort hopped with Citra, bittered with Super Galena, and finished with more Citra. Starting gravity of 17.8*Plato (1.071SG)

Single Hop Citra Saison

The complexity of Citra hops are amazing. Since made famous by Sierra Nevada Torpedo IPA this new variety has quickly been calculated into recipes at breweries across the International craft brewing scene. After working with this hop at home and professionally I really enjoy it's flavor profile. Looking up up the parentage I was surprised to see Hallertau Mittlefruh, Tettnanger, and East Kent Golding to be it's pedigree since the flavor of Citra is tropical mango,papaya, and pineapple. Citra hops also have a flavor profile that seems to have a refinement to it that newly developed hop variety's usually lack. After looking at it's parentage this may explain the refinement of this newer hop variety. Earlier this year I brewed an Abbey Ale with Citra hops and enjoyed the Belgian yeast flavor interaction with the Citra hops flavors.

Recipe: American Pale Malt, Flaked Oats, Wheat Malt, Acidulated Malt, Honey Malt, and Biscuit Malt. First wort, bittering, and whirlpool additions of Citra. Fermented with Wyeast 3711 French Saison

Farm Fresh Series: Mixed Berry Saison

Raspberries and Blackberries fermented with a blend of Saison yeast strains to create what I imagine will be a spicy, fruity, a little tart, easy drinking ale. It's been lots of fun brewing these fruit beers recently. Results have been good with whole fruit in primary during fermentation thus far so I'll be doing the same today.

Grist Bill: Belgian Pilsner malt, Honey malt, and Aromatic malt. Lightly hopped with Celeia. With three and a half pounds of blackberries and raspberries.

Petite Saison

Brewed with Barley, Wheat, Oats, and Rice. First wort hopped with Saaz andCeleia. With East Kent Golding hops at the end of boil. Fermented with Wyeast 3711 French Saison. Simple recipe, but most likely a delicious beer. Step mash for today's brew to break down extra proteins in the large portion of wheat and oats in the grist. This was a great beer for the middle of Summer. Dry and drinkable, but spicy enough to be interesting. Some more noble hop flavors from dry hopping would be a nice addition to recipe. Styrian Golding, Saaz, or Tettnanger would add the needed hop flavor.

Fin de Printemps Saison

An 'End of Spring' Saison. I've brewed a few different spin-offs of the 'Saison' style of beer this last year, a Black Saison, and most recently a Saison with red peppercorns and sumac berries. I've been very pleased with results. Today's will have no spices and be a more 'traditional' style Saison. I will be doing a step mash for extra added more traditional, time consuming, dividend paying, and multiple step taking process that is a step mash. This mash procedure will insure conversion and more importantly break down extra proteins that are in the flaked rye, wheat malt, flaked maize and flaked oats that will be in the mash along with malted barley. These other grains have a much higher protein content and these proteins can be broken down by performing a step mash.

One of my favorite styles of beer is Saison. Drinking them, brewing them, and cooking with them. Whether brewed in France, Belgium, America, or by some other independent spirited brewer they can be delicious. Thirsty quenching when either strong or 'sessionable'. Brewed with spices, fruit and can get better with funk. The possibilities are endless with this traditional farm hand field beverage.

Saison d'Hiver

Last September 09' I brewed an Imperial Black Saison. Spiced with Meadowsweet, Chamomile, and Nutmeg. Aged on French Oak for two months, called Saison d'Hiver. At 10% it's a big beer and has gotten better with age. One complaint I have with the first batch is head retention. I'll be making some changes to grist bill to aid in head retention. I believe the problem is in the use of spices (oils) and the high alcohol content doesn't help either. Another shortcoming is because of the high alcohol and low finishing gravity, thin body. Other tweaks to recipe are to give more body to the brew. Making it a true, Winter Warmer, of sorts.

Grist bill: Pale malt, Flaked Oats, Chocolate Malt, Black Patent malt, Biscuit Malt, Crystal Malt, and Coffee Malt. Maxing out my mash tun with twenty five total pounds of grain. Hopped lightly with Vanguard. Spiced with Meadowsweet, Chamomile, and Heather (no nutmeg in house).

Saison(s) Printemps

Double brew day today. A beautiful first day of spring, I'll be moving the stereo to the back deck and brewing two Saison's with red peppercorns and sumac berries. I brewed two Saisons last year that I'm building off of, one in August 09', and another in November 09'. I was pleased with both and I'm just slightly changing the grist bill. The only 'big' change will be the addition of previously mentioned Sumac berries. My fellow brewer and master mead maker Jon Talkington said he used to pick them wild and make sumac lemonade when he was growing up. Adding the sumac berries gently crushed with out breaking seed inside and adding to end of boil along with the hand ground red peppercorns. Both of these spices I'm using are to accentuate the flavors in traditional farmhouse style Saison with out being over powering. The sumac berries have a tart lemon licorice flavor, while red peppercorns are 'lemony juniper berry' type flavor.

Grist is pale malt, wheat malt, rye malt, flaked oats, biscuit malt, aromatic malt, and honey malt. Hops are a Golding variety and will be dry hopped with Saaz and Tettnanger. Fermented with Wyeast 3711 French Saison strain.

French Saison

Brewing a Saison this afternoon. Using Wyeast 3711 French Saison yeast. It's a yeast that Wyeast releases seasonally. Planning on re-using yeast for a second generation to brew a Belgian Quadruple. The grist for this batch uses pale, German pils, wheat malt, dark Munich, and Amber malt. Hopped with East Kent Goldings (pellet) and Vanguard (whole leaf).

Beer Advocate describes the style, "Saisons are sturdy farmhouse ale that was traditionally brewed in

the winter, to be consumed throughout the summer months. Not so long ago it was close to being an endangered style, but over recent years there's been a massive revival; especially in the US. This is a very complex style; many are very fruity in the aroma and flavor. Look for earthy yeast tones, mild to moderate tartness. Lots of spice and with a medium bitterness. They tend to be semi-dry with many only having touch of sweetness."

Saison d'Hiver

Today's brew is one I'm planning on bottling and laying down to age. At least till this winter. The plan is to brew a strong black saison, spiced with meadow sweet, chamomile, and nutmeg. A winter warmer of sorts. Should be around 10.5% abv. I recently just brewed a summer (peppercorns) and fall (maple, which really should be spring) saison and I'll be using the same yeast for today's brew. Just knocking out onto 3rd generation yeast cake. Alright, got to get the strike water heated up and grains milled.

Twenty five pounds of grain, 5 gallon batch size. Malts being used today are pale, wheat, amber, de-bittered black, chocolate, crystal 120, coffee malt and flaked oats. Just mashed in and the 10 gal. polarware mash tun I have is pretty much maxed out. Mashed in at 151 f and let rest for forty five minutes.

Good brew day. The herbs really added a lot of aroma and flavor to the wort. Meadow sweet is an interesting herb, it tastes of cinnamon and apples. Looking forward to how this one turns out.

Bottled in the beginning of December. After aging on heavy toast French oak for seven weeks. Finishing at 10.2% abv.

Red Maple Saison

The sun is setting earlier. The nights are getting cooler. The leaves begin to change in the green mountains into a mountain on fire. Red, Orange, Yellow leaves ignite the mountains into flames. Where tree's become flowers before winter. Enough jabber. Brewing a Red Maple Saison with maple syrup. The red color will come from amber and crystal malt. Also using torrified wheat and flaked oats for body and head retention. The syrup will add some color as well. Especially since I'm using grade B syrup. Which, as any syrup connoisseur knows is the better syrup. It's been boiled longer, creating a more intense maple flavor than grade A syrup. I'll be adding this during cool down. Stirring in two pounds at 160 degrees F. I don't want to drive off the delicate maple flavors, even though the yeast will do it's best to scrub it away during fermentation. I may back sweeten with more maple syrup depending on it's attenuation and flavor when tasted. Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maple_syrup for more information on the sugar of the tree gods.I'll be using the saison yeast from the one I brewed last week. Looking forward to tasting and dry hopping it. I'll probably be using this yeast for a 3rd generation to make an imperial black winter saison, strong 11% and spiced with meadow sweet, nutmeg and chamomile.

La Fin de l'ete Saison

The end of summer. Unless your going south of the equator in the next few weeks then the summer sun is setting. Today's saison brew has Pils malt, wheat malt, torrified red wheat, biscuit malt, and rye malt. Hops are east kent goldings, styrian goldings, and dry hop with saaz. The twist on today's recipe is I'm adding 4 grams of Schinus Molle, more commonly referred to as red or pink peppercorns. Though there is no relation to the true pepper family Piperaceae. These red berry's are sweet with a slight peppery bite, some juniper berry type qualities. The wikipedia page gives this as a description, "Schinus molle is a quick growing evergreen tree that grows to 15 meters (50 feet) tall and 5-10 meters (16-33 feet) wide. It is the largest of all Schunus species and potentially the longest lived."


Good brew day. Cooling the wort down now. Only going to cool the wort to 80 degrees Fahrenheit to promote a very healthy fermentation for the saison yeast. I've heard Saison Dupont ferments up to 90 degrees Fahrenheit. I'll go for 80's on this one. Planning on dry hopping with saaz and more styrian goldings.

Farmhouse Saison

Grist case is working well. To the left you can see where the funnel is attached to the bucket with the bottom cut out. I drilled holes in the bottomless bucket and funnel then attached the funnel with nuts & bolts. The knife valve is simply the funnel shortened and cut into on both sides to create a slot that a piece of cardboard, for now, is used as the knife valve. I will be making a piece of wood to serve this purpose that will have a hole cut in the middle to better control speeds.

Today's brew was a countryside style farmhouse Saison. I used four grains to form the grist bill. Barley, wheat, oats, and rye. Also used some honey to dry out the mouth feel. Mashed in at 149 and rested. Lately I've been mashing out to 168 with great results. By doing this you denature the enzymes and lock in the sugar profile you've created. The enzymes stop chopping chains. The hops I used were two variety of Golding hops. East Kent Golding and Styrian. These hops are part of what brewers call "noble" hops. Basically meaning they have a long and storied pedigree in brewing lore. The target gravity is 15.5 plato, and if the yeast behaves should get this beer to about 6.5 % abv. This goes toward the strong end of the saison style. Session versions are great, but are usually made with some type of funk character from Brettamyces. Which at this time I am not ready to introduce to my home brewery.

Here is what wikipedia has to say about Saison. "Saison (French, "season") is the name originally given to refreshing, low-alcohol pale ales brewed seasonally in farmhouses in Wallonia, the French-speaking region of Belgium, to refresh farm workers during harvest season. Modern-day saisons are also brewed in other countries, particularly USA, and are generally bottle conditioned, with an average range of 5 to 8% abv, though saisons at the more traditional 3.5% strength can still be found. Although saison has been described as an endangered style, there has been a rise in interest in this style in recent years, with Saison Dupont being named “the Best Beer in the World” by the magazine Men's Journal in July 2005.
Historically saisons did not share identifiable characteristics to pin them down as a style, but were rather a group of refreshing summer ales. Each farm brewer would make his own distinctive version. Modern saisons brewed in the USA tend to copy the yeast used by Brasserie Dupont, which ferments better at blood warm temperatures (85 to 95 Fahrenheit) than the standard 65 to 75 Fahrenheit fermenting temperature used by other Belgian saison brewers."


My saison started fermenting nicely within 5 hours after pitching. As of now temperature is in the low 70's. Picture to right was taken 24 hours after pitching. Small krausen forming and lots of carbon dioxide production.
My farmhouse saison has since stalled. I pitched dry Safbrew yeast and aerated. There is activity from the airlock but no visible krausen. Wait and see. OG was 14 plato and is currently at 12.8 plato. The yeast prefers very warm temeratures, up to 95 degrees.
Good news. The saison has fermented out. Checked tonight and the gravity is 2.6 Plato. This puts the beer at 6% abv. It's a big relief to have the batch ferment. I'll rack to 2nd fv tomorrow and condition for a week before kegging. Decided to dry hop with one ounce of Czech Saaz hops.