Bulldog Brews Hercule Saison

[Richie_asg1]

Just bought a kit from Brew2Bottle to make up the free shipping.
Makes 23L
Cost £13.95

"Hercule Saison: A Belgian Style Saison. A golden beer with spicy notes and a peppery Great British finishing hop. 4.7% ABV" Think the hops are Target.

Not tried this style and was having real problems even finding a commercial one to drink. I was going to get a 6 bottles delivered, but this kit turned out cheaper than that, and will have fun brewing it anyway.

Planning on it being good for Summer, and I suppose is traditional to brew it in Winter for that. I usually drink those 250ml bottles of 'bière blonde' so I may try bottling from a PB to have a clear bottle.

If anyone else has brewed this please leave a review as I couldn't find one.

 

[Richie_asg1]

And here we are at the start of the British summer and as usual is pissing it down.

This has turned into a cracking summer pint!
Very clear, good head, a bit more complex than most lagers, and a little darker, the yeast has formed a solid cake so it stays put. I don't see it lasting long.
I brewed it without all the sugar as I wanted it as an afternoon pint when I still had stuff to do.
Perfect carbonation this time as I calculated for 2.2vols.CO2, and under 4% ABV.

It seems great at 3 1/2 months from start date so a good one to get on in Jan- March.

 

[dwhite60]

Thanks for sharing.

 

[micklupulo]

And here we are at the start of the British summer and as usual is pissing it down.

This has turned into a cracking summer pint!
Very clear, good head, a bit more complex than most lagers, and a little darker, the yeast has formed a solid cake so it stays put. I don't see it lasting long.
I brewed it without all the sugar as I wanted it as an afternoon pint when I still had stuff to do.
Perfect carbonation this time as I calculated for 2.2vols.CO2, and under 4% ABV.

It seems great at 3 1/2 months from start date so a good one to get on in Jan- March.

Sorry to bother you six months on but I am thinking of getting this kit and note from the instructions on Brew2Bottle that a full tsp of priming ugar is recommended for a 500ml.bottle which seems excessive to me. I wonder how much you used and how long it took for the brew to peak.Thanks.

 

[Richie_asg1]

I batch primed it as I think that is more accurate. I used the priming calculators at the top of the page and went for 2.2vols of CO2 which was the highest I have aimed at. Turned out very well and as high a carbonation as I would safely attempt.
Perfect at 4 months from brewing. I would drink it before 6.
I will certainly have another go at it around Christmas. Aiming for a lower ABV was also a good bet.

 

[micklupulo]

I batch primed it as I think that is more accurate. I used the priming calculators at the top of the page and went for 2.2vols of CO2 which was the highest I have aimed at. Turned out very well and as high a carbonation as I would safely attempt.
Perfect at 4 months from brewing. I would drink it before 6.
I will certainly have another go at it around Christmas. Aiming for a lower ABV was also a good bet.

Thanks for reply and forgive my unscientific approach but in practice how much sugar does that work out at? I have been plagued recently by massive heads that take ten minutes to recede even using a half tsp which is why I am wary of using double that.

 

[Richie_asg1]

I think it worked out at 120g of white sugar for a 23L batch. - https://www.brewersfriend.com/beer-priming-calculator/
Which is 2.85g per 500ml bottle.

This saison kit does produce a high head, but was a fine foam because of the carbonation, and I had a couple that looked like Mr Whippy with 1.5" of foam above the glass rim, so about 3" in total. Best to chill it.

 

[micklupulo]

I think it worked out at 120g of white sugar for a 23L batch. - https://www.brewersfriend.com/beer-priming-calculator/
Which is 2.85g per 500ml bottle.

This saison kit does produce a high head, but was a fine foam because of the carbonation, and I had a couple that looked like Mr Whippy with 1.5" of foam above the glass rim, so about 3" in total. Best to chill it.

Thanks for this and link. I think I will use less as I find that with heads like that some always gets wasted and it involves as agonising wait until one can get stuck in!

 

[micklupulo]

Thanks for this and link. I think I will use less as I find that with heads like that some always gets wasted and it involves as agonising wait until one can get stuck in!

An agonising wait!