May Brew Review Thread - Saison

[samale]

I am happy to go with an English bitter

 

[jceg316]

@jceg316
Pale in colour.
I get fruity/spicy notes on the nose, with a hint of banana.
Light bodied, dry but not overly so. Low to moderate bitterness, which balances the other flavour notes.
I get pleasant tastes of pepper and an earthiness. Not phenolic. Slightly tart finish on the tongue? No alcohol sensation contribution.
Moderate carbonation.
I could drink lots of these on a summer's day.

Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed it! I fermented with WY3726 which is supposed to be a bit tart, and others have picked up on it but I'm not getting it.

 

[SMP Brewery]

Post your recipes here. The next swap post from me will be to announce the summer swap.

On that subject, the style that had been proposed was English Bitter followed by a stout. What’s the collective view?

1. Are you happy to carry on with the collaborative brew idea? If so..
2. How does an end of August bitter brew and end of October swap sound?
3. Any suggestions on how to improve the swap

My views are that is been great fun. I’ve brewed two new styles for the first time and the beers I got back in both swaps both had a significant impact on future recipe planning.
Also, having to brew a beer one weekend that’ll be destined for judging 6-8 weeks later focused the mind and was a great experience to fall back on when I then brewed my first competition entry beers.
One suggestion I have received is to throw in a slow-burner with a much longer gap between brewing and swapping. That would open a lot more interesting styles eg, specialty lagers, Impy Stouts etc.

Please post your recipes and your opinions. Meanwhile, I’ll check out how survey monkey works and we can make a plan for 2023.

Ive been looking at philly sour recipes recently.. I propose that at some point

 

[jceg316]

Ive been looking at philly sour recipes recently.. I propose that at some point

Yeah, I'd really enjoy a quick sour/kettle sour one!

 

[Alastair70]

I am happy to go with an English bitter

Coming up next. I’m going to have to drink a few before I start looking a recipes. My one encounter with Ruddles County in my late teens put me off Pot Noodle for more than a decade. I’ll leave you to join the dots, but at least it was Pot Noodle I couldn’t face afterwards.

Ive been looking at philly sour recipes recently.. I propose that at some point

Now there’s a great shout for a slow burner

 

[Agentgonzo]

Post your recipes here. The next swap post from me will be to announce the summer swap.

On that subject, the style that had been proposed was English Bitter followed by a stout. What’s the collective view?

1. Are you happy to carry on with the collaborative brew idea? If so..
2. How does an end of August bitter brew and end of October swap sound?
3. Any suggestions on how to improve the swap

My views are that is been great fun. I’ve brewed two new styles for the first time and the beers I got back in both swaps both had a significant impact on future recipe planning.
Also, having to brew a beer one weekend that’ll be destined for judging 6-8 weeks later focused the mind and was a great experience to fall back on when I then brewed my first competition entry beers.
One suggestion I have received is to throw in a slow-burner with a much longer gap between brewing and swapping. That would open a lot more interesting styles eg, specialty lagers, Impy Stouts etc.

Please post your recipes and your opinions. Meanwhile, I’ll check out how survey monkey works and we can make a plan for 2023.

I've really enjoyed this swap. It's the first one I've joined in on. I think that as long as the swaps get announced sufficiently ahead of time, people can brew at their schedule and join the swap. I brewed a saison in January and only later decided to join the swap and just used that brew to send a bottle!

 

[Alastair70]

Yeah, I'd really enjoy a quick sour/kettle sour one!

I hope by quick you mean around 6 months!

 

[samale]

Coming up next. I’m going to have to drink a few before I start looking a recipes. My one encounter with Ruddles County in my late teens put me off Pot Noodle for more than a decade. I’ll leave you to join the dots, but at least it was Pot Noodle I couldn’t face afterwards.

Now there’s a great shout for a slow burner

I have never brewed one before either.

 

[Alastair70]

I have never brewed one before either.

Just had a look at the style guidelines. Won’t be doing ‘Ordinary’, the description didn’t appeal and then Green King IPA was offered as a classic example.
I’ll pick up some Timothy Taylor and Spitfire for the weekend, and then pick between Best and Strong.
I fully expect to be going ESB

 

[Oneflewover]

Drinking @samale saison this evening. Another very attractive pale golden beer with a slight haze that adds to rather than detracts from the appearance. Carbonated at the upper end of range for the style in my opinion, and this contributed to a voluminous head that persisted throughout.

Aroma-wise it's dominated by the yeast as you'd expect - peppery, tart, slightly funky - but it's restrained; I suspect fermentation was at the lower end of the yeast's temp range.

The flavour is also yeast forward, again pleasingly tart and peppery. Very low hop flavour, but a cleansing and balancing medium hop bitterness. Low malt flavour.

Lovely and dry - just as I think a saison should be - with a light body, but it doesn't feel too thin due to that saison yeast.

Very enjoyable beer mate, nicely brewed

 

[samale]

Just had a look at the style guidelines. Won’t be doing ‘Ordinary’, the description didn’t appeal and then Green King IPA was offered as a classic example.
I’ll pick up some Timothy Taylor and Spitfire for the weekend, and then pick between Best and Strong.
I fully expect to be going ESB

Some light homework
Believe it or not this book was only delivered today

 

[foxy]

Coming up next. I’m going to have to drink a few before I start looking a recipes. My one encounter with Ruddles County in my late teens put me off Pot Noodle for more than a decade. I’ll leave you to join the dots, but at least it was Pot Noodle I couldn’t face afterwards.

Now there’s a great shout for a slow burner

The Ruddles County probably did you a mighty favour, one of the most unhealthy foods on the planet. Supposedly causes erectile dysfunction as well. Not many people know that.
Looking forward to reading the English pale ales thread.
Good info here about styles. Another thought if you are going to go with a style which needs longer time to mature just put a date in and carry on doing the short term beers/lagers.
https://www.craftbeer.com/beer/beer-styles-guide

 

[Broken Toe]

Personally I don't really have any interest in brewing a bitter, love to drink them but not enough for a batch. But please don't change anything on my account, I have loved the last two swaps, a really good experience.

I do enjoy making sours, and at some point in the future would get my vote

 

[SMP Brewery]

Personally I don't really have any interest in brewing a bitter, love to drink them but not enough for a batch. But please don't change anything on my account, I have loved the last two swaps, a really good experience.

I do enjoy making sours, and at some point in the future would get my vote

How about Pale Ales. Interestingly in the Strong Bitter category they mention a couple of Pale Ales ex. Summit Extra Pale Ale

 

[Little Rock Brewing]

Any chance of some of your recipes on here Guys?
I want to brew a Saison on Saturday yours all look and sound amazing.
I want a light golden, slight citrus and spice offering at around 6%.
Cheers!

 

[samale]

Any chance of some of your recipes on here Guys?
I want to brew a Saison on Saturday yours all look and sound amazing.
I want a light golden, slight citrus and spice offering at around 6%.
Cheers!

You can just go with pilsner and wheat, what hops and yeast have you available

 

[Little Rock Brewing]

Hop wise, I've got all sorts of the usual suspects Saaz, Tettnang, Hallertau etc. Plus UK ones such as First Gold, Fuggle, Challenger etc. Americans such as Chinook, Cascade, Simcoe etc and a couple of NZ, Wai-iti and Riwaka.
Yeast wise I'm pretty sure I've got mostly MJ dried, M29 Saison, M41 Belgian Ale, M47 Belgian Abbey. Plus CML Flushed Nun and Wallonia.

 

[jceg316]

I hope by quick you mean around 6 months!

I do have some yeast/bacteria blends which would take 6 months and it would be great to do a wild beer swap! All my glass demijohns are being taken up by cider though so I need to wait until that's fermented.

With kettle souring, Philly sour, and even some kveik yeasts you can get a sour beer really easily and within the same timeframe as a regular beer.

 

[samale]

Hop wise, I've got all sorts of the usual suspects Saaz, Tettnang, Hallertau etc. Plus UK ones such as First Gold, Fuggle, Challenger etc. Americans such as Chinook, Cascade, Simcoe etc and a couple of NZ, Wai-iti and Riwaka.
Yeast wise I'm pretty sure I've got mostly MJ dried, M29 Saison, M41 Belgian Ale, M47 Belgian Abbey. Plus CML Flushed Nun and Wallonia.

You are spoilt for choice. You could go traditional with your noble hops or you could go down the route with new world hops. NZ hops work well

 

[Little Rock Brewing]

If I recall, that's why I got the Wai-iti last year, to dry hop an MJ Saison kit.
This will be AG though, kits are a thing of the past for me.