After a string of disappointing homebrews, I finally nailed one. Brian and I made an all grain Saison and it’s delicious! 

This is a birthday present, so I call it Brian’s Gift. It tasted really good in the fermenter and the secondary, so I was pretty excited looking forward to a few bottles of homebrew Saisons. I bottled it in April and let it age in the basement. This was a big mistake – it was too cool down there. I checked a bottle after a week and it was still pretty flat and way too sweet, an unfinished beer. I tried another 10 days later, still flat and pretty bad. Again, after another week,  another disappointment.

The Secrets of Master Brewers, by Jeff Alworth came to the rescue. I looked up Saison and found an entire chapter. Jeff Alworth mentions that these Belgian yeasts respond well to extreme conditions (sometimes) and like warm temperatures, so I moved my sick bottles to a very warm bedroom to see if we could salvage this stuck beer. Temperatures reached over 80° a few afternoons, so I was pretty sure I had ruined the beer.

Another test beer was much better but still tasting a bit green and flat. I waited a few more days and the bedroom temperatures rose again. I figured 10 days in the “towering inferno” bedroom would make or break this ale.

The results were fantastic. Brian’s Gift is a spicy, hazy ale with a dry finish; honey sweet, citrusy notes and pronounced Belgian yeast flavor. The nose even has some banana aroma. Nice!

Ingredients

Avangard Pilsen 10.5 lbs
Caramel Vienna Malt .15 lbs
Caramel Munich 60 1 lbs

WLP590 French Saison Yeast
Sterling (bittering hops) 1 oz.
Kent Golding hops (flavoring hops ) .5 oz.
Kent Golding hops (aroma hops) .25 oz.
Sweet Orange Peel .5 oz
Soft Candi Sugar Blanc (white) 1 lb.

Directions

90-minute mash at 151°F
90-minute boil

Results

Original gravity 1.058
Final gravity 1.004
ABV 7%

Cheers!

Warren