Belgian Summer Fun
The spicy kick of a summertime saison is the farmhouse tipple of Wallonia. The finicky Belgian saison yeasts ferment hot, so start the beer cool (mid-sixties) and let it rise naturally into the eighties. The beer will finish dry and clear of nasty phenols with the desired aroma.
Style: Belgian Saison
Brew Type: All Grain
For 5.5 gallons at 1.062, 3.5 SRM, 34 IBUs, 6.6 percent ABV
60-minute boil
Directions
Follow the Steeping Grains Late Extract Variant.
TIP
The late-extract addition method not only creates a paler extract brew, but it also affects your hopping rates. Thanks to the lower gravity in your pot, more alpha acids will be isomerized into solution. Adjust accordingly for delicate beers or your big hop monsters.
0.75 pound German Wheat Malt
0.50 pound Belgian Pilsner Malt
0.50 pound Vienna Malt
0.25 pound German Acidulated Malt (Sauer Malt)
1.00 pound Sugar
6.50 pounds Pilsner Liquid Malt Extract (LME)
0.50 ounce Magnum (14.0 percent AA) Pellet for 60 minutes
1.00 ounce Czech Saaz (3.5 percent AA) Pellet for 5 minutes
1 tablet Whirfloc (added at 20 minutes)
0.5 teaspoon Coriander Seed (added at 0 minutes)
0.5 teaspoon Black Pepper (added at 0 minutes)
WLP565 Belgian Saison I/Wyeast 3724 Belgian Sasion
Steep 160°F 60 minutes
Great for brewers stuck in small spaces, the bare-bones partial mash requires a sturdy nylon grain bag and your brew kettle. Your grain capacity depends on the sack. Don't overfill it to avoid interfering with water flow through the bulging mass.
For a little more investment, a small two-gallon cooler holds approximately five pounds of grain and six quarts of water, a miniature all-grain mash tun. Buy a kit for converting the cooler or follow the modifying instructions found online. The valves and other parts from your mini-mash tun can be repurposed for a larger mash tun.
To convert an all-grain recipe for partial mash, use all the specialty grains and as much base malt as you can. To figure out the extract needed to achieve original gravity, follow the Needed Extract for Partial Mash formula in Appendix C.
Heat 1.25 quarts of water per pound of grain to around 13°F above your desired rest temperature (for instance, heat the water around 165°F for a mash at 152°F). Leave the mash for sixty minutes. At the same time heat an equal water portion to 170°F.
For grain bag users, pull the bag and place in a colander. Rinse like steeping grains. Don't squeeze the bag to avoid lipid extraction.
Cooler users should slowly draw a pitcher of wort from the valve and return to the mash. Repeat until the wort runs free of chunks. Slowly run the wort into your boil pot and add the sparge water to the mash.
Once the brew pot comes to the boil, you're back in the familiar world of extract brewing. From here on out, follow your usual steps to achieve beerdom.
