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| Ceallach on the left, Saison 2.0 (French Sasion Yeast 3711) on the right |
Thanks to the help of Kelly I was able to brew my Saison split batch this past Saturday. one was what I am dubbing Saison 2.0/ French Saison. It has the exact same hop and fermentables profile as my first Saison only using 3711 instead of 3724. The second was my first attempt at a hibiscus Saison I'm calling Ceallach. with minimal research I came across the recommendation of using 4 oz of dried hibiscus for a 5 gallon batch, and putting it in at flame out. In sampling the dried hibiscus, and some assumptions based off of the flavor profile of goose islands Fleur, the hibiscus will add a berry tart flavor with some astringency. In the future I plan on experimenting and doing more research on a) using more hibiscus at the end of the boil b) dry hopping in some way c) making a hibiscus tea then boiling it down and d) using fresh hibiscus. In comparing the zest of a regular orange, an oddly colored grape fruit, and a mandarin, Kelly and I decided that the mandarin gave the best flavor and was rather mellow. I believe it will add a nice background flavor to the more upfront hibiscus, but I am not entirely sure what to expect from the addition to citrus zest to begin with so we shall see.
In reality because of the need to through the hibiscus and mandarin zest needed to be added at the end I had to do two separate boils. The good thing about this is that I actually did full wort boils for these two. the bad part is I simply cut the recipe for a partial boil in half so the French Saison will be about 10 IBU's higher then my first saison. Another possible issue is that I pitched both of these saisons around 82 degrees while last time I was able to get it down to the mid 60's and then allowed it to ramp up. we'll see if this actually has any effect. The big plus of the day was the Irish Moss made a huge difference in the racking process and there is far less trub in this batch. Starsan also turned out to be pretty easy to use. Both of the saison's OGs clocked in around 1.066.
Next up: I am going to be brewing an American Saison tonight using the 3724 yeast cake from my first saison, as well as an American hop profile and a partial mash of Munich and Malted Wheat. I don't have a super clear idea of the right way to partial mash, and this is the first time I've racked on top of a yeast cake that probably has a fair amount of excess trub so we shall see how it turns out.
As for my Saison goals I seem to be doing pretty well. by mid-October I will have been able to compare the two main choices in Saison yeasts, I will have gotten a rough draft of Ceallach to muse over, and I will have also developed a better understanding of what some all grain will bring to the table.
