Funky, sour Saison

Saisons are an old style, traditionally brewed to have a relatively low alcohol content and provided for Belgian seasonal farm workers during summer months. According to Phil Markowski (Farmhouse Ales), historical saisons usually had a bit of tartness, unlike most modern examples (with some exceptions, e.g., Bam Biere).

This represents our fourth attempt at a Belgian saison, but our first attempt at a wild beer. Our previous saisons never had enough yeast character, so for this one we decided to go with one of the most expressive yeast strains out there, Dupont. According to 'Farmhouse Ales', the Dupont strain may actually be 4 different strains, so rather than going with the commercial version we decided to culture up the dregs from a bottle of Avec Les Bons Voeux. The Dupont strain is very unique in that it can ferment well into the upper 80s and lower 90s (and in fact, below 80 F and fermentation seems to stall out) without producing many fusels.

In addition to the Dupont character, we were looking for a bit of funk and acidity. Jolly Pumpkin makes my second favorite saison (after Dupont), Bam Biere. At only 4.5% abv, Bam gets a ton of character from the wild yeasts and bacteria JP has in their oak barrels. For this we cultured up dregs from two bottles - Oro de Calabaza and Noel de Calabaza. After a few weeks, the Oro starter didn't taste that great, but the Noel starter showed some promise. So we dumped the Oro starter and used the Noel starter for our beer. And we also threw in some Orval dregs for good measure.

The recipe for this beer is simple, as most of the character for a saison comes from the yeast. The grain bill is mainly Belgian pils and a bit of wheat for head retention and a little bug food. Hops are kept to a low level to make sure the bugs in the JP could thrive (I was mainly concerned about the welfare of any Lactobacillus).

Finally, a word about the fermentation plan. Since we were going to be fermenting at around 90 F for the first 1-2 weeks, we decided to pitch the JP dregs at the end of the primary. Who knows what JP dregs would do at 90 degrees. Farmhouse Ales talks at length about the Dupont fermentation schedule - they rack to a secondary after 10 days, even if primary fermentation is not complete. I guess the thought here is that 90 degree heat may seriously increase the risk of premature autolysis. There is still plenty of yeast in suspension to finish the beer.

-----
Saison v4 aka "Snake Spit"
6.2 gal batch, brewed 1/25/09

11 lbs Belgian Pils
1 lb Flaked wheat
0.5 lbs Wheat malt

1 oz Strisselspalt (2.6% aa) 90 min
1 oz Strisselspalt 40 min
1 oz Saaz (3.2% aa) 20 min

1.054 OG
1.005 FG
6.4% ABV
20 IBUs

Water profile: from Farmhouse ales (pg. 154)

Yeast propagation: Dregs from Dupont Avec Les Bons Voeux, stepped up to a 750 ml starter, made 20 days before brew date. A second culture was from the dregs of Jolly Pumpkin Noel de Calabaza, about 2 cups in volume. Orval dregs were not stepped up, we just threw them in straight from the bottle.

Mash: Step mash, rest #1 for 90 min at 146-147 F, 1.25 qt/lb; rest #2 for 30 minutes at 154 F (achieved via small decoction). Batch sparged w/ 3 gal water at 180 F (2 rounds, 1.5 gallons per round, rest time 15 min). Preboil 5.7 gal @ 1.061 (had to top up since we came in low volume-wise)

Brewhouse result: 6.2 gal cast-out, 1.054 OG, ~75% brewhouse efficiency

Fermentation: Pitched Dupont dregs at 73 F, quickly raised this temperature to about 90 F for primary fermentation (made a hot water bath for the carboy using a large cooler and an aquarium heater).

1/25/09 Brewed, began fermenting at 90 F
1/31 Racked to secondary, pitched JP dregs. Let secondary cool to room temp (70 F) over the course of about 4 days.
2/5 Pitched Orval dregs
2/14 Noticeable Lactobacillus skin forming on top of beer
2/15 gravity at 1.008, getting sour!
2/28 down to 1.006, tastes surprisingly like lambic
3/17 1.005, bottled at 3.0 vol CO2.

Review (5/23/09, in bottle for about 9 weeks)

Aroma - Plenty of citrusy, lemony funk. Tons of yeast character. A little white-wine aroma. Maybe a few odd, funky aromas - try to store at a cooler temp as it seemed cleaner a few weeks ago.

Appearance - Pale yellow, good clarity if yeast isn't poured. Spritzy, pours with a large white head but retention isn't great and no lacing present.

Flavor - Big tartness up front. Some grape-like flavors. Clean, dry finish, with a solid sourness. Malt and hop flavors aren't really noticeable (which is fine with me).

Mouthfeel - Prickly carbonation, crisp, thin, and tart. About perfect. Carbonation could maybe be even higher.

Overall - Our best saison by far. Very distinct and refreshing. Maybe try mashing even lower (or give it more time in the secondary) to get this thing to really dry out. Keep secondary and bottle-conditioning temps a little lower (upper 60s?), but age longer. Only change to the recipe would be to use a bit more flaked wheat.

Note: Tasted our last bottle on 12/24/09, almost a year old at this point. Carbonation has increased and is about right for the style. Funk seems to have increased too, in a good way. Acidity may actually have mellowed a bit. No real signs of oxidation - this beer could probably age for a while and not deteriorate.