Welcome to Thunderdome! A Brownish Hopefully Copper Saison Experience.
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Well, my Pelley's Dream is just fine chugging along with the 3724. I'm not messing with where it's going. I had a tough week, got this Danstar Belle Saison packet, some leftover grains, and some cheap Hop Union German Hallertau packets - a 3-pack of 1oz'ers I grabbed for $5 while not even looking for brew stuff. Hmmm. I turned my brain to coffee and putting on the TV for background noise - the two mini-dachshunds are cranky and love their TV on low. Channel surfing - I see a once proud Mel Gibson - its Mad Max Beyond Thunderome - an 80s classic. Think rusty cars, desert choking you, and nothing but sand and rock and hues of aftermath-brown. "Two men enter, one man leaves." It never gets old - I see the sign in the movie for "Atomic Cafe" and they're passing around radioactive water to drink. Ok - I need to brew now. I have my aftermath of grains, yeast, hops - time to have a little fun. After this one though, I'm done with Saisons for a while. The wife made an American Brown Ale recipe and is begging me to let her have her turn, all by herself. First things first - get rid of this extra stuff - my occasional OCD is telling me to organize and brew it or ditch the crap already (a sin!). Here it is.
Welcome to Thunderdome! Copper Saison
OG - 1.058
FG - 1.012 (probably down to 1.000 again although might want it to be a little heavier on this one)
ABV - 6.05% - we'll see!
IBU - 29.85
SRM - 19.10
Danstar Belle Saison
5 gal batch
Fermentables
4 lbs - Belgian Pilsner - 40%
1 lb - American White Wheat - 10%
1 lb - Unmalted Wheat - 10%
1 lb - Special B - 10%
0.8lbs - Halcyon - 8.0%
0.5lbs - Carmunich II - 5.0%
.48lbs - Golden Promise - 4.8%
.16lbs - Flaked Oats - 1.6%
.12lbs - Torrified Wheat - 1.2%
1.25oz - De-bittered Black - 0.8%
.86 lbs - Turbinado Sugar - 8.6% - 20 min boil.
Mash Steps
125F - 25min
135F - 25min
150F - 75min
170F - Fly Sparge, Then Batch Sparge
Hops
1 oz German Hallertau - 35 min (4.3 AA) - 14.66 IBUs
1 oz German Hallertau - 15 min (4.3 AA) - 8.78 IBUs
1 oz German Hallertau - 10 min (4.3 AA) - 6.42 IBUs
Just let this puppy eat away at room temp (70-75F) as long as it wants. I'm hoping for a really clear, dark copper / brown color here. I'll come back with notes! -
Absotootley - just about done resting up - will be sparging here in about 10 min - I can tell that this is going to be a nice light brown - funny, nothing heavy looking about it, despite its color. Funny how that notion still creeps in even after everything I've learned so far. I'm not thrilled with having to rehydrate the Danstar Belle yeast, but its worth trying out something different. I've read a couple threads of people dry-pitching it with good results. I will try that some other time on a small batch.
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I have used dry yeast for longer than some of the brewers on this site have
been alive .... and have found very little difference between dehydrating and just pitching it dry .....
that said ... I still dehydrateNever attribute to malice, that which can adequately be explained by stupidity. -
It's brown, it's sticky, it's . . . a Copper Saison (in progress)! Post-boil sample tastes good. A good balance of dark fruit, caramel, bread, slightly grainy and some slight citrus and floral from the hallertau smell. No one thing sticks out. Should be a nice switch-up from the other 2 saisons I just brewed this past month. Will post when Belle yeast starts going to brown town. Check out the copper color, the boil, pouring the turbinado, and chillin' it down.
Next on the list is the wife brewing an American Brown Ale with Wyeast Northwest racked over a raisin/fig puree with Columbus and Glacier, and then I'm moving onto a Belgian Speciality - Amber Witbier with Wyeast 3942 Belgian Wheat with Strisslespalt and Mosaic - should be nice and bubble-gummy.
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what, what? Who, who? Friends, you say?
thanks everyone - the danstar belle seems to be burning through this thing faster than 3711 - I gave it a lot more to play with than most saisons to style - the airlock is chugging at 2 burps a second - I have it a lot of head space in a 7 gallon container just in case and we're getting close to having another mess - which, is fine :). The krausen is white with light brown patches here and there. I'm getting the dark fruit smell, but, its really crisp - not like smelling a sweet dubbel or BDS at all. I think the color will be deceiving to a lot of the light-beer crowd. -
C_B said:
I LOVE that copper color.
For some reason the camera was acting "grainy" - must be the change in humidity or something - picture doesn't do it justice - really brilliant copper - if you look at the wort chiller picture, you can kinda put the wort up against the end of the wort chiller and compare copper colors -
yea - like I said - I've brewed enough Saisonesque brews to last me a while. Witbiers next. I've done nothing but liquid up until this Danstar Belle. So far I can tell you it is the most tame fermentation smell ever. I was expecting it to be really spicey smelling based on my research - a very boring saison fermentation in terms of smell. Taste - I actually think it tastes closer to Belgian 3724 (more citrusy - and of course with mine - dark fruits) than what most people say - most say it is more like 3711 - peppery. It is already down to 1.006 so in that regards, its actually faster in my experiences than 3711. Hopefully someone else can speak to a more basic Saison recipe with Belle than the mixed up Copper / Baby Dubbel this seems to be.
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I'd say the Belle Saison is the middle child - its not peppery like 3711, but has some pepper. It's not as citrusy as 3724, but has some citrus. It brings a nice balanced, clean low gravity profile - I wouldn't say this was hoppy or malty - a little bit of both, maybe slightly maltier with mine because of the extra Special B and Carmunich II. The only thing I can say would be to start with your basic go to saison recipe and use this instead - I also let it sit at 70F and self raise to whatever it wanted to, maybe try both ends to see what you get out of it. At room temperature, this will brew a safe, balanced Saison and get your gravity down quicker than either Wyeast. Overall, it is nice to have on hand but is a true fence-rider and might be dull if you want predominant pepper or citrus. I can always tell where my Saisons are heading by just smelling because they have that pronounced scent but might get nothing to talk about without a sample here. I'd tell anyone to use it in a pale, white or wheat as well if they're wanting to switch up their experience. Possibly under pitch at 65-68F and you might get that pepper that people are talking about?
With my leftovers I used I get dark fruit over light fruit with some caramel and some bready sweet prob from the U.K. malts - it could be the Porter's cousin here or maybe more appropriately, could be passed off as an Enkel. -
ceannt said:
based on what you have said... I want to give this yeast a shot... I think it would be wonderful in some of the more rustic German wheatish beers....
oh heck yes - this would be perfect and I was thinking of my Grisette with that hybrid 70-30 malt to wheat - I'd say you have a heckuva an idea - I wonder if you could blend this with a more bubble-gumish yeast and get a bubble gum / pepper combo going? Also just to note - many suggest two packs of this - RUBBISH I SAY! I'd tell anyone that has relied on wyeast / starter to just use 8 oz of water with 1/2 tsp nutrient solution at 10 min boil if they're feeling uneasy. This thing is a sugar eatin machine. -
CZs said:ceannt said:
based on what you have said... I want to give this yeast a shot... I think it would be wonderful in some of the more rustic German wheatish beers....
oh heck yes - this would be perfect and I was thinking of my Grisette with that hybrid 70-30 malt to wheat - I'd say you have a heckuva an idea - I wonder if you could blend this with a more bubble-gumish yeast and get a bubble gum / pepper combo going? Also just to note - many suggest two packs of this - RUBBISH I SAY! I'd tell anyone that has relied on wyeast / starter to just use 8 oz of water with 1/2 tsp nutrient solution at 10 min boil if they're feeling uneasy. This thing is a sugar eatin machine.
yeah, I would think that something like this might be best if under pitched a bit anyway...Never attribute to malice, that which can adequately be explained by stupidity. -
CZs said:
just an update on Thunderdome - unfortunately its got an infection but what the hell - it smells like sour punch - I'll let it ride another week and then bottle - probably a unique brew that I won't be able to replicate ever again
Oh no!
Keep an eye on it...... and open up a bottle a week or so after you bottle it, just to make sure they aren't turning into glass granades.....Never attribute to malice, that which can adequately be explained by stupidity. -
CZs said:
def - ah well - worst case scenario is that this brew that was never going to happen in the first place will have to sit in the glass in the fridge for 10 minutes after I slowly pour
maybe I need to skim first or rack underneath film - at least my other brews are goin' well
I have had friends try this with limited success. They ended up dumping cause of taste. -
Lakewood said:
I've never really been able to salvage a beer that picked up something undesirable but it's always worth trying.
Yeah ... odds are it will be bad .... but you never know ... it might be so good that you will spend the rest of your life trying to replicate it
Never attribute to malice, that which can adequately be explained by stupidity. -
ceannt said:Lakewood said:
I've never really been able to salvage a beer that picked up something undesirable but it's always worth trying.
Yeah ... odds are it will be bad .... but you never know ... it might be so good that you will spend the rest of your life trying to replicate it
not going to happen.The pinnacle of lame and awesome in one singular moment. -Lake -
i've had a few infected beers. most tasted just a bit murky, with a general off taste. nothing you could really pinpoint, but definitely noticeable. also, the fg turned out just a bit lower than expected, leaving the bitterness just a tad more firm than what i intended.
on the one beer that caught an aceto bug, there was no salvaging anything. one sip and it was very clear that it needed to be dumped immediately.The pinnacle of lame and awesome in one singular moment. -Lake -
FromZwolle said:ceannt said:
Yeah ... aceto is the kiss of death .....
which is why i'm very hesitant to try a flanders red. blech!
good call...... a buddy gave me two....... one has been in the fridge for over a year..... the other got poured down the sink after three sips....Never attribute to malice, that which can adequately be explained by stupidity. -
ceannt said:FromZwolle said:ceannt said:
Yeah ... aceto is the kiss of death .....
which is why i'm very hesitant to try a flanders red. blech!
good call...... a buddy gave me two....... one has been in the fridge for over a year..... the other got poured down the sink after three sips....
i've only tried one. it was meh.The pinnacle of lame and awesome in one singular moment. -Lake
