Hoppy Saison

Hoppy Saison

Appearance:
Pours a golden orange with yellow high lights. Clearing up nicely but does have a bit of chill haze. Pure white head with a upside down snow storm of small bubbles. The beer looks light and refreshing.

Aroma:
The nose on the beer has developed quite nicely, the Nelson is not dominating the nose as much now, you still get the over ripe melon/grape aromas, but now you are picking up some of the motueka, with a bit of passion fruit/pineapple. All backed up by the spicy/black pepper from the bella saison yeast. Fresh bright/distinct and complex. I am really digging the nose on this beer.

Mouthfeel:
Light to medium mouth feel leaning more to medium. Carbonation is good, keeps the flavours dancing on the palate, nice and effervescent. Maybe a bit too dry, with a slight astringent finish. Not the biggest issue, but will add a bit of crystal in the next batch and a bit less water chem to leave a bit more sweetness. But still aiming for a dry finish.

Flavour:
Nice upfront grapefruit bitterness which is nice and clean, eases into a nice bready/malt finish. The spice from the yeast and fruitiness is nicely balanced, all backed up nicely by the malt backbone. The flavours are complex and clean, bright and distinct. Very easy drinking and will be great in summer and with a rich meal.

Overall:
I am pretty happy with this beer. It is not quite where I want it yet. but well on its way. Its a great starting off point and is high up my rebrew list. I think the beer is balanced and has clean flavours. I do not pick up any off flavours, but I have sent off a few bottles to better palates to get some feedback. This beer does really shine if served a bit warmer so the hops come through, too cold and you loose the fruitiness of the hops. There are two things that I would change on the beer, the hop profile is a bit unbalanced (Motueka is dominated by the Nelson) and the beer is a touch too dry(finished at 1.002) which comes across as astringent. Other than that, I am really enjoying this beer and looking forward to rebrewing it!

Recipe: Hoppy Saison    TYPE: All Grain
Style: Saison

The recipe can be downloaded via beersmith:
http://beersmithrecipes.com/viewrecipe/757326/hoppy-saison

RECIPE SPECIFICATIONS
SRM: 16.5 EBC        SRM RANGE: 9.8-27.6 EBC
IBU: 29.7 IBUs         IBU RANGE: 20.0-35.0 IBUs
OG: 1.052 SG           OG RANGE: 1.048-1.065 SG
FG: 1.014 SG            FG RANGE: 1.002-1.012 SG
EE%: 72.00 %           Batch: 10.00      Boil: 21.43 l    BT: 75 Mins

SAMPLE TASTE NOTES

15/03/15:
Tasted gravity sample, no off flavours picked up. No DMS or diacetyl.
Aroma is more yeasty than hoppy, cloves,citrus,pepper with a clean bready backbone.
Smooth upfront bitterness with a dry finish, might be a bit too dry, slightly astringent.
Spicy on the flavour with a bready finish. Hops still not apparent, more yeast forward.

22/03/15:
After crash chilling @ 2c still hazy. Picking up black pepper, over ripe melon, green grape character on the nose.
Upfront citrus bitterness, which smooths out into a dry bready finish. Light to medium body, leaning more towards the light side. Black Pepper, grape, wood dank, citrus, complex but clean beer. Have high expectations for the carbonated version.

WATER CHEMISTRY ADDITIONS

Amt                   Name                                             
3.00 g                Calcium Chloride (Mash 60.0 mins)                    
2.00 g                Epsom Salt (MgSO4) (Mash 60.0 mins)                  
2.00 g                Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash 60.0 mins             
3.00 g                Calcium Chloride (Boil 60.0 mins)                   
2.00 g                Epsom Salt (MgSO4) (Boil 60.0 mins)                  
2.00 g                Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Boil 60.0 mins            

Total Grain Weight: 2.32 kg    Total Hops: 66.00 g

MASH/STEEP PROCESS

Amt                   Name                                             
1.80 kg               Gladfield Pilsner Malt (3.8 EBC)                
0.22 kg               Gladfield Wheat Malt (4.2 EBC)                   
0.20 kg               Gladfield Munich Malt (15.5 EBC)                 
0.10 kg               Gladfield Shepherds Delight Malt (300.0 EBC)          

BOIL PROCESS

Est Pre_Boil Gravity: 1.034 SG    Est OG: 1.052 SG
Amt                   Name                                             
6.00 g                Nelson Sauvin [12.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min      
3.00 g                Calcium Chloride (Boil 60.0 mins)                    
2.00 g                Epsom Salt (MgSO4) (Boil 60.0 mins)                 
2.00 g                Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Boil 60.0 mins             
1.00 Items         Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 mins)                    
10.00 g              Motueka [7.30 %] - Boil 10.0 min              
10.00 g              Nelson Sauvin [12.10 %] - Boil 10.0 min       
10.00 g              Motueka [7.30 %] - Boil 0.0 min               
10.00 g              Nelson Sauvin [12.10 %] - Boil 0.0 min       

NOTES

Brewday
07/03/15:
Added 1l boiling water to adjust temp from 63.8c to 66.3c
Had to stop sparge as the reading where getting to low. Was still 5l short of my boil and had to change it to a 75min boil and top up with 5l of water.
Hydrated Yeast at 33c in bottled water for 15min, mixed then left for a further 5 min.
Pitched yeast @ 22.8c fermenting @ 19.5c (Measure 20.4c)

Fermentation
08/03/15:
Fermentation has  begun and has a large krausen. Fermenting at 20.4c
Raised temp by 1c to for target of 21c, measured 21c
09/03/15:
Beer is slowing down but going steady, temp measured 21.4c. Have increased the temp to 25c to bring out more esters/phenols
10/03/15:
Checked fermentation temp, was set to 25c, measure temp is 23.9c. Fermentation is slowing but still steady.
14/03/15:
Fermentation has slowed down almost completely and krausen has disappeared. Finishing fermentation temp was 24.8c. Cooling down to 18c for dry hopping.
15/03/15:
Took gravity sample, SG 1.040 and FG is 1.002, with a ABV of 5.2%. Dry hopping with 20g of Motueka/Nelson mix for 5 days @ 18c
20/03/15:
Dropped temp to 1.5c for crash chilling till Sunday
22/03/15:
Primed with a 52.5g Dextrose solution. Used a syringe to add 5ml to each bottle. After bottling:
8x 330mls
2x 500 mls
4x 650mls
2x 750 mls
Leaving bottles in fermentation chamber @19c for two weeks


Reviews by fellow Brewers:

Tubedinoz:
Link to FB Page

Kerry Davis:
Appearance: 
Vigorous carbonation; Pours a golden light brown with generous white head; Bottle conditioned
Aroma: 
Grape, champagne, Slight alcohol, fresh 'zing'
Flavour: 
Light, crisp,  fruity, Cider, Pleasant bitterness which subsides on the finish, medium body
Notes: 
Refreshing sessionable drop

Marcus Bökkerink:
Really liked the beer. I was pretty harsh on judging it. But have to say your on to a good recipe base. Some slight tweeks and you'll have an excellent beer. I followed BJCP guidelines for scoring.

Aroma:
estery, grassy, herb, pepper and banana aroma. Acetaldehyde with slight DMS. Malt character shows through when warmed.

Flavour: 
banana and slight lemon tartness. Grassy herb spiciness overwhelms malt characters.

Mouthfeel: 
medium dry. No hotness from alcohol appropriate for style. No zestiness from bubbles. tartness possibly from lemon.

Appearance: 
good white head lasts till the end with moderate glass lacing. Amber colour with slight golden hue. Thin bubbles disappearing once warmed.

Overall impression: 
An excellent attempt at a saison. Excellent colour, and great lemon tartness, however missing that usual balance of fruitiness spiciness and malt character. Felt I was searching for a balancing sweetness of orange or coriander. Needed more pepperiness and higher carbonation. Body and mouthfeel good except for the effervescence from carbonation. DMS and Acetaldehyde maybe from old grain, poor crush or fermentation based result. Grassiness probably an off spin from acetaldehyde or from increased hopping rates. Few things to clean up to create a world class style however on a great track.

28/50. - following BJCP style guidelines for Saison.