Vielle Ferme Saison

This Saison recipe was a big hit at our annual Thanksgiving party. The secrets are the spice infusion (instead of dealing with whole spices in the keg), much warmer fermenting temperatures, and the light base malt. The resulting beer is not very strong but has a light body and color, and is very refreshing. I’m really quite pleased with this recipe. It ages well, to a point. Don’t let it go too long, but I didn’t really have that problem.

Goals

• 5 gallons
• Starting specific gravity: 1.045
• Finishing specific gravity: 1.010
• ABV: 5%
• Bitterness: 24 IBU
• Color: 3 SRM

Spice infusion recipe

Ingredients

• 5/8 oz. coriander
• 1/2 tsp. black pepper
• 1/2 tsp. whole allspice
• 3/4 oz. orange zest
• 6 oz. vodka

Procedure

• Crush all spices and add to the vodka.
• Put it away to age for about two weeks before kegging time.

Extract recipe

Ingredients

• 5 lb. Pilsener liquid malt
• 1 lb. sugar
• 0.5 lb. Wheat malt
• 0.24 lb. Dark Munich
• 1 oz. Saaz (60 minutes)
• 0.5 oz. Styrian Goldings (10 minutes)
• 0.5 oz. Styrian Goldings (5 minutes)
• Wyeast #3711

Procedure

• Place crushed grains in two muslin bags and add to 1.5 gallons of water.
• Heat water to 150-170° F and hold for 30 minutes.
• Remove grains, sparge with hot water, and discard.
• Add 1 oz. Saaz hops. Boil 60 minutes.
• With 10 minutes remaining, add 0.5 oz. Styrian Goldings hops.
• With 5 minutes remaining, add Styrian Goldings Hops.
• Cool with wort chiller to ~ 75° F and add to water in carboy. Top up to 5 gallons.
• Pitch yeast.
• When fermentation is complete, transfer either to bottling bucket or keg. Add the spice infusion liquid to the container.
• Age approximately four weeks.