As featured in CAMRA’s – The Modern Homebrewer – Andy Parker & Jamil Zainasheff and sponsored by ourselves The Malt Miller.

We would highly recommend purchasing and reading this book as it feature not only a wide selection of recipes but some great knowledge and techniques from Andy and Jamil on how to brew the best beer possible at home.

This recipe was provided for the book from a professional brewer, all of the recipes were scaled by the writers to a 20ltr batch size using 75% efficiency.

Where ever possible we have matched the exact ingredients, however in some recipes slight changes may be required and volume adjustments based on ingredient available to homebrewers. Be sure to fully read the below details before purchasing so you are fully confident in the process and aware of any ingredients which are not included with this kit that you will need to add.

Weights are removed on this page due to publishing agreements but will be provided on the bags when the recipe is purchased or are present in the book for those who purchase it.

 

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Ingredients Included

TMM Oat Flakes 20
Dingemans Pale Wheat Malt
Dingemans Pale Ale Malt
Savinjski Goldings Pellets (50 grams)
Chinook – BarthHaas® Pure Hop Pellets (15 grams)
Brewers Gold Pellets (15 grams)
Wyeast 3711 French Saison.  (1 pack)

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Method

Beer Style (main): Belgian/French Ales
Beer Style (sub): Classic French & Belgian-Style Saison
Batch Size: 20
Original Gravity: 1.059
Final Gravity: 1.010
ABV %: 6.5
IBU: 30
Mash efficiency: 75

THE MASH
Temperature °C (Step 1): 64
Length (mins) (Step 1): 60

Mash notes: If working with equipment that allows for a stepped mash (such as a Grainfather) then mash in at 52°C/125°F (5min), then 62°C/143°F (40min), 67°C/152°F (10min), 72°C/161°F (20min), before raising to 78°C/172°F for mash out.

Water: Aim for a chloride:sulphate ratio of 2-3:1

THE BOIL
Boil time (mins): 60

Hop / kettle additions and timing:

Brewers Gold 15g/0.52oz @ 60 mins
Chinook 15g/0.52oz @ 10 mins
Savinjski Goldings 50g/1.7oz @ 10mins

Grains of Paradise 2g/0.07oz @ 10min (NOT INCLUDED)

 

Yeast: Wyeast 3711 (French Saison)
Fermentation temperature/steps: Ferment at 24°C/75°F until complete

Secondary additions:

Comments:

Many years before co-founding Bristol’s highly regarded Lost and Grounded Brewers with partner Annie Clements in 2016, Alex Troncoso’s early forays into brewing included dabbling in Saison and other Belgian styles. Amongst many successes he was the proud winner of the Belgian Specialty category in the 2003 Vicbrew (Melbourne) state home brewing competition in his native Australia!

Lost and Grounded’s Saison D’Avon is perhaps my favourite example brewed in the UK. It has a delightful yet delicate floral character with a softness that somehow doesn’t take away from the snappy and refreshing finish. Alex explains the back story: “Saison D’Avon started out as a one-off beer that we brewed for the Independent Manchester Beer Convention in 2016, with the name being a bit of a joke. The brewery is based across the street from the banks of the River Avon in Bristol – it sounds romantic, but our section of the river is tidal, and half the time is a mud flat! Saison D’Avon became a full-time core beer in 2017 and has been a labour of love ever since. All our Belgian-style beers have continually evolved due to us forever seeking the right yeast strain that has restrained-to-no phenolics, attenuates well, flocculates predictably and isn’t diastaticus (a wild strain, present in many Saison yeasts) – it seems that it is almost impossible to find that combination!”

Asked about tips for perfecting the style, Troncoso proffers: “I would say to not try and over complicate the beer – don’t add too much (especially bitterness). Pick a yeast you tend to like or sounds like you’ll like. Don’t just use “X” strain because a book says you should. Sometimes more traditional types of hops work best in certain styles and Saison is definitely in that category. In terms of water treatment, we use a combination of Calcium Chloride and Calcium Sulphate with the water profile largely in favour of chloride at a ratio of 2-3:1.”

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