Dark Winter Saison
Saisons are traditionally a warm weather drink, but a few of us have a tradition of getting together each fall to brew a strong, dark, spiced saison. Each year’s version has a different dried fruit and dark malt. The blend of spices along with the earthiness of the Brettanomyces and buckwheat honey make for an almost savory beer. Brett C is a good complement to the Dupont strain because it helps to dry out the beer.
Dark Winter Saison, All-Grain
(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.066 FG = 1.004
IBU = 24 SRM = 23 ABV = 8.3%
Ingredients
9.5 lbs. (4.3 kg) German Pilsner malt
2 lbs. (0.91 kg) German Munich malt
0.5 lbs. (0.23 kg) flaked oats
6 oz. (0.17 kg) Carafa® Special II malt
6 oz. (0.17 kg) Caramunich® malt
4 oz. (0.11 kg) Special B malt
0.0088 oz. (0.25 g) anise
0.035 oz. (1.0 g) star anise
0.018 oz. (0.50 g) cinnamon
1 lb. (0.45 kg) dried figs
4 oz. (113 g) buckwheat honey
7.5 AAU Simcoe hops (80 min.) (0.58 oz./16 g of 13% alpha acids)
White Labs WLP565 (Belgian Saison I) yeast White Labs WLP645 (Brettanomyces clausenii) yeast
4.2 oz. (120 g) table sugar (priming)
Step by Step
Mash at 156 °F (69 °C) for 60 minutes. Boil for 90 minutes adding hops as indicated. With 5 minutes left in the boil add the ground spices. Simmer the figs with some of the wort for 20 minutes and purée, add at flame out along with the honey.
Start fermentation at 68 °F (20 °C) and allow to rise into the low-80s °F (27–28 °C). When the gravity is stable, bottle aiming for 2.4 volumes of carbonation.
Extract Equivalent Replace the Pilsner malt with 4.75 lbs. (2.2 kg) of Pilsner dried malt extract, and the Munich with 1.25 lbs. (0.57 kg) of Munich liquid malt extract. Steep the remaining grains, omitting the oats, for 30 min at 156 °F (69 °C) before adding the malt extract.
