Southwest Saison: The Desert's Perfect Beer?

[Chris Thornton]

I've got central air conditioning in my house, but it only cools the center of the house. The upstairs is typically ten degrees warmer, which means 78-85 degrees fahrenheit. Even the ground floor is 68-70 on average. I usually keep a fan on and wet towels on the fermenter to help keep the wort cool during the hottest parts of the day. It's about the best I can do in the southwest.

However, certain strains of yeast like these kinds of temperatures, so I bought a packet of Wyeast 3724 Belgian Saison. This strain is pretty alcohol tolerant and typically associated with bitter orange peel, coriander seed, beet sugar, and a light to medium amber color.

So I looked at the few extract recipes I could find and got to work:

3.3 lb Wheat LME (Midwest)

3.3 lb Pilsen LME (Midwest)

1 lb Breiss Golden Light DME

1 lb Soft Blond Belgian Candi Sugar (this is the beet sugar)

1 lb brown sugar

8 oz carapils

1 oz US Goldings 4.5

1 oz US Tettnang 4.8

1 tbsp rosemary

1 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp nutmeg

I've got no idea what a grain of paradise is supposed to smell like, so I got what smelled good and I thought might be good in a weird Belgian beer made by a crazy person. During the boil, my wife said it smelled like a ham glaze. I think the rosemary left her biased.

Anyhow, the fermentation overnight was very vigorous, the best I've had. Then again, there's a lot of food in there if you happen to be, uh, yeast, and it's the first time I've used a real yeast starter with some nutrient in it.

[Chris Thornton]

Things continued to be energetic for the first few days, then it settled. Wyeast described it as a type that hung out short of the target gravity for a long while. I suspect this guy will be in primary for three weeks or even longer. :)

[Ray Grace]

Great yeast for warm fermentations but be extra patient with it, it can be very finicky.