Hey everyone, Brad with Northern Brewer, and we're back with a bit more of a Behind the
Brew session talking about our Haystack Saison.
Saison itself is one heck of an old style, super historical.
Its roots really go back to the agrarian society of Belgium, where this particular beer was
brewed on farms in order to serve the farm workers during the hot times of the year.
And the ingredients used in this were always found on the farm.
For our Haystack Saison, this is available in extract and all-grain versions.
If you are an extract brewer, what you're going to find in here is a jug of Gold Liquid
Malt Extract, you're going to find two pounds of Gold Light Dry Malt Extract, three ounces
of Hersbrucker hop, and then we'll talk about the yeast a little bit later.
If you are an all-grain brewer, you're going to be mashing some Belgian Pale Malt, a little
bit of Crystal Malt.
You'll find the same three ounces of Hersbrucker in there, which are going to give it both
its firm bitterness and a little bit of the floral, spicy, earthy type of hop character
that is going to be found in a saison.
Speaking of the yeast options we have paired with this kit, we do have four separate options.
One, as always, is the dry option.
This is the Fermentis SafAle BE-134, which is awesome at saisons.
You're going to find a nice bit of those fruity esters -- dark stone fruits.
You're going to find a little bit of the phenolics, more like a black pepper spice than anything
else.
And with that, you're going to get almost a slight tartness on the palate.
Nothing too intense, it's not going to be like a sour beer by any means.
But you're going to get that little sensation on the back of the mouth here.
As far as the liquid options we have paired with this, we do have three.
And, this will kind of run the whole gamut of saison yeast strains.
We have the Omega OYL-500; that is the Saisonstein.
This yeast is awesome because it is actually a genetic hybrid of both French saison yeast
and Belgian saison yeast.
What you can expect is an awesome array of flavors from the nice fruity esters, peppery
phenols, and a little bit of bubblegum dashed in there.
This yeast really excels at ripping through the wort.
You're going to find that this stuff is going to get darn close -- it's gonna start approaching
1.000 final gravity, and for certain it will get below 1.010.
So, you can expect a really dry beer with the Saisonstein as with any of the yeast strains,
really.
If you are a fan of the Imperial Yeast, you're going to find the Napoleon strain, which is
actually a French saison.
The French saison strain is going to give you a little bit more of the esters as compared
to the peppery phenols.
It's not really going to give you any of the bubblegum flavor -- that's more indicative
of a Belgian yeast strain or Belgian saison strain.
With the French strain Napoleon, this as well is going to really tear through the wort,
rip it right down to close to 1.000 again.
It will get real dry.
It's not going to be awfully tart by any means, but that bracing bitterness combined with
the dryness is really going to give you a crisp finish on the palate, when then you
get the esters and phenols that are going to wash over upon the swallow.
It's really good, really tasty.
Finally, if you're a fan of Wyeast you're going to the 3724 Belgian Saison.
This strain, while it does produce a fantastic beer -- you're going to get the fruit esters
(stone fruits, dark fruits), you're going to get the peppery phenols -- but what really
sets the Belgian apart is a little bit of the bubblegum flavor.
But a word of warning: the Wyeast 3724 is notorious for stalling out about 1.030 to
1.035.
You're going to think the fermentation has just completely come to a standstill.
But, if you do give it enough time, just let it go, maybe warm the temperature up a little
bit.
It will come down and just like other strains it is going to get very dry, approaching 1.000.
If you're really in a hurry and want to give it a swift kick in the pants, pitch something
neutral at it as well.
Something like a US-05 or any sort of Chico strain -- American Ale, 1056, the Omega West
Coast Ale I, any of those.
That will help it attenuate fully and then you can proceed with packaging.
And even though you pitched a second yeast strain in there you're really not going to
get much flavor difference because all of those saison flavors had already been created
in the first few days or week of fermentation.
And there you have it.
If you like the saison, simple recipe, nice and bitter.
Get the yeast option, the one you like, and you're really going to find a good beer.
It's going to be ready early, easy to drink, matures rapidly, and is always delicious.
If you like these kinds of videos and you want to keep up with what we're doing when
it comes to releasing beer kits, go ahead and like, subscribe, and make sure you hit
the notification bell.
And as always you can keep ahead of the curve, see what we're brewing, see what's coming
out, and keep those fermenters full.
Cheers!