AG60 Competition Rye Saison v3

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strange-steve

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Tomorrow I'll be brewing version 3 of my rye saison. Earlier this year this beer came second in its category in the Irish NHC with a score of 44 (was beaten to gold by a spelt saison which scored 45 :evil:). It's probably the best beer I've made so if this one turns out similar I'll be well happy. This is for next year's competition which is at the beginning of March so I'm a bit late (as usual) getting it brewed.

Rye Saison v3

Recipe Specs

Batch Size: 21 L
Original Gravity: 1.055
Final Gravity: 1.003
ABV: 6.8%
Colour: 6 SRM
Bitterness: 26 IBU

Grain Bill
3.0 kg Weyermann Pilsner Malt (59%)
1.5 kg Weyermann Rye Malt (30%)
350 g Granulated Sugar (7%)
100 g CaraRye (2%)
100g Acidulated Malt (2%)

Hop Bill
25g Styrian Golding (4.8% AA) @ 60 Mins
30g Styrian Golding @ 20 Mins
30g Styrian Golding @ 1 Min

Water Profile
Calcium 92
Sulphate 94
Chloride 87

Mash Schedule
55° for 15 Mins
63° for 45 Mins
70° for 15 Mins
77° for 10 Mins

Notes
Ferment with Wyeast 3711 French Saison
3 Weeks at 23° then 1 week at 10°
Carbonate to 3 vol/CO2

I'm getting the starter made now and as you can see I'm taking advantage of the local weather conditions :D

dYSwrtq.jpg
 
Interesting! I like a rye beer but yet to attempt...any tips when using rye and also interested in your sugar addition..

Cheers

Clint
 
Wowzer, that's plenty of snow!

Sounds really nice. What does the 55C rest do?


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@Clint
I'm no expert on using rye, but I do know that it is really gummy so can cause lautering/sparging problems, especially at a high percentage like this. If you have the ability to step mash then a short rest at 55 and a mash out helps, also I chuck 100g or so of rice hulls in too. It adds some complexity to the malt flavours and an interesting spiciness which works really well in a saison.

@Ajhutch
As above, the 55° rest is a high end protein rest which breaks down some of the long chain proteins, helping run off. In theory it improves head retention in the finished beer too.
 
I only do the one temp mash in my picnic box but do line it with a huge filter bag which I squeeze after sparging. I'll bung some on the next order for a go....
 
Brewed this last night and each brew with the Grainfather gets a little easier, this was probably my most relaxed brew day yet. The Firestone Walker beers I drank during probably helped :D
 
Gravity check this morning, 1 week in and down to 1.007 meaning 87% apparent attenuation already. I've started a slow ramp up of 0.5°/day up to 25° to finish off the last few points. Damn I love this yeast!

Taste test, it's still a little sweet in the finish but the yeast will sort that out, otherwise really promising, malty, spicy, fruity and very smooth with a pleasant graininess to it.
 
Three weeks in today, gravity is bang on target at 1.003 meaning AA of 94%. Loads of spice, very dry but a bit of a kick from the alcohol. I've dropped the temperature to 5°C where I'll hold it for a week to clarify and hopefully the alcohol flavour will smooth out before March with plenty of conditioning.
 
Lovely beer Steve. Fantastic crisp dry finish. Warming alcohol kick. I get the spice from the Rye. Yeast flavour a little muted given my own - very limited - experience of 3711. Carbonation spot on. The thing that really strikes me is that all the different elements of the beer complement each other. Great job, and food for thought :thumb:
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Well the results are in, the competition was yesterday and this scored a reasonable but rather disappointing 32. I haven't gotten the feedback yet but I'll be interested to see the judges comments because I was pretty happy with this brew and I honestly thought it was better than last year's. Ah well, that's the nature of these bjcp comps I suppose.
 
Bloody
Well the results are in, the competition was yesterday and this scored a reasonable but rather disappointing 32. I haven't gotten the feedback yet but I'll be interested to see the judges comments because I was pretty happy with this brew and I honestly thought it was better than last year's. Ah well, that's the nature of these bjcp comps I suppose.
Bloody good beer but perhaps it "didn't fit the guidelines" better luck next time.

On a plus note entered my first comp last week and got first in the ipa's
Thanks for your help with the water additions thread.
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Bloody

Bloody good beer but perhaps it "didn't fit the guidelines" better luck next time.

On a plus note entered my first comp last week and got first in the ipa's
Thanks for your help with the water additions thread.
Good work, IPA is a damn hard category! Do you have a recipe??
I was consoled with a gold medal for my eisbock though.
 
I got the scoresheets through yesterday, turns out it was marked down for being phenolic :?: It's a saison...
Anyway I've been to a few BJCP comps and I tend to take the judges comments with a pinch of salt generally :D
 
I got the scoresheets through yesterday, turns out it was marked down for being phenolic :?: It's a saison...
Anyway I've been to a few BJCP comps and I tend to take the judges comments with a pinch of salt generally :D
I'd argue that a Saison should be slightly peppery, not phenolic which is usually attributed to Clove, smoke or medicinal flavours. Each to their own though, judging can be quite random. I once got a sheet back that said "tastes better than it looks" with max score for appearance.

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I'd argue that a Saison should be slightly peppery, not phenolic which is usually attributed to Clove, smoke or medicinal flavours
True, although peppery and spicy are included as descriptors under "phenolic" on the scoresheet.
Each to their own though, judging can be quite random.
Agreed. Even Gordon Strong admits there is a lot of subjectivity in judging.
 
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