Hibiscus Saison

[b7ryn]

I'm looking at putting a recipe for an hibiscus saison. Using the below as a base:
https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/49602/hibiscus-saison

I'm planning to add a little bit of Cara to sweeten/darken slightly, and potentially add a dry hop cycle with some leftover Nelson. I'm also thinking to create a tea with the hibiscus first, to make that simpler.

Now.. I've been reading that there is quite a tartness from the hibiscus which, when combined with the dryness of the saison yeast, might be "too much". Would a little lactose take the edge off the puckery/dry/sourness and also add a little body?

 

[Dutto]

I'm looking at putting a recipe for an hibiscus saison. Using the below as a base:
https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/49602/hibiscus-saison

I'm planning to add a little bit of Cara to sweeten/darken slightly, and potentially add a dry hop cycle with some leftover Nelson. I'm also thinking to create a tea with the hibiscus first, to make that simpler.

Now.. I've been reading that there is quite a tartness from the hibiscus which, when combined with the dryness of the saison yeast, might be "too much". Would a little lactose take the edge off the puckery/dry/sourness and also add a little body?

Er ...... with all the modifications will it still be a Hibiscus Saison ...

... or will it be like Trigger's Broom?

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUl6PooveJE[/ame]

 

[b7ryn]

Er ...... with all the modifications will it still be a Hibiscus Saison ...

... or will it be like Trigger's Broom?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUl6PooveJE

It depends on how much of a purist you are. It's still a saison yeast and the next biggest flavour is the hibiscus. 😀 I'm trying to go a little sweeter as the dry/sour/tart combo might be too much for some of people I'm brewing for... and the Cara should darken the naturally bright pink colour.

I enjoy taking recipes and playing around with them a little. 😎

 

[Dutto]

It depends on how much of a purist you are. It's still a saison yeast and the next biggest flavour is the hibiscus. 😀 I'm trying to go a little sweeter as the dry/sour/tart combo might be too much for some of people I'm brewing for... and the Cara should darken the naturally bright pink colour.

I enjoy taking recipes and playing around with them a little. 😎

"Purist" I definitely ain't ... :lol: :lol:

... and almost everything I brew is a "pseudo" something! :thumb:

I'm not familiar with a Hibiscus Beer but, as one of my pet moans is that today's "Bitters" are too sweet for my taste, I am very interested in the original recipe as well as your final result.

It's another one for my "List of Beers to Brew" (so many beers and so little time) so please keep us posted on progress. :thumb:

BTW when they say "Hibiscus" in the recipe what do they actually mean? The flowers, ground up roots or what? The reason I ask is that loads of Hibiscus plants are grown near to where we have our bit of land in France. :thumb:

 

[b7ryn]

"Purist" I definitely ain't ... :lol: :lol:

... and almost everything I brew is a "pseudo" something! :thumb:

I'm not familiar with a Hibiscus Beer but, as one of my pet moans is that today's "Bitters" are too sweet for my taste, I am very interested in the original recipe as well as your final result.

It's another one for my "List of Beers to Brew" (so many beers and so little time) so please keep us posted on progress. :thumb:

BTW when they say "Hibiscus" in the recipe what do they actually mean? The flowers, ground up roots or what? The reason I ask is that loads of Hibiscus plants are grown near to where we have our bit of land in France. :thumb:

The flowers themselves. I've seen a number of ways to do it... Add towards the end of the boil... Make a tea from them.. or sanitising them for adding to secondary.
Ive ordered them from Amazon https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0096MNGZE/ref=cm_sw_r_wa_apa_2EOPzbCPY996G

Will prob make a tea so I can sanitise and also check the flavour and adjust before adding if need be. I'll report back after I brew this weekend.

 

[HopWroester]

I was drinking a hibiscus saison from Three Hills brewing, they add rhubarb to it. Very nice indeed.

 

[b7ryn]

So... I brewed this at the weekend. I played about with a few hibiscus tea combos.. and settled on 100g of tea.. and then added the flowers in towards the end of the boil as the colour was a bit more "brown" that I'd hoped. The hibiscus flavour was mild (as planned) and has a nice cranberry aftertaste. I went with Nelson to get a nice earthy /mild hoppy profile in there too... I only had 120L Cara, so went with a little of that, so not to be too dark. Here's what I went with...

Marris Otter 3kg
Cara (120) Malt 0.15kg
Wheat Malt 0.5kg
Flaked oats 0.5kg

Nelson Sauv 28g (60min)
Nelson Sauv 28g (0min)
Nelson Sauv 44g (D.hop 4days)

Hibiscus Flowers 100g (tea in french press) @ start of boil
Added flowers to last 15mins of boil also.

17.5L Mash @ 67deg
11L Sparge @80deg
OG - 1.045
Yeast: M29 French saison

Beersmith suggesting FG 1.012 but have seen this yeast to close to zero... Let's see.

 

[Simonh82]

I've never had a hibiscus beer but I tried a sip of a hibiscus cordial recently and it was lovely. I'd like to know how the hibiscus flavour stands up against the saison yeast.

I've still not brewed a saison so if you get good results I might give this a go.