Mars à la Saison

Tis the season for brewing a Saison. I brewed one last year and was quite pleased. This year, I am brewing another and hoping for less fruity esters and more peppery flavors. I have concocted another pepper/bourbon mixture as I did with my most recent Rye Pale Ale, consisting of about 20 peppercorns and 1/4 cup of bourbon. The bourbon will be infused until bottling in about 3 weeks or so. For this Saison I have opted to steep 1 lbs. of Malted Belgian Pilsner, 1/2 lbs. of malted white wheat and 1/2 lbs. of oats for my mini-partial-mash. The oats should produce a creaminess and the wheat will aid in giving the beer a nice head retention. The Belgian Pilsner probably won't add all that much to the Pils-LME, but I had it on hand. The remainder of the fermentables are 6 lbs. of pilsner liquid malt extract and 2 lbs. of turbinado sugar (sugar in the raw), that should help add to the alcohol, but keep the flavor light. For hops, I have enjoyed the simply spiciness of the French Stisselspalt in a previous Saison, but added an ounce of Cascade's at the 45 min. mark to add some much needed alpha's. Hopefully this won't reflect too much on the flavor, yet enhance the bitterness. Only time will tell on this one!

Here is the recipe:

Beer:	Mars à la Saison		Style:	Belgian Saison
Type:	Extract w/grain		Size:	5 gallons
Color:	14 HCU (~9 SRM)		Bitterness:	25 IBU
OG:	1.067		FG:	1.012
Alcohol:	7.1% v/v (5.6% w/w)
Grain:	1 lb. Belgian Pilsner 8 oz. Rolled oats .8 oz. Flaked wheat
Boil:	minutes	SG 1.084	4 gallons
	6 lb. Light malt extract 2 lb. Brown sugar
Hops:	1 oz. French Stisselspalt (2.9% AA, 60 min.) 1 oz. Cascade (6% AA, 45 min.) 1 oz. French Stisselspalt (aroma)

This table generated by The Beer Recipator.