[BrodyR]

I've read about how originally farmhouse saisons were only around 3% abv which makes sense as it's use as a workers drink.

Lately I've been trying to push my brewing to lower gravity so I'm going to try a 3.5% saison today. The recipe is 75% Pils, 25% Flaked Wheat with a healthy hop stand/dry hop dose of Amarillo backed up with some Cascade & F7, fermented with Belle Saison. It seems like Belle always drops my brews damn near 1.000 so it should be interesting to see how a beer with little to no residual sugars and a low above turns out. I'm hoping for something light and fruit. If it works out well my plan is to rebrew it periodically with whatever fruit is in season here in Philly once we thaw out and the farmers markets open back up.

Anyone ever mess around with really low above saisons?

[bboy9000]

I haven't tried a saison that low.  I have a "saison" with 1.042 OG in fermentor now with Brett Trois.  I used wheat and spelt to help add some body.

Edit:  I used a pound each of wheat and spelt for a 5G batch.  It's been in the fermentor 2 weeks.  It's at 1.012 which is not as dry as I expected and it's starting to develop a pellicle.

[mchrispen]

Lowest I have done intentionally was 3%. And it turned out pretty nice... an ounce or two of Special B for color and I increased the amount of wheat to 10%. You might want to go a bit higher (or use rye or spelt) and I also mashed low (144F) for about 60 minutes and rested at 158F for about 20 minutes. It had the saison phenolic spice and a little fruit ester that was nice, but definitely less intense than a more robust saison. Interesting mouthfeel. Great table beer and didn't last long at all.

I was targeting a little under 3% but Belle Saison took it down to 1.001 pretty quickly. I think the OG was around 1.025. Very strange doing a beer with so little malt.

[phunhog]

I have made a Grissette which is sort of like a Session Saison.....damn tasty beer!

[BrodyR]

I did a bit of tweaking and settled on 82% Vienna, 5.1% each of flaked oats, wheat, & rye, and 2.6% acid malt. Hoping to give it a bit more complexity/malt characteristic.

[bboy9000]

I did a bit of tweaking and settled on 82% Vienna, 5.1% each of flaked oats, wheat, & rye, and 2.6% acid malt. Hoping to give it a bit more complexity/malt characteristic.

That should give it some character.  I used 70% Belgian Pale malt, 11% each of wheat malt and spelt and 3% acidulated malt to enhance some tartness from the Brett Trois.  I did all Amarillo in the last 15 minutes.  2oz total.  The gravity sample tasted awesome. You can see the details on Brewtoad.  Search MoBrewer.

[erockrph]

My base saison recipe is 1.040 OG. It's simply Pils, wheat and Aromatic, using 3711. It makes a great summer session brew.

[bboy9000]

My base saison recipe is 1.040 OG. It's simply Pils, wheat and Aromatic, using 3711. It makes a great summer session brew.

Short detour here- do you get apple or pear from 3711?  I'm drinking my saison and I'm hoping it's not acetaldehyde.  The flat gravity sample was pepper and fruit, but not apple.  Three weeks in the bottle so I was expecting it to be a little green, just not green apple.

[majorvices]

Sometimes I wonder if there is something wrong with with my personal feeling that every beer under 1.065 is a "session beer"....

[bboy9000]

Sometimes I wonder if there is something wrong with with my personal feeling that every beer under 1.065 is a "session beer"....

You and me both.

[HoosierBrew]

Sometimes I wonder if there is something wrong with with my personal feeling that every beer under 1.065 is a "session beer"....

You and me both.

+2.  Same here.   

[reverseapachemaster]

My base saison recipe is 1.040 OG. It's simply Pils, wheat and Aromatic, using 3711. It makes a great summer session brew.

Short detour here- do you get apple or pear from 3711?  I'm drinking my saison and I'm hoping it's not acetaldehyde.  The flat gravity sample was pepper and fruit, but not apple.  Three weeks in the bottle so I was expecting it to be a little green, just not green apple.

3711 is more pepper and citrus so if you're getting a lot of green apple then that's probably not from the yeast's intended character. IMO saison yeast can take a little longer to clean up especially the warmer the beer is fermented. I would give it a few more weeks and see if it improves.

[erockrph]

My base saison recipe is 1.040 OG. It's simply Pils, wheat and Aromatic, using 3711. It makes a great summer session brew.

Short detour here- do you get apple or pear from 3711?  I'm drinking my saison and I'm hoping it's not acetaldehyde.  The flat gravity sample was pepper and fruit, but not apple.  Three weeks in the bottle so I was expecting it to be a little green, just not green apple.

3711 is more pepper and citrus so if you're getting a lot of green apple then that's probably not from the yeast's intended character. IMO saison yeast can take a little longer to clean up especially the warmer the beer is fermented. I would give it a few more weeks and see if it improves.

Agreed, although it does tend to have a subdued fruity/banana ester. If it's low enough maybe it may come across as pear or apple?

[MDixon]

This one would need to be watered down a little to meet 3.5%, but I have made it at around 4% several times. Boil less, cut back on the malt, or add more water.
http://www.ipass.net/mpdixon/Homebrew/Utah%20Series.htm#TinyS

[Master_Dam]

I had the experience of using wyeast 3724 Belgium Saison for my last saison.. It took 7 weeks at 32 deg ferment Nd a lot of love. Brewed with caramunich and caravienna, just popped the first one 2 days ago and it is probably one of the best beer i have ever made...unbelievably saison at almost 1.070 OG down to 1.012 FG


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