In Fall of 2013, motivated by my trip to the Central Coast, I set out to brew the best saisons I could. Not just a saison with the great balance of fruity and spicy, a soft malt flavor, and the slickness from the yeast, but original saisons that challenge the norm and expectations of what a saison should be. I started the Nine Sisters Saison project.

I’ve had some degree of success. Cabrillo – Hoppy Rye Saison took second place at the Badger Brew Off and Bishop – Rye Saison with brett took first place at the 2014 Wisconsin State Fair. I adore both those beers. After bottling Bishop, I did a 50-50 blended of my 2012 lambic that I put on raspberries in fall 2013. The non-carbonated test tasted like fruit juice with a touch of spiciness and a mild sourness. I ended up bottling seven cases with enough table sugar to achieve about 3.0 volumes of CO2.

Bishop

Stats

Batch Size (Gal): 5.5

Total Grain (Lbs): 12.5

Anticipated OG: 1.060

Anticipated SRM: 4.2

Anticipated IBU: 21.6 (Rager)

Brewhouse Efficiency: 79.8%

Wort Boil Time: 90 Minutes

9 lbs Belgian Pilsner (2.0 SRM) 75 %

3 lb Rye malt (3.5 SRM) 25%

8 oz Turbinado sugar added in the boil

Hops

1.5 oz Styrian Celeia (4.0% AA)– Boil 60.0 min

0.5 oz Styrian Celeia (4.0% AA)– Boil 10.0 min

Yeast

Wyeast 3711 French Saison 1.5L starter

WLP 650 – one tube added to secondary

Water Profile

Madison, WI cut 1:1 with RO water. 4g Gypsum and 1 g CaCl added to the mash water.

Sparged with two batches of 100% RO water

Final profile:

Ca – 69.2

Mg – 9.7

Na – 14.3

Cl – 67.5

SO4 – 71.5

HCO – 0.525

Mash Profile

Single infusion at 149F

sparge at 168F

Mash pH – 5.31

Fermentation Profile

Pitch yeast at 68 F and ferment until gravity is around 1.015-1.018. I’ll add Brett B to the secondary and raise the temp to 75-85F until fully attenuated.

Lambic

Stats

Batch Size (Gal): 6.0

Total Grain (Lbs): 12.75

Anticipated OG: 1.053

Anticipated SRM: 3.6

Anticipated IBU: Less than 4

Brewhouse Efficiency: 69 %

Wort Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Grain Bill

6.5 lbs German Pils (2.0 SRM) 51 %

5 lbs Flaked Wheat Malt (1.6 SRM) 39.2 %

1 lbs Flaked Corn (1.3 SRM) 7.8 %

4.0 oz Acid Malt (3.0 SRM) 2 %

Hops

3.0 oz Saaz (aged 15 months) – Boil 90.0 min

Yeast

House Clean Yeast similar to Wyeast 1056 1L starter

Wyeast 3278 Lambic Blend

Water Profile

Madison, WI cut 1:1 with RO Water. 3 g Gypsum, 2 g salt, and 6 g calcium chloride added to the mash water.

Final profile:

Ca – 85

Mg – 9.7

Na – 25.4

Cl – 125.9

SO4 – 54.2

HCO – 29.75

Mash Profile

Infusion – 154F for 90 min.

H2O:Grain – 1.25 qt/lb

Mash pH – 5.54

Fermentation Profile

Pitch yeast at 68 F and ferment at 64F for 7 days

Raise Temp to 70 F and ferment for 10 days

Take out of chamber and put in the basement to age and let the bugs do their work

Raspberries added in Fall 2013