Beer Forum

So I would like to brew a single malt and single hops saison you cas see more detail here http://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/smash-saison.
But I have some questions

1. Does the smash philosophy preclude using adjuncts like table sugar. I noticed that many of the saison recipes use sugar to help dry the beer out
2. I was planning on using wyeast 3711 French saison yeast which people say will chew through almost everything in the beer. I was going to target a mash temp of 152 - 154. Should this be higher?

Malt
12# pilsner malt

Hops
Citra 4.9% 1.0 oz 60 min
Citra 4.9% 1.5 oz 10 min
24 IBU's

Mash 152 - 154
Boil 90 min
6 gallon batch
FG - 1.048
OG - 1.010
BU:GU - .50
2 lovibond

What do you think?

First, I'd say it's your beer, who cares what the Smashers think! However, working within that framework, I'd say that straight, refined sugar would probably be more acceptable than using a turbinado or Belgian candi syrup that is going to add flavor and color to the beer.

Since it is the first smash beer I will make, I wanted to stick to the "rules" and then go from there.

Rule #1: We don't talk about Smash Club
Rule #2: There are no rules.
Rule #3: The exception to rule #2 is that must be worn at each step of the process, from the moment you decide to brew the recipe until the last bottle is finished.

Do what you want with it. There's several interpretations of what a SMaSH brew really is. I'd be more concerned about the beer turning out well, than to follow a rule that won't get you there. If it were mine, I'd add dextrose in a heartbeat. Even with my SMaSH brews, I tend to add 5-7% wheat if the style could benefit from it - it's not really going to alter the flavor of the base malt shining through so who cares. A few % dextrose is in that same boat, IMO.

With WY 3711 you really won't need any sugar to help the beer properly attenuate. Depending on how dry you want the beer to finish, I would go with a 154F mash. With your simple SMASH grain bill, that should let you attenuate down to abour 1.006-1.008 which IMO is perfect for a saison. If you want it drier, then mash around 152F.

Besides that, the recipe looks great. The citra profile should meld well with the 3711 yeast character.

Another vote for your recipe as is, as the sugar likely wont be needed. My last Saison was similiar although I went with Zythos and the new Belle Saison dry strain and that yeast plowed through that beer to somewhere near 1.006FG if I remember right.

The 3711 yeast chewed right down to 1.008 in 14 days with a temp of 72ish. The beer turned out great after sitting in the fridge for a few weeks

So I am remaking this recipe next weekend, but I am going to make 10 gallons - 5 gallons Citra and 5 Sorachii Ace with IBUs between 25 - 27. SRM was 3 according to Beersmith.

On the last version I screwed up my mash temps and came in at 149 - 150. Even so the resulting beer had enough body left so as not to be to dry. It held great head, and when aged for a bit really let the citra come through with a grapefruitish flavor backed up by the 3711. It will be interesting to see the difference between the two hops and how they play with the yeast.

I think the next version I am going to mix the hops one with citra as the bittering and sorachii ace as the flavor/aroma and the other batch switched around.