Big Ghost Saison 3 Ways

So I’ll add this to the wiki at a later date, but as a treat earlier this year I got (via a friend) a cleaned up culture of Fantome from the guys down at the Bruery.

Back in late May, early June, I brewed a sessionable Saison that I called “Lil’ Ghost” which had pils, oats and a few other touches to 1.055.

In August, I bumped it up for the club’s 35th Anniversary Party and brewed 31 gallons of a 1.092ish beer called “Big Ghost”

31 Gallons at 1.092, 44IBUs, 10SRM

55 lbs Dingeman’s Pilsner Malt
20 lbs Munich Malt
4 lbs Flaked Oats
2 lbs Aromatic Malt
5 lbs Cane Sugar (added to the boil)

Mash at 149-150F for 60 minutes, recirc and bump to 168F

Hops
5.oz Magnum (14%AA)  for 90 minutes
3 oz Saaz (3.5%) for 0 minutes

Fermented with either:
Fantome Slurry from Lil Ghost
Wyeast 3711 French Saison / WLP565 Belgian Saison I

The beers were fermented separately and then at kegging time, 3 kegs (from my portion) were produced: straight of each and a single keg mixed together.

The Wyeast/Whitelabs keg - spicy with a lot of fruitiness. Big sort of Caramel flavor to the finish
The Fantome - dry, strong grapefruit rind and strawberry. noticeable funkiness at 3 months
The blend - much rounder than either beer straight. Carries a little bit more of the tanginess of the Fantome than would be ideal.

All told, my ranking of preference would be Fantome > Blend > Wyeast/Whitelabs

I could swear I just read about this in a magazine in the past couple of days.  Now I gotta go find it.

Yeah, I wrote it up for last (this?) month’s BeerAdvocate the magazine.

That’s it exactly!  And it is the latest issue ( Issue #33 ).