My Saison is mostly Pilsner malt with some Munich 10L, wheat, and cane sugar. I would like to get it a touch darker so that it is within style guidelines. Other than upping the % of Munich which I would rather not do I am not sure how get it darker. I have thought about decreasing the % of Munich but switch to 20L.
Any advice?
you could use a darker munich. I’ve not tried that. I gotta say, 1 srm is hardly even noticeable. Have you been dinged in competition for being too light color?
maybe some sinimar or cold steeped dark grain but it’ll be a tiny tiny amount.
I make most Saisons out of Belgian Pils, pale Munich, a little wheat, and sometimes cane sugar. That’s it. No color adjustment. There are plenty of pale ones out there.
Okay. I don’t brew to style very much but try to stick to color guidelines for some reason. I guess I shouldn’t worry if it is a bit below the lower threshold of 5 SRM…
SRM OCD ?
I say ignore it and brew on. Unless the style police are watching, in which case I didn’t say that, I was never here.
Saison is such a yeast driven beer, I worry more about using the right strain at the right temp to get the fermentation characteristics I want. That’s where the experimentation comes in ! Color is getting to be less and less an issue where saison is concerned - have fun with it !
Cool. Thanks guys!
Caramunich III
I love Aromatic in my Saisons, so that’s an option. But honestly I would never worry about too low of a color in a beer unless it’s a stout or porter. You could also just boil it longer and that could be enough to make up the difference.
Sinamar. Add it drop by drop until you get the color you want. It won’t change the flavor.
Sinamar is best if you’re not looking to change the flavor profile. Carafa dehusked, midnight wheat, chocolate wheat or even black malt would be fine at a really small amount to adjust the color but would not be as invisible in the flavor as sinamar.
I would not worry about the color on a saison. Dupont is 100% pilsner malt and it’s considered the archetype of the style and very light in color.
yeup.
I recently added some chocolate muntons malt to a boil of mostly pilsner mash for fun. it darkened the brew but didn’t really thicken it.
I added quite a lot too (1 oz. / 1 gal batch) and ended up with an almost boch color - much too dark for what you’re after I’m sure, but it was amusing because the beer looked like it should have had a darker texture. the munton’s contributed some flavor, of course, but that beer was mostly about the yeast anyway.
I like to add 1-2 oz of chocolate malt to certain of my beers to darken them up… No noticeable flavor contribution, works great.
Sinamar is made from carafa special. So sinamar, carafa specials, or midnight wheat would all be good for adding color without much flavor.
How about a darker palm sugar (jaggery) instead of simple cane. I like to throw in a pound into some of my brews. It’s pretty cheap at the local Indian market. Morticaixavier’s recommendation of aromatic is good, too. It’s provided a nice golden hue to some of my saisons.
I found jaggery added an odd flavour, not saying it was bad but I didn’t care for it. Either sinimar or cold steeped carafe but the best by far is to not worry about it. Are you actually comparing this to an SRM chart and seeing that its really a 4 or is this just what your brewing software is telling you it is? I wouldn’t sweat it at all unless your going for Ninkasi next year.
How much cane sugar is in your recipe?
I would just substitute some dark Belgian candy sugar for all or a portion of it.
The final flavor difference should be minimal compared to adding something like chocolate malt.
If your saison is too dark for the style guidelines, then the style guidelines are wrong.
It wouldn’t be the first time.
Haha…yeah I am not going to worry about. I never know exactly what color my beers are anyway considering each grain is usually given a range by the maltster/supplier…
I’ve used a lb of cane sugar in a saison before. You don’t really need it though. Mash low and use plenty of saison yeast and it’ll finish plenty low. I mashed my last one @ 148F and used the notorious 3724 and it finished @ 1.002.