Brewing a saison at home when the weather is hot

Why saison suits Indian summers

Saison comes from the farmhouses of Wallonia in southern Belgium. The story usually told is that it was brewed in the cooler months and kept for farm workers in summer. What survives today is a pale, very dry, highly carbonated ale of roughly 5% to 7% ABV, with fruity, peppery and spicy yeast character. Our saison guide covers the style's history and range.

The traditional saison yeasts are unusual. Many ferment cleanly and well at temperatures that would make other ale yeasts produce solvent and hot alcohol flavours. Some strains are happiest in the high 20s °C and tolerate low 30s. That makes saison one of the few styles you can brew in an Indian summer without elaborate cooling.

A simple saison recipe

For 20 litres at an original gravity of about 1.052:

• Pilsner malt: 3.8 kg (82%)
• Wheat malt: 0.45 kg (10%)
• Munich malt: 0.15 kg (3%)
• Plain white sugar: 0.25 kg (5%), added in the boil
• Hops: about 25 to 30 IBU from Saaz, Styrian Goldings or East Kent Goldings, with a small late addition
• Yeast: a saison strain, liquid or dry

Mash low, around 63 to 64 °C, for 75 to 90 minutes. You want a highly fermentable wort. The sugar helps dry the beer further. A saison should finish around 1.002 to 1.006, giving a crisp, almost champagne like dryness.

Fermenting warm, but not wild

Warm does not mean uncontrolled. Pitch around 20 to 22 °C and let the temperature rise freely over the first few days as the yeast heats the beer. Many saison strains do their best work in the mid to high 20s °C. A free rise to 28 or 30 °C is common practice. Starting cool and rising gives a cleaner, more complex beer than pitching straight into 32 °C wort.

In practice, in a hot Indian kitchen you may not need to do anything. Pitch in the early morning when the room is coolest, then let the day's heat take over. If you live somewhere that sees 40 °C, a simple water bath keeps the beer from going past the yeast's comfort zone. Our guide to fermenting through an Indian summer covers easy ways to take the edge off.

The famous stall

One of the best known traditional saison strains is notorious for fermenting fast and then stalling around 1.030 to 1.035 for days or weeks. Nobody agrees fully on why. Some brewers point to temperature, others to pressure from a sealed fermenter. The usual advice is to keep the beer warm, around 30 °C, rather than letting it cool when fermentation slows. Give it time. Rousing the yeast by gently swirling the fermenter can help. Some brewers also loosen the lid so the beer is not under any back pressure.

Several popular dry saison yeasts do not stall at all. They belong to a variety known as diastaticus, which can break down sugars that normal brewing yeast leaves behind. That is why they finish so dry. It also means they can keep fermenting in the bottle. Make sure fermentation has fully finished, with the same gravity three days apart. Clean and sanitise your kit thoroughly afterwards. Keep separate tubing and plastic parts for these yeasts if you can. Diastaticus in a later batch of pale ale is how bottles over carbonate months after brewing.

Bottling for high carbonation

Saison is traditionally very lively, around 2.8 to 3.5 volumes of CO2. Standard thin beer bottles may not be safe at the top end. Use heavy bottles designed for higher pressure, or aim for about 2.7 to 2.8 volumes in ordinary crown cap bottles. Our guide to carbonation levels by style explains the numbers. Store the bottles in a closed box while they condition.

What you are aiming for

A good saison is pale gold to light orange, with a big rocky white head. It smells of pepper, citrus and orchard fruit. It tastes dry, lightly bitter and refreshing, with no solvent burn and no lingering sweetness. It pairs well with spicy food, from Goan sausage to Andhra pickles.

Because the yeast leads, small changes in temperature and timing change the beer a great deal. Learning to steer that is what Belgian brewing is about.