Fruit Addition For Smoked Saison

[HomemadeSauce]

I brewed a saison with 20% rauchmalt, the rest of the grist being 60% Pilsner, 10% White Wheat, 10% Midnight Wheat and Flaked Oats. Hopped with Mt. Hood and Cascade and fermented with Wyeast 3726. It's down to 1.006 from 1.056 and seems to have finished; I like the character coming out of the sample, but I've been wondering about transferring a gallon or two and pitching Brett/adding fruit. However, I'm fairly stuck on ideas for the fruit addition. Blueberries, maybe?

This feels like an idea best left un-brewed but I wanted to throw it out there to see if anyone has experience with fruited smoked beers. Cheers.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Smoke and raspberry seems to complement each other, at least for BBQ.

 

[mgerton13]

i made a smoked barleywine one time. I added oranges to it, but i actually sliced and grilled the oranges and added them to secondary. So grilling some citrus should work perfectly with the smoke, and the saison yeast

 

[theQ]

I'd go with light fruits. Apricots, Peaches. Dry plums can work too but will probably change the color.
Something tells me that smoke flavor goes better with dark fruits and roasted malts! A dubel with smoked malt sounds darn good!

 

[HomemadeSauce]

Some great ideas here, folks. Thank you. Not too worried about color change with darker fruits - the saison itself is a dark ruby. I do have several gallon jugs so I might just have to experiment with a variety of additions. The grilled citrus is especially intriguing to me.

 

[deadwolfbones]

Agree on peaches or nectarines.

 

[mgerton13]

Some great ideas here, folks. Thank you. Not too worried about color change with darker fruits - the saison itself is a dark ruby. I do have several gallon jugs so I might just have to experiment with a variety of additions. The grilled citrus is especially intriguing to me.

If you plan on splitting and doing different fruit, I 100% suggest doing maybe grilled oranges in one and grilled peaches in another. 2 of my favorite fruits to grill i think would accent a saison perfectly

 

[Cyclman]

Sour cherries.

 

[gratus fermentatio]

Never made a rauchbeir, but I smoke fresh peaches with hickory a lot, peach goes well with smoke, so does pineapple.
Regards, GF.

 

[HomemadeSauce]

If you plan on splitting and doing different fruit, I 100% suggest doing maybe grilled oranges in one and grilled peaches in another. 2 of my favorite fruits to grill i think would accent a saison perfectly

Do you recommend slicing the fruit and grilling, then adding to fermenter after they cool? Also, any thoughts on usage rates? With peaches I assume 1.5-2 lbs per gallon based on some articles I've read but with oranges I'm not sure.

I didn't expect to get as many responses to this. This might turn in to a longer-term project as more fruits come in season. Cheers!

 

[ESBrewer]

An interesting brew, but after these modifications I would put it under specialty smoked beers rather than saisons. Saison is a refreshing summer brew and anything but smoky. The vibrant fruitiness is the result of typical yeast esters. Specialty smoked beers are beers that contain smoked grains and fruit (or other adjuncts).

 

[deadwolfbones]

fwiw, I'd use peaches in a lighter saison. The flavor might get lost in one with more dark malts.

 

[mgerton13]

Do you recommend slicing the fruit and grilling, then adding to fermenter after they cool? Also, any thoughts on usage rates? With peaches I assume 1.5-2 lbs per gallon based on some articles I've read but with oranges I'm not sure.

I didn't expect to get as many responses to this. This might turn in to a longer-term project as more fruits come in season. Cheers!

Yes, I sliced them into maybe a quarter inch slices, left on the grill just long enough to get solid grill lines lines, then let them cool and added them to secondary. The barleywine i made was 12%, so my usage rate was definitely higher than you might need, but I did i think an 10 lb bag for the 5.5 gallons in the fermentor, so about 2 lbs per gallon.

 

[HomemadeSauce]

An interesting brew, but after these modifications I would put it under specialty smoked beers rather than saisons. Saison is a refreshing summer brew and anything but smoky. The vibrant fruitiness is the result of typical yeast esters. Specialty smoked beers are beers that contain smoked grains and fruit (or other adjuncts).

That's a fair point, and if I enter this into a competition I would go that route. Obviously I've deviated pretty far from the historical saison, but I love brewing and drinking the style, and really enjoy using it as a palette to explore hops, yeast, et al. I suppose since I almost have to call it something "Smoked Belgian-style ale" would have been more appropriate.