BeerBorg

Here's one take on a Grisette that I brewed recently and just began enjoying on tap!

It came out pretty good if I must say so myself and family members seem to like it as well.

It's a refreshing, lower ABV (session) Saison-like Farmhouse style that originated in the Hainaut region of Belgium (French Wallonia).

Grisette literally translates to 'Gray Woman', a reference to the women who worked in industry during the day, wearing gray smocks. After their shift, these same women would wait for the miners to finish their day and present them with this refreshing beverage to quench their thirst and ease their dry, parched, conblestone dust coated throats. Gray was also the color of the cobblestone being mined!

This 'introduction to sour styles' uses Acidulated Malt as the source of the sour character (Lactobacillus) and is a Partial Mash with Extract. Not any more difficult than a steep with extract, just a bit more in the way of temperature control and duration (1 hour instead of 30 minutes, holding the temp between 152 and 154°F. And because the lacto from the acidulated malt is subsequently boiled, there is no risk of cold side contamination!

If you brew this, please let me know how you enjoy it!


HAYRIDE GRISETTE

Hayride!
Specialty Beer
Partial Mash (5.00 gal) ABV: 4.01 %
Projected OG: 1.040 SG FG: 1.009 SG
(Actual OG: 1.040 SG FG: 1.008 SG)
(Actual ABV: 4.03 %)
IBUs: 17.9 IBUs Color: 4.5 SRM
By: BigPapaG

Ingredients:

5.00 gal WNY Water (2015)

6.0 oz - Acidulated Malt
Mash addition (6.3%) - 4.5 SRM

6.0 oz - Oats, Flaked
Mash addition (6.3%) - 1.0 SRM

3.0 oz - Carafoam
Mash addition (3.1%) - 2.0 SRM

8.0 oz - Munich Malt, Bonlander 2-Row
Mash addition (8.4%) - 8.5 SRM

0.50 oz - Sterling Hops
Boil 22 min (9.2 IBUs)

8.0 oz - Wheat Liquid Extract
Late extract addition: 20 min (8.4%) - 8.0 SRM

4 lb - Pilsner Liquid Extract
Late extract addition: 20 min (67.4%) - 3.5 SRM

0.25 oz - Strisslespalt Hops
Boil 13 min (0.4 IBUs)

0.25 oz - Sterling Hops
Boil 13 min (3.2 IBUs)

0.50 tsp - Yeast Nutrient
Boil 10 min

0.25 oz - Sterling Hops
Boil 5 min (1.4 IBUs)

0.75 oz - Strisslespalt Hops
Boil 5 min (0.6 IBUs)

1 pkg - Belle Saison
Danstar #Primary


Profiles for Recipe:

Pot ( 4 Gal/15.1 L) - Extract

PM Light-Medium Body (1-2 lbs. Grain)

Ale, Single Stage


Carbonation Profile:
2.5 Volumes CO2


Taste Notes:
Medium light body, digestibly dry and somewhat tart... Balanced hop profile, very refreshing!

Notes:
Grisette! Should be 2-Row, Pilsen, Wheat, Flaked Oats, Acidulated Malt, Sterling Hops and fermented with French Saison Yeast. Mash at 154*F, mash out (sparge) at 170*F by pouring water over bag. Drain bag but don't squeeze much. Ferment for 2-3 weeks and bottle or keg, carbonating at about 2.5 volumes of CO2. Serve colder than cellar temps in warm monthes, cellar temps in cooler months.

Enjoy!

I'm considering making something similar with my "wit juice". I've made a 1.047 and 1.052 saison with it, but an even lower OG one would be nice.

And your hop choice is instantly approved by me. But you know that. I actually think this recipe has a bit too much hops to be an authentic Grisette, because well, it was poor working people beer and hops were $pendy. But I personally like that much hops in these kinds of beers. Especially Streisselspalt.

BTW you *need* to try some French Aramis sometime. You can short boil with them (they are high AAus) but taste a lot like Streisselspalt, but with just a tiny hint of citrus. See the "Easy French Blonde" recipe I posted. That simple recipe rocks. The abbaye yeast and the Aramis as excellent together. I'm brewing it again as soon as the weather cools slightly.

BTW, even with the 154 mash, how did you get Bella to stop at 1.009 from 1.040? Did you ferment cold? I'd like to be able to pull that off with it sometimes, but have not found a way.

The only batch I got to finish above 1.004, I fermented at 62 degrees... and that was 1.005 LOL. Otherwise, no matter what I do it ends up < 1.004 or 1.003 or 0.997 or such... mash temps, extract, none of it seems to matter. Bella is like 3711 French Saison, it's actually some kind of lucky mutant strain of saccharomyces cerevisiae / saccharomyces var. diastaticus that happens to make good beer - IE a "wild" starch and complex sugar eating yeast of the type that if introduced as a slight infection gives people foamers and gushers and is normally considered a "beer spoiler" as such in that regards. Some dude on Beer Advocate made a test beer with 50% crystal and 3711 and it fermented it lower then your 1.009 result.

I should edit the OG and FG... The actuals were:

OG: 1.040
FG: 1.008
ABV: 4.3%

Fermentation was at 72°F ambient and I just tried to hold it there with (2) blue ice packs every 12 hours for the first three days.

It's possible my mash hit 156°F but I don't think so.

Not sure but I have had two batches now where Belle only attenuated to about 80%.

As I recall, both had 6-8 ounces of Flaked Oats or Flaked Wheat in them.

Would love to try Aramis Hops... Have to check the LHBS next time I'm there (this week)

Just a little note on historical accuracy with this beer...

'Back in the day', this would have been an all grain mash...

Probably a bunch simpler than what we see here...
(This recipe is a modern approximation...)

The malt would have been under-modified, so it would be a bit less fermentable. Because of that, there would not have been any flaked oats (although there might have been raw oats), but typically barley and wheat only as is common with most farmhouse ales. The flaked oats were chosen to add a little body.

The 'sour' would have been from natural sources, either spontaneous fermentation or 'contamination' from the local area... For this one, the acidulated malt serves the purpose.

The yeast may have been a strain typically used for Saison, or Wit or other Belgian styles... There might have been some Brett or Pediococcus as well. I like the French Saison Yeast and it seems appropriate.

Hops could have been any local variety or an 'import' from Germany, England or the Czech region.
The Sterling and Streiselspalt are similar to what one might have had available at the time. Other good choices could certainly have been Hallertau, Saaz, or Goldings... (And a number of newer varieties such as French Aramis among others).

As Mashani stated, hops were spendy and the total IBU might have been closer to 10 or 12 than the 16 or 17 I have in mine... However, in practice, mine seems very well balanced for what I perceive the style to be.

Anyway, as a homebrewer, we have a lot of latitude with many historical remnants such as this.

Enjoy!

As always, PapaG, you have intrigued me. I just had my first sour beer, and this is sort of like a sour saison. I got to get me some acidulated malt for my next PM.

EDIT - Yeah like Mashani said, Belle should have taken that down to 1.000. Maybe the lactic acid slowed it down? Making high gravity beer with Belle is so easy as to be a pain.

Thanks
Monty

@Monty - the amount of sour here will be slight. Which is intended. These kinds of beer would have been made weekly or even more often then that - in "mass quantities" as such, to feed to household, workers, etc. They would have been consumed almost immediately after primary fermentation had completed, and not bottled/aged for any real amount of time. So although they most often likely got some souring bug in them back in the day but were consumed before the souring bug had time to sour it a lot like a true sour.

Same principle would apply to the low OG abbey beers that were churned out in the time of the holy roman empire to feed the priests and the masses. They were just continuously brewed and handed out to poor folk. Only the abbot and whoever he liked got anything with any significant alcohol content. Our modern day idea of what an abbey beer is whacked compared to the reality back then. 5-6% was strong for the abbot or special occasions. 3-4.5% or so was for the priests. 2-3% was for the masses, and made from the second running's from those other beers and small amounts of other grain perhaps.

A small amount of smoked malt would be appropriate in these beers too, especially older middle ages styles, because they kilned their grains over an open fire.

A little bit of a darker malt like munich, dark crystal, roasted malts - just a small amount - is also always appropriate, because their kilning/temperature control was not precise, and their grain storage was sketchy - so all of those things could end up being produced by "accident".

@ Monty

Hey Monty, glad you're intrigued! As Dave said, the sour is more of a tartness but very refreshing, albeit one dimensional... I may up it to 8oz. in the next batch and may secondary it on fresh raspberries from my garden! As it is now, I think as Dave suggests, it is similar to fresh made beer to be consumed quickly... Which, is exactly how it was designed!

@ Dave

Absolutely! All valid points... I have a some Oak Smoked Wheat which I could have used (and also have a pound of Mesquite Smoked 2-Row which I almost used today... Could have added an ounce of that to be more authentic).

But, as I mentioned before, Brewer's Preference Prevails LOL!

Besides, I've got something else in mind for the Mesquite malt anyway

As you have said previously, many of these table beers would have used what was available at the time each was brewed... And the kilning process varied so some smoke and darkness can be expected, yet I like to keep them a bit lighter (SRM) and cleaner...

The amount of knowledge you have on historical beers styles and general information never ceases to amaze me. Seriously.

You should try this one Ron, I think you'ld like it as a change of pace!

It would be a gread Lawnmower Beer in the Cali heat...

I'm going to brew some holy roman empire style medieval abbey beers soonish I think. My "wit juice" is actually appropriate to use in them, it's a good simulation of "whatever grains you got". Just a pinch of acidulated malt, smoked malt and roasted malt, and some pils extract and I'm good to go. If the "wit juice" I have in the fridge sours, I will skip the acidulated malt and go with it. What herbs to use, that's the question. (yes herbs, hops were a new fangled thing). It will be just some streisselspalt - maybe 7-8 AAUs worth for bittering in a 1.03something beer, and finished with herbs. Maybe a little bit of salt too. That wasn't uncommon. I've got a lot of options to play with. Too many options... I'll use the Abbaye yeast because I like it. And I have to decide how hard I want to try to keep the Brett out. Because I probably shouldn't if I want to really go for it...

mashani wrote:I'm going to brew some holy roman empire style medieval abbey beers soonish I think. My "wit juice" is actually appropriate to use in them, it's a good simulation of "whatever grains you got". Just a pinch of acidulated malt, smoked malt and roasted malt, and some pils extract and I'm good to go. If the "wit juice" I have in the fridge sours, I will skip the acidulated malt and go with it. What herbs to use, that's the question. (yes herbs, hops were a new fangled thing). It will be just some streisselspalt - maybe 7-8 AAUs worth for bittering in a 1.03something beer, and finished with herbs. Maybe a little bit of salt too. That wasn't uncommon. I've got a lot of options to play with. Too many options... I'll use the Abbaye yeast because I like it. And I have to decide how hard I want to try to keep the Brett out. Because I probably shouldn't if I want to really go for it...

You might want to take them into true Gruit territory...

Here's one of a number of links I find interesting... (But then, you are probably already familiar with them)...

http://www.gruitale.com/botanicals_en.htm

I've thought about it and if I stumble upon some wormwood or yarrow, I might use that instead of the hops for bittering. Juniper is for sure going in because I have it and I like it. The rest, is indeterminate right now. There are a handful of herbs they used in those beers which are documented. (Juniper is one). I just need to pick a few that I think will taste good together with the yeast profile. Although I want to go medieval, I still want to drink it