Here's a beer that I finally got round to brewing after having the idea knocking around in my head for a fair few months. The basic premise is very simple and not hugely original, to augment the spicy flavours produced by a saison yeast (Wyeast 3711 in this case) with the earthy, fruity funk from some brettanomyces. The Brettanomyces clausenii I used should produce a slightly less aggressive funkiness than lambicus or bruxellensis and so hopefully will not overwhelm the spicy aromatics of the saison yeast. The superattenuative properties of the brett should also help dry out the beer nicely.

For hops I used Magnum for some clean bittering early in the boil, followed by a few late additions of Saaz for aroma. I don't really want this to be a very hoppy beer, rather the hops should provide a backdrop against which the aromatics from the yeasts are able to shine. The mild, herbal and spicy flavour of Saaz should work well for this.

The grist is a fairly straightforward thing, a pilsner base with some Munich, some caramel malt and finally a bit of flaked oats to improve the mouthfeel since the attenuation will be quite high.

I did a straightforward stepped mash, starting at 63°C for 1 hour followed by 30 minutes each at 65°C and 68°C before mashoing out and sparging. The long mash should have the effect of creating an extremely fermentable wort and as a result the beer should ferment our very dry. My plan is to start fermentation out at around 20-22°C for the first one to two weeks before moving it to the basement and (hopefully) cooler temperatures. This should allow the yeast to develop some of the great peppery flavours that I particularly like in saisons. This being a mixed fermentation with Brett, I will probably give it longer than usual in the primary, perhaps a couple of months, to ensure that the Brett has fermented out too before bottling.

Vital Details

Batch size: 22l
Expected OG: 1.058
Expected FG: 1.012
Expected ABV: 6.1%
Colour (SRM): 6.4
IBU: 34

Grist:
72.7% (4.00 kg) Pilsner Malt
9.1% (0.50 kg) Munich Malt
9.1% (0.50 kg) Flaked Oats
4.6% (0.25 kg) CaraBelge
4.6% (0.25 kg) CaraAmber

Hops:
Magnum (20g / 29 IBU) @ 60 min
Saaz (20g / 3 IBU) @ 10 min
Saaz (30g / 2 IBU) @ 5 min
Saaz (50g / 0 IBU) @ flame out

Yeast:
Wyeast 3711 French Saison
Wyeast 5151-PC Brettanomyces clausenii

Voodoo Child is the love child of an American IPA and a Saison. I bottled it after three weeks in the primary, having dry-hopped it for 5 days with 120g of hops, equal parts Mosaic, Newport and Amarillo. I primed the bottles with 120g of table sugar for an estimated 2.4 volumes of CO₂. With an FG of 1.011 giving it 5.4% ABV, this should make for a great session beer.

Appearance

The beer pours with a thin white head that dissipates pretty quickly. I had hoped for a longer-lasting head. But perhaps it needs a bit more time in the bottle for that, the carbonation is slightly lower than I would have liked. The colour is pale golden orange, with only a touch of haze.

Smell

Juicy and sweet with a wonderful combination of tropical fruit and citrus. There's a suggestion of spice in there too.

Taste

The juicy fruit flavours follow you from the nose, giving way to a gentle, spicy, bitterness that lingers on the palate. The Saison yeast has really done its work nicely here, producing a great, earthy spiciness in the finish.

Final Words

I'm really pretty happy with how this turned out. Apart from the slight under-carbonation, all the elements come together to make a very drinkable beer indeed.

Saisons and IPAs are some of my favourite beers to brew. With Voodoo Child I thought I would combine the two in one unholy beer. My suspicion is that the spicy, peppery notes from the saison yeast should combine quite beautifully with the fruity juiciness of the hops to produce something wonderful. India Pale Saison anyone? I've never been completely happy with my IPAs, for such a seemingly simple beer style it seems quite difficult to really pin down. I always find that when I get one factor right, some other facet of the beer is a bit lacking. Perhaps one of these days I should take a few brews to really dial in the IPA, but for now here is Voodoo Child.

For the yeast I went with Wyeast's 3711 French Saison. I've used it before and have been very happy with the results and I've never had any of the stuck fermentation issues that people seem to struggle with when using the Dupont strain, for example. It produces a lovely, spicy flavour that I think of as the defining characteristic of saisons.

The hops for this brew came from what I had at hand in my freezer, Newport from the hopsinjoor, Mosaic and Amarillo. I'm hoping for the flavour from the hops to be tropical and juicy with a bit of resiny spice to compliment the yeast. Newport is primarily a bittering hop, it has a rather mild, slightly resiny flavour. I used it here for both bittering and aroma. Mosaic and Amarillo both have tropical and citrus flavours, with Mosaic adding berries and resiny aromas to the mix too. In this brew I used Amarillo only for dry hopping.

The bulk of the grist consisted of Marris Otter, with some Vienna for just a hint of malt and a smattering of caramel malts for a bit of body and colour. I also threw in a tiny bit of black malt to push up the colour just a touch.

The brew was a fairly straight forward single infusion mash. I mashed low and long, at 64°C for 110 minutes, because I wanted the end result to be a dry beer and thus needed to maximise the fermentability of the wort. After the mash I had 26l of wort at 1.044. I boiled for 90 minutes to get 20.5l at 1.053, two points below my planned OG, but close enough.

Tasting Notes

Vital Details

Batch size: 20l
Expected OG: 1.055
Expected FG: 1.011
Expected ABV: 5.7%
Colour (SRM): 6.3
IBU: 45

Grist:
83.9% (4.0 kg) Marris Otter
10.5% (0.5 kg) Vienna
4.2% (0.2 kg) CaraBelge
1.3% (60 g) CaraPils
0.2% (8 g) Black Malt

Hops:
Newport (10g / 13 IBU) @ 45 min
Mosaic (10g / 11 IBU) @ 30 min
Newport (20g / 10 IBU) @ 10 min
Mosaic (20g / 10 IBU) @ 10 min
Newport (30g / 0 IBU) @ hopstand 30 min
Mosaic (30g / 0 IBU) @ hopstand 30 min
Newport (40g / 0 IBU) @ Dry Hop 7 days
Mosaic (40g / 0 IBU) @ Dry Hop 7 days
Amarillo (40g / 0 IBU) @ Dry Hop 7 days

Yeast:
Wyeast 3711 French Saison