Homebrewtalk Help on the Saison

I posted for some advice/help on our Saison at Homebrewtalk...follow that conversation here:

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/saison-tastes-foul-149638/#post1710245

As The Gall Bladder Turns

With a vital member of the Beer Brothers recovering from a trip to the opium den, we opted against brewing the Rye, and instead transferred the Saison to it's secondary.

A taste left us scratching out heads. It was certainly flavorful, and interesting, and maybe good...but it had a smokiness that was a little weird on the palate. Some more aging + carbonation will hopefully tone that down some. Not sure where a smoky flavor profile would come from. Peppery, maybe, but smoky?

As The Trub Turns

Came home to the Saison fermenting like crazy mad (technical term). What was most surprising was that the trub, which had been at least 5 inches thick, is now basically all swirling through the beer. It's a violent fermentation. There is also about 3/4th of an inch on the top. All signs point towards a strong fermentation for this beer. So much for a delayed start!

Current Status - Recipes #2-5

It's a damn beautiful sight, seeing four carboys going at the same time.

Recipe #2 - Belgian Winter - This guy will be ready to bottle come the weekend. It's in the plastic secondary.

Recipe #3 - Hibernation Clone - I noticed some slight roiling in the carboy, so there could still be some fermentation going. The krausen is all but gone, and the airlock activity seems to have slowed to a stop. I believe we are leaning towards bottle conditioning, instead of racking into a secondary. We need that small carboy for the Rye Ale!

Recipe #4 - Saison - No activity noticeable in the carboy yet. LOTS of trub, though. Aerated a second time yesterday, so hopefully it'll jumpstart. This is our second batch that is out of the gates slow, and both times it was a Belgian yeast strain. Might want to double that up, or use a starter process.

Recipe #5 - Pumpin Porter - Heavy activity in the airlock. Big foam head, that seems to have peaked already, and is starting to retract. Looks like a black hole, it's so dark. Heavy, almost fruity, aromas out of the airlock.

Recipe #4 - Saison

7 4 American Two-row Pale
2 0 Vienna Malt
0 8 Flaked Oats
0 8 Flaked Wheat
0 8 Honey
Boil 60 mins
1.5 Goldings, East Kent info pellet 4.2 Boil 15 mins
0.75 Hallertau pellet Boil 1 min
0.75 Hallertau pellet
boil 0 min 0.5 ounces Coriander
boil 0 min 0.07 ounces Grains of Paradise
boil 5 min 1 ounces Irish Moss
boil 0 min 0.25 ounces Orange Peel, Bitter
boil 0 min 0.25 ounces Orange Peel, Sweet
1 package of Belgian Ale Yeast

This was our first attempt at a full batch All Grain recipe.

Brought 4 gallons of water to 165 degrees outside on a propane burner. Grains mashed at approx 155 for 60 minutes.

Honey added at 10 minutes.

Brought 2.5 gallons of water to 175 degrees. Grains sparged for 15 minutes.

Wort brought to a boil. Hop schedule: Goldings at 15 minutes, Hallertau at 1 minute.

Spices added at 0 minutes.

Ice bath prepared. Wort chilled down to < 80 degrees, and poured into sterilized carboy. Filter issues resulted in significant trub in the carboy. Pitched yeast at approx 75 degrees. Original Specific Gravity was 1.063.

Thoughts
Overall, I feel like this batch went smoothly. The outdoor burner worked much better at bringing boil times down, and made a full batch possible, even if the entire recipe took 5 hours to get into the carboy. Wort chiller and a lauter tun are still very high on the list of needs, if we want to go All Grain in a serious way. This beer will need to be racked off of the trub.