Med Bag of Chips

Ham, cheddar cheese, fresh tomatoes, and arugula.

Ham and Cheese Sandwich

Sliced turkey, lettuce, tomato, and mustard in a whole wheat wrap.

Fit Turkey Wrap

Freshly harvested spruce tips from upstate NY give this beer a beautiful delicate piney flavor and Chinnok hops back up the evergreen flavor profile.

Heat 5.5 gallons of strike water to around 167°F (75°C) so that when grain is added the mash rests at 148°F (64°C). Dough in the milled grains and stir thoroughly to eliminate dry pockets. Maintain mash at 148°F (64°C) for 60 minutes for a balanced fermentable profile (a saison benefits from a moderately fermentable wort).

Mash In

After 60 minutes, perform an iodine test to confirm conversion. Raise temperature to 168–170°F (76–77°C) for 10 minutes for mashout to improve lautering.

Mash Rest and Mashout

Recirculate wort until it runs clear, then vorlauf to your kettle. Sparge with ~3.5 gallons of water at 168°F (76°C) until you collect roughly 6.5–7.0 gallons of wort in the boil kettle (target pre-boil gravity ~1.046–1.050).

Bring wort to a rolling boil and start 60-minute timer.

60-minute boil

At 60 minutes remaining (start of boil), add 1.0 oz Chinook hops (bittering). If using Irish moss or Whirlfloc, add it with 15 minutes left in the boil.

Bittering Addition

At 10 minutes left in the boil, add 1.0 oz Chinook hops (flavor/aroma). Also add 1 tsp yeast nutrient now if using.

Flavor / Aroma Addition

With 5 minutes left in the boil, briefly rinse spruce tips with cold water to remove debris. Lightly bruise the tips (toss or gently chop) to release oils, then add 6.0 oz fresh spruce tips to the kettle with 5 minutes left. Do NOT boil the spruce tips for the full 60 minutes — the short addition preserves delicate, bright evergreen aromatics and prevents harsh resinous character.

Spruce Tip Preparation

At flameout, turn off the heat. Optionally whirlpool for 10 minutes to help trub settle. Consider adding a small late-hop burst (no more than 0.25 oz Chinook) at flameout only if you want a touch more hop aroma, but keep it minimal to let spruce character shine.

End of Boil

Cool wort quickly to 68°F (20°C) using an immersion or plate chiller. If using a brew-in-a-bag or other system, try to minimize oxygen pickup after the initial vigorous aeration step.

Chill Wort

Transfer chilled wort to a sanitized fermenter. Aerate vigorously (shaken/oxygenated) to provide sufficient oxygen for healthy yeast propagation. If using pure oxygen, target ~8–10 ppm dissolved oxygen for a 5–6 gallon batch.

Transfer & Aeration

Pitch the saison yeast (rehydrated or a properly prepared starter as appropriate). Target fermentation temperature in the 68–75°F (20–24°C) range initially. Saison yeast often benefits from a warmer finish; you can allow the fermenter to rise into the mid-70s (up to 78–80°F / 25–27°C) for attenuation and spicy/phenolic character later in fermentation.

Pitch Yeast

After primary fermentation is mostly complete (about 5–7 days depending on yeast/temperature), add 0.5 oz Chinook hops and the reserved small handful (if you kept any) of spruce tips for a bright evergreen dry-hop aroma. If you prefer stronger spruce character, add an additional 1–2 oz of fresh tips at this stage but be conservative — fresh spruce can quickly dominate with resin and bitterness.

Dry Hop Timing

Allow dry hopping to proceed for 3–5 days at fermentation temperature, then cold crash for 48 hours if possible to help settle solids.

Condition

Rack or siphon beer to bottling bucket, avoiding excessive oxygen pickup and leaving most trub behind. If bottling, dissolve 4 oz priming sugar in 12 oz boiling water, cool, add to bottling bucket, then fill bottles and cap. If kegging, carbonate to ~2.5–2.8 volumes CO2 (force carbonate) — saisons often present well at lively carbonation.

Condition bottles at room temperature for 2 weeks, then chill and sample. If kegging, allow 3–7 days to carbonate and condition before tasting. Serve cold but not fridge-cold (45–55°F / 7–13°C) to let aromatics express.

Use only young, bright green spruce tips (not older woody parts). Lightly bruising or chopping increases aroma extraction. Sanitization: do not sterilize spruce by boiling for long; the short 5-minute addition preserves brightness while reducing microbes. For extra sanitation, you can steep spruce tips in a small amount of near-boiling water for 2–3 minutes off-boil, then add the infusion to the kettle at flameout.

Adjust grain bill or mash temperature if you want a drier or fuller saison. A lower mash temp (144–146°F / 62–63°C) increases fermentability for a dryer beer.

Pilsner malt

Vienna malt

Wheat malt

Light Munich (optional for body)

Carapils / dextrin malt

Chinook hops (bittering)

Chinook hops (flavor/aroma)

Fresh spruce tips (harvested, green tips only)

Dry hop Chinook

Saison yeast (e.g., Wyeast 3711 or Dupont)

Yeast nutrient (optional)

Irish moss or Whirlfloc (for clarity; optional)

Priming sugar (for bottling)

Brew water (filtered/water adjusted to mash profile)

Sparge water (separate)

Campden tablet (optional, for chlorine/chloramine)

SX SPRUCE TIP SAISON

Make SX SPRUCE TIP SAISON Recipe in just 16h . Freshly harvested spruce tips from upstate NY give this beer a beautiful delicate piney flavor and Chinnok hops back up the evergreen flavor profile.

SX SPRUCE TIP SAISON

Descriptors

Tasting Notes

Food Pairings

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