Funky Dark Saison w/ Figs

Aiming for a tart, funky, dark Saison - a mix of a dark Saison and an Oud Bruin. Mash high for more long-chain sugars for the bugs to chew on over time. Any type hops for bitterness only, about 10ish IBU (don’t want hops to inhibit pH drop too much, or bitterness to clash with tartness).

Cut dried figs in half, boil in wort (enough to cover - about 2 cups) for 15 min, deglaze if needed, and then blend with stick blender. Add in last 5-10 minutes of the boil.

Due to equipment limitations, I’m doing a partial boil and then adding RO water to get up to full volume into fermentor; do full volume boil if possible. I start with 5.56 gallons, using BIAB no sparge. Lose 0.66 gal to grain absorption, so 4.9 gal preboil. Lose 1 gal during 60 min boil, so 3.9 gal postboil. Lose 0.6 gal to kettle dead space, so 3.3 gal into fermentor. Top up with 2 gal RO water, so 5.3 gal total in fermentor. Lose about 0.3 gal to trub, so want as close to 5.0 gallons to rack into secondary fermentor (5 gal BB carboy for me), to reduce headspace and therefore O2 exposure over the long secondary.

Initially ferment with the sacc (a mix of Belgian and French saison yeasts) in primary, then rack to secondary and add house sour culture and/or bottle dregs (with lacto, Brett, and pedio - I listed WLP655 as an example, if you don’t have your own sour culture. Also add some Goodbelly - L. Plantaram - to sour), along with oak cubes (boil first to sanitize and reduce strongest flavors - only want as background note - then soak in red wine, port, dark rum, etc). Let sit for 3-12 months before tasting, and package when you like the flavor. I plan to bottle half as is, and rack the other half into a 3 gallon fermentor on top of raspberries and/or blackberries, and cacao nibs.