I was itching to brew this weekend, but was ambivalent to the style, so I asked Mrs. HolzBrew what style she is craving. Back story, she is 8 months pregnant and this beer will be ready to drink right around the time she can drink beer again! We currently have a dubbel, hoppy red and porter on draft, so she wanted something light, malty, and fruity. We decided upon a saison.
Saison is such a fun style to brew due to the incredible amount of latitude with-in the style, and I have brewed several. Almost any sort of spice or fruit is fair game in a saison, or instead, you can keep it clean and go without excessive additives. Saisons can be funky, sour, hoppy, or floral. Also, I note people have been brewing black saisons lately, which is a cool innovation. Basically, saison is defined as almost any wort fermented with a saison yeast strain. Within the yeast selection there are several belgian and french strains. I really like the Wyeast french saison varietal, unfortunately, it was not available at the local HBS yesterday when I stopped by. Consequently, I ended up with
White Labs 585. I've never used this strain before, but it looked just right. Both tart and fruity.
It was a rainy day, but things went pretty well. No major set backs. I used a mix of 2 row, unmalted red winter wheat, and oatmeal for the fermentables. I would have loved to have added some belgian pilsner, but I've got a ton of 2 row around the house and I couldn't justify buying pilsner malt on my grad student budget. I also probably would have liked to have used malted wheat, but I had the the red wheat around the house. The hop profile is 100% Saaz, simple and beautiful. The color turned out really light and clear as can be seen below:
If I can swing it, I may try to brew up a Brett Trois IPA next week. I'd read a lot of great things about these all brett beers lately and I figure I might try my hand at it. Below is the recipe from today's foray into familiar Belgian territory.
| Style: Saison | | |
| Type: | Calories: 206 | |
| Rating: 0.0 | Boil Size: 5.83 Gal | |
| IBU's: 32.71 | Batch Size: 5.00 Gal | |
| Color: 5.2 SRM | Boil Time: 60 minutes | |
| Preboil OG: 1.061 | | |
|
| | Estimated | Actual | |
| Brew Date: | - | 10/06/2013 | |
| OG: | 1.064 | 1.055 | |
| FG: | 1.010 | 1.010 | |
| ABV: | 7.07 % | 5.89 % | |
| Efficiency: | 70 % | 59 % | |
| Serve Date: | 10/06/2013 | / / | |
|
| Grains & Adjuncts |
| Amount | Percentage | | Name | Time | Gravity |
| 9.75 lbs | 69.64 % | | Pale Malt (2 Row) US | 60 mins | 1.036 |
| 3.00 lbs | 21.43 % | | Rahr Red Wheat | 60 mins | 1.037 |
| 1.00 lbs | 7.14 % | | Oats, Flaked | 60 mins | 1.037 |
| 4.00 ozs | 1.79 % | | Acid Malt | 60 mins | 1.027 |
|
| Hops |
| Amount | IBU's | | Name | Time | AA % |
| 2.00 ozs | 25.10 | | Saaz | 60 mins | 4.00 |
| 1.00 ozs | 7.60 | | Saaz | 20 mins | 4.00 |
| 2.00 ozs | 0.00 | | Saaz | 0 mins | 4.00 |
|
| Yeasts |
| Amount | Name | Laboratory / ID |
| 1.0 pkg | Belgian Saison | White Labs 585 |
|
| Additions |
| Amount | Name | Time | Stage |
| 1.00 tsp | Black Pepper | 15 mins | Boil |
| 0.40 oz | Coriander Seed | 15 mins | Boil |
| 1.00 oz | Whirlfloc Tablet | 15 mins | Boil |
|
| Mash Profile |
|
| Light Body Infusion | 75 min @ 150.0°F |
|
| Add 17.50 qt ( 1.25 qt/lb ) water @ 166.3°F |
|
|
|
| Sparge 15.10 qt of 170.0°F water over 60 mins |
Keep the tanks bubbling!
HolzBrew
No comments:
Post a Comment