Saison

Belgian beers don't always speak to my tastes, but saisons are usually a treat. That being said, my favourite isn't the standard bearer, Dupont; I'm a much bigger fan of St. Feuillien's version, as well as those by Rockmill in Ohio. For as much as I like a straight-up saison, though, more often I've brewed ones that were adulterated: soured, with citrus, or spiced. This beer was a move back to basics: simple grist, straightforward hopping, Wyeast's French Saison yeast.

Still learning to play nicely with my water, I believe I overacidified my sparge a bit. Thankfully the finished beer doesn't seem to have suffered terribly from it. Brewing and bottling went smoothly. I've gone back and forth on this beer: it was spicy and bready at bottling, but later seemed to overcarbonate and pick up a bit of an off-flavour, which I thought might indicate infection. Most recently, though, I've decided what I mostly taste is the yeast and a perhaps a bit of oxidation, which isn't the end of the world. I've already planned the next batch, which will bring in some rye and more assertive hopping, but otherwise will stick to the plan presented here.

Saison ‘14

Batch size: 5 gallons
Projected OG: 1.052 (12.9P)
Projected SRM: 4.9
Projected IBU: 26.7
Boil time: 60 minutes
Brewhouse efficiency: 79%

Grains
77.8% - 7 lb Weyermann Organic Vienna
22.2% - 2 lb Weyermann Wheat

Hops
.4 oz Magnum (14.2%) (60 min)
1 oz Amarillo (8.8%) (5 min)

Yeast
WY3711 French Saison (no starter)

Water Additions
8 qts RO water (w/ 3 qts filtered SLC water) (mash)
1 g Gypsum (mash)
1 g CaCl (mash)
2.4 ml Lactic acid (1st sparge)
2.6 ml Lactic acid (2nd sparge)

Brewday: 4 June 2014
Mash: 150F for 90 minutes
Pre-boil volume: 6.5 gallons
                                   
Fermented at 68F for two days, then 73F for two days. Krausen dropped at that point; raised to 75F for the remainder of fermentation.

12 June 2014: Removed from swamp cooler; sitting at ambient temp (80F). Active fermentation complete.

Bottled: 28 June 2014
FG: 1.004
ABV: 6.3%
Bottled with 4.8 oz table sugar (~2.8 volumes C02).