Monday, June 22, 2015

Quick Summer Saison

As with many of the current generation ---perhaps every generation--of beer enthusiasts/afficionados/nerds, a single beer brand or style rarely holds my attention for long (though a case could certainly be made for IPAs, judging from my Instagram feed). Whether it's the wide range of commercial offerings available or just my own short attention span, I like a lot of variety in my drafts and bottles. I knew one type of homebrew wouldn't tide me over for the summer, so before I'd even brewed my recent pale ale, I was already planning the followup. When my brother-in-brew Ted sent me a photo of a beautiful glass of saison he and our other brew friend Joe had recently made together, my plans solidified on that style once again.

This beer distinctly departs from my recently successful rye saison. With under two weeks to go from kettle to bottle, I aimed to produce a table-strength beer that started in the neighborhood of 1.040. Looking for a little more malt complexity, I split the base malt between Vienna and dark Munich, including moderate amounts of malted rye and oats. Not needing the gravity boost and mashing low to reach proper dryness, I skipped the sugar on this one. While I dig the ease of use and results from a good pitch of WY3711, Ted's saison reminded me that I've wanted to get back to WLP566, which worked so well in my spiced petite saison noire a few years ago (and which I'll finally rebrew this fall, hopefully).

Fermentation happened even faster than I'd planned, so much so that I didn't really get to ramp up the primary temperature very much before the krauesen dropped. Final gravity was a touch higher than I'd like but not out of bounds, and consistent with my other results with this yeast; since I moved it to bottles so quickly, I just hope it was really finished! I'm keeping an eye on the batch, and the bottles have behaved themselves so far. Happy to have a little variety in my summer supplies, especially as I travel.

Peu Été

Batch size: 4.5 gallons
Projected OG: 1.040
Projected SRM: 5.9
Projected IBU: 22.9
Boil time: 60 minutes
Brewhouse efficiency: 78%

Grains
43.5% - 3 lb Best Malz Vienna
29.0% - 2 lb Weyermann Dark Munich
14.5% - 1 lb Weyermann Rye
13.0% - .9 lb Organic flaked oats

Hops
.2 oz Millennium (15.9%) (60 min)
2 oz St. Celeia (Styrian) Goldings (4.5%) (5 min)

Yeast
WLP566 Saison II - no starter

Extras
1 tsp Yeast nutrient (5 min)
1 tsp Irish moss (5 min)

Water
Profile: Reno
1 g Gypsum
2 g (3 g) Epsom salts
5 g CaCl
2 mL Lactic Acid (88%)

Brewday: 11 June 2015
Mash: 120 minutes - dropped to 129F
Pre-boil volume: 6.5 gallons
Pre-boil SG: 8.1P (1.032)

Water report and chemical calculations from brewersfriend.com, using "light colored & malty" setting.

Began fermentation in water bath at 69-71F (beer temp) for first 2 days. Krauesen dropped on day 2; beer temp 72F. Removed from water bath to reach ambient temp (75-80F) until bottling, yeast roused regularly for the first few days.

Bottled: 19 June 2015
FG: 1.009
ABV: 4.1%
Bottled with 4.9 oz table sugar.

Early tasting: 3 July 2015
It's only had two weeks in the bottle, but so far this reads much more like a Belgian pale ale: the fruity & peppery notes are much more muted than I'd expect from a saison, accompanied by a huge, warm bready character that develops as it warms. No overcarbonation/bottle bombs so far.

3 comments:

  1. Sounds great, Brother! I've always preferred WLP 566 to the standard 565; I can always get it to finish drier for me. 565 always stalls out and is too sweet. When Joe and I brewed our saison, 566 chewed through everything in about 3 days: I started at 73F and ramped up to 82F. From carboy to keg was something like 9 days.

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    1. Good to know; I'd figured you were a straight up WLP565 guy. What was your FG? With my mash temp, WY3711 usually takes it down to 1.006 or below. The hydro sample had a really great malt profile--warm, bready--so I'm looking forward to continued use of 566.

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    2. I'm always right around 1.007 or 1.008 with it. This last one was 1.008. With the 565 it was always finishing (for me, at least) 1.014-15. Yuck. Loved the esters on 565, disliked the sweetness.

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