Saison Lambicus: Recipe

RETRO: Post written on November 13, 2014, but set to publish on the date of the original brew session to maintain order within the blog.

This was the third saison that I did, basing the recipe off a clone for McKenize Saison Vautour in BYO Magazine.  It was also the first beer that I bottled conditioned.  Fast forward to 2013-14, and I'm brewing saisons almost exclusively.

The recipe for the full batch is as follows:

Batch Number: 22
Brew Date: October 30, 2011
Keg Date: April 1, 2012
Batch Size: 5 Gallon
OG: 1.056 (estimate)
FG: 1.002 (measured)
Fermentation Temperature: 65-70*F (room temperature throughout)
IBU: 28.5
ABV: 7.1%
SRM: 3.9

Mash: Single infusion at 147*F for 60 minutes

Boil: 90 minute

Fermentables

9lb 0oz Pilsner Malt
3lb 0oz Rye, Flaked
0lb 4oz Rice Hulls
0lb 8oz Sugar

Salts & Water

At this point I wasn't doing anything besides filtering the water and adding 5.2 buffer, so that's probably it.

Hops

1.5oz Styrian Goldings (pellet, 5.0 AAU) at 60 minutes

1.0oz Styrian Goldings (pellet, 5.0 AAU) at flameout

Other

Whirlfloc

Yeast Nutrient

Yeast

White Labs Belgian Saison II (WLP566)

Wyeast Lambic Blend (WY3278)

Notes

Based on the BYO clone for McKenzie Saison Vautour.

Lambic blend was put in during the secondary.

02.03.2012: Gravity is down to 1.002 and the sulfur notes have mostly dissipated after being a bit prominent early on.

04.01.2012: Bottled approximately 4 gallons with the Beer Gun after adding 120g of pure cane sugar to the keg and shaking. Ended up with four 330mL bottles and seventeen 750mL bottles. Shooting for 3 volumes of CO2.

Petit Saison: Recipe

RETRO: Post written on November 13, 2014, but set to publish on the date of the original brew session to maintain order within the blog.

This was one of the first saisons that I did, and was the first petit saison.  Fast forward to 2013-14, and I'm brewing saisons almost exclusively.

The recipe for the full batch is as follows:

Batch Number: 20
Brew Date: October 2, 2011
Keg Date: October 31, 2011
Batch Size: 5 Gallon
OG: 1.038 (estimate)
FG: 1.008 (measured)
Fermentation Temperature: 65-70*F (room temperature throughout)
IBU: 27.6
ABV: 3.9%
SRM: 3.0

Mash: Single infusion at 149*F for 60 minutes

Boil: 90 minute

Fermentables

7lb 0oz Pilsner Malt
0lb 8oz Rye, Flaked

Salts & Water

At this point I wasn't doing anything besides filtering the water and adding 5.2 buffer, so that's probably it.

Hops

1oz Sorachi Ace (pellet, 10.7 AAU) at 60 minutes

1oz Sorachi Ace (pellet, 10.7 AAU) at flameout

Other

Whirlfloc

Yeast

White Labs Belgian Saison II (WLP566)

Notes

10.02.2011: Total volume pre-boil was 7.75 gallons at a gravity of 1.032. The loss of a quart or so from the estimate was likely due to spillage when transferring the sparge water.

Collected about 5 gallons of 1.040 wort, dumping out just a bit so as to avoid too aggressive of a fermentation.

After 24 hours, healthy fermentation with good krausen. Temperature inside the carboy was 70 degrees.

10.12.2011: Gravity measurement is at 1.008.

10.23.2011: Gravity measurement is still at 1.008.

10.25.2011: Pulled the carboy from the cellar and placed in the kegerator to cold crash.

Citrine (Batches 02 & 03): Recipe

RETRO: Post written on November 13, 2014, but set to publish on the date of the original brew session to maintain order within the blog.

This was the second sour that I brewed, and it came fairly early in my brewing career. It continued from the first batch of Citrine that I brewed, using portions of the cake from that batch.

The recipe for each batch is as follows:

Batch Numbers: 18 & 19 (same day, same recipe)
Brew Date: September 21, 2011
Bottle Date: June 22-25, 2012
Batch Size: 5 Gallon
OG: 1.043 (estimate)
FG: 1.000 (estimate)
Fermentation Temperature: 65-70*F (Room temperature throughout)
IBU: 0.0
ABV: 5.6% (est.)
SRM: 3.4

Mash: Single infusion at 150*F for 60 minutes

Boil: 60 minute

Fermentables

6lb 0oz Pilsner Malt
6lb 0oz White Wheat Malt

Salts & Water

At this point I wasn't doing anything besides filtering the water and adding 5.2 buffer, so that's probably it.

Hops

4oz Liberty (Aged; 0.0 AAU) at 60 minutes

Yeast

Dregs and commercial. See below.

Notes

09.21.2011. Brewday. Plan is to get 7 gallons and split into two separate carboys. The first carboy (6-gallon Better Bottle) is to receive 5 gallons of wort, into which I'll pitch a packet of Wyeast Roselare blend. This is Sour Program #2. The second carboy (3-gallon Better Bottle) will get 2 gallons of wort. Into that will go the dregs from two bottles of Orval plus a thief full of Sour Program #1, which still has plenty of bugs floating in it. This is Sour Program #3.

For whatever reason, the gravity came up way short. I didn't take a measurement post run-off. These will be low gravity editions to the sour program.

Chilled to approximately 80 F and then put into the carboys. Amount was perfect, though the gravity was quite a bit off. Will wait a few hours before pitching.

09.22.2011. The 6-gallon Better Bottle took off immediately and is at active fermentation with a good krausen as early as 8:00 AM.

Later in the process, Sour Program #2 has received the dregs from several bottles of Drie Fonteinen Oude Geuze in order to increase the funk.

11.18.2011. Sour Program #1 is fairly citrusy and seems to be more Cantillon-esque. Hopefully the combination of Sour Program #1 wort and Drie Fonteinen dregs will grow up a culture that is a bit funkier.

ADDITIONAL NOTES: See post on Batch 01 of Citrine.

Citrine (Batch 01): Recipe

RETRO: Post written on July 24, 2014, but set to publish on the date of the original brew session to maintain order within the blog.

This was the first sour that I brewed, and it came fairly early in my brewing career.  I chose the name "Citrine" to have a theme for what I was then labeling my "sour program."  I thought that gemstones would be a cool idea, as there isa variety of color for naming fruited versions, and the whole "from the earth" thing fits in with the mysterious nature of spontaneous fermentation taking whatever yeast and bacteria are naturally around and using those to ferment a beer.

The recipe for the full batch is as follows:

Batch Number: 15
Brew Date: January 23, 2011
Bottle/Keg Date: June 22-25, 2012
Batch Size: 5 Gallon
OG: 1.048 (estimate)
FG: 1.000 (estimate)
Fermentation Temperature: 65-70*F (Room temperature throughout)
IBU: 0.0
ABV: 6.3% (est.)
SRM: 3.6

Mash: Single infusion at 150*F for 60 minutes

Boil: 60 minute

Fermentables

4lb 8oz Pilsner Malt

4lb 8oz White Wheat Malt

Salts & Water

At this point I wasn't doing anything besides filtering the water and adding 5.2 buffer, so that's probably it.

Hops

3oz Liberty (Aged; 0.0 AAU) at 60 minutes

Other

See fruit additions in notes below

Yeast

Only dregs.  See below.

Notes

Bottle dregs were the only yeast/bugs used.  They were from the following bottles:

2006 Cuvee des Champions

Cascade Sang Rouge

Drie Fonteinen Straffe Winter

2010 St. Lamvinus

2011 Girardin Gueuze 1882 Black Label

07.04.2011 -- Down to 1.012.  The Brett character is really strong with a bit of pineapple and quite a bit of fresh citrus and rind.  Added one ounce of medium-toast Hungarian oak.  Oak smells fairly earthy with a bit of tobacco.  Shouldn't add too much character, though if it does, it's something that would probably work very well with cherries or another dark fruit.

11.18.2011.  Sour Program #1 is fairly citrusy and seems to be more Cantillon-esque.  Hopefully the combination of Sour Program #1 wort and Drie Fonteinen dregs will grow up a culture that is a bit funkier.

05.15.2012.  Notes for Sour Programs #1, #2, and #3.  Two gallons each of #1 and #2 were put in separate one-gallon jugs.  One gallon of #3 was put in a single one-gallon jug.  Here are the fruited portions:

Gooseberry: 6 pounds of Vintner's Harvest Gooseberry Puree was mixed with a little under a gallon each of #1, #2, and #3.

Kiwi: Two pounds of freshly-chopped kiwi was added to a one-gallon jug.  Enough #1 was transferred over to fill the jug.

Blueberry: Two pounds of blueberry that had been smashed and frozen was added to a one-gallon jug.  Enough of #2 was added to fill the jug.

Rhubarb: One and a half pounds of chopped rhubarb that had been frozen was added to a one-gallon jug.  Enough of #2 was added to fill the jug.

06.22.2012.  Bottled #1 and #2 in 375mL Russian River-style corked bottles.  For each, 2 gallons got 3oz of pure can sugar, aiming for 3.5-4 volumes of CO2.  Ran out of CO2 for the Beer Gun and could not bottle #3.

06.24.2012.  Bottled #3 with the same procedure as #1 and #2.

06.25.2012.  Bottled each of the fruited versions, aiming for 3 volumes of CO2 each.  Kiwi, Blueberry, and Rhubarb were bottled in green Belgian 375mL bottles with 29mm caps.  Each yielded 8 bottles.  The gooseberry was bottled in green Belgian 750mL bottles with 29mm caps.  That yielded 9 bottles.

The names are as follows: Jade (kiwi), Sapphire (blueberry), Rhodonite (rhubarb), and Peridot (gooseberry).

Lucky Charm (Batch 01): Recipe

RETRO: Post written on July 24, 2014, but set to publish on the initial brew date to maintain order within the blog.

This was my first Berliner Weissbier attempt.  My biggest memory of this one is draining fruited kegs over Fourth of July weekend in 2011, sitting on the deck with my father-in-law in the townhome my wife and I rented in Alexandria, Virginia.

The recipe for the full batch is as follows:

Batch Number: 09
Brew Date: April 3, 2011
Bottle/Keg Date: [Not Recorded]
Batch Size: 5 Gallon
OG: 1.029 (estimate)
FG: 1.002 (estimate)
Fermentation Temperature: 65-70*F
IBU: 4.0
ABV: 2.5% (est.)
SRM: 2.6

Mash: Single infusion at 149*F for 90 minutes.

Boil: 15 minutes

Fermentables

2lb 12oz Pilsner Malt
2lb 12oz White Wheat Malt

Salts & Water

At this point I wasn't doing anything besides filtering the water and adding 5.2 buffer, so that's likely it.

Hops

0.5oz Hallertauer (3.8 AAU) at 15 minutes

Other
Eventual fruit additions, per notes below.

Yeast
White Labs Berliner Weisse Blend (WLP630)

Notes

04.03.2011 – Mashed at 149*F for 90 minutes.  Temperatures pretty much where I wanted them to be.  Used the double sparge technique.  

Ran off approximately 5 gallons and then added about a quart of filtered water to account for the boiloff during the 15-minute boil. 

Added fruit on 05.15.2011.

About 2.5 gallons of each portion.  Base was at 1.005.  One carboy got 24oz of frozen raspberry and 10oz of frozen blackberry.  The kiwi got a little under 3lbs, which was the pulp of 20 kiwis.  Gravity on kiwi portion went back up to 1.015.  Forgot measure berry portion.

Took awhile for fermentation to kick back off. A few bubbles in the blowoff starting the evening of 05.17.

Demeter Noir: Recipe

RETRO: Post written July 24, 2014.  Set as being posted at time of brew session.

This was the first batch of saison that I brewed way back in early 2011 (I brewed my first beer on January 1, 2011).  The initial plan was a clean base and then to split off a portion to age with wine-soaked oak cubes and dregs, but I ended up using dregs on the entire batch as the initial flavor of the clean beer was too banana heavy for me.

The recipe for the full batch is as follows:

Batch Number: 05
Brew Date: January 23, 2011
Bottle/Keg Date: [Not Recorded]
Batch Size: 5 Gallon
OG: 1.071 (estimate)
FG: 1.002 (estimate)
Fermentation Temperature: 65-70*F
IBU: 22.0
ABV: 8.1% (est.)
SRM: 5.5

Mash (from original notes): "Use a step infusion mash, which will emphasize the maximum production of fermentable sugars.  Start with a ferulic rest at 113 F for 30 minutes.  Follow this with a protein rest at 131 F for 15 minutes.  This is then raised to 144 F for a 30 minute saccharification rest.  Finally, perform a 15 minute dextrine rest at 154 F before mashing out at 165 F.  The total mash is thus 90 minutes."

Boil: 60 minute

Fermentables

10lb 8oz Pilsner Malt

12oz Munich Malt

12oz White Wheat Malt

2oz CaraMunich Malt

In the boil: 1lb Table Sugar

Salts & Water

At this point I wasn't doing anything besides filtering the water and adding 5.2 buffer, though per the notes below, apparently forgot 5.2 buffer for this one.

Hops

1.5oz Hallertauer (3.8 AAU) at 60 minutes

.75oz Hallertauer (3.8 AAU) at flameout

Other

2 tsp. Yeast Nutrient

1oz Red Wine-Soaked Medium Toast Hungarian Oak Cubes

Yeast

Wyeast French Saison (WY3711)

Wyeast Brettanomyces Bruxellensis (WY5112)

Russian River Temptation Dregs

Notes

01.23.2011 - BREWDAY

Mash:  For the ferulic acid rest, hit the grain with 9.7 quarts of 125.3 F water.  The temperature was a bit high, so I added .5 quarts of 50 F water to bring the temperature to 113 F.  Rested here for 30 minutes.  Added 2.7 quarts of 212 F water to bring the mash up to the next step.  Overshot warm and then overshot back too cold.  Too many adjustments led to a temperature of 127 F after quite a few minutes.  Added a total of 2.5 extra quarts so that the total infusion was 5.2 quarts.  Hit with 5.5 quarts of 212 F water.  The temperature only reached 140-41 F.  Let it be and rested for 35 minutes instead of the 30 that was called for to make up the diference.  Added 4.5 quarts of 212 F water.  This only brought the temperature up to 149 F.  Let this rest for 20 minutes.  After this, mashed out with 170 F water.   Used 12 quarts for this, adding half, stirring, and then draining.  Added the second half without stirring, then drained.

* Realized during drain-off that I did not add buffer.  Tested pH of mash and first runnings is approximately 5.5 to 5.6.  According to the Homebrew Wiki, the preferred mash pH range is 5.2 to 5.5, so this should be okay. 

01.24.2011 - About 14 hours after pitching the yeast, there is a healthy kraeusen on top of the beer--about 1.5 inches.  Good bubbling in the blowoff bucket.  Yeast was pitched at room temperature, 67-70 F.

*** Make sure to aerate aggressively for this style

*** Use double the normal amount of yeast nutrient

01.24.2011 - After a little over 24 hours in the fermenter, temperature is a bit over 70 F.  Room temperature is between 67 and 68 F.  Carboy is resting in a tub with a grey t-shirt covering it.  Fermentation was pretty strong this morning with a health krausen.

* After primary fermentation, the plan for the batch was to split into two 3-gallon carboys, one of which would receive Brettanomyces Bruxellensis and red-wine-soaked Hungarian Oak chips (medium toast).

Make sure to "warm age" at fermentation temperatures or higher for 3-8 weeks.  See Phil Markowski, Farmhouse Ales 175 (2004)

01.30.2011 - Took a sample.  Gravity is currently 1.008.  Taste is a bit plain without too much yeast presence.  There are some banana notes.  Perhaps fermentation never really got warm enough.  Will be interesting to see how this develops.  If the yeast doesn't build more character, the entire batch will likely get the oak, wine, and Brett treatment.  The oak and wine started today.  Soaking 0.5 ounce of Hungarian Oak in Klee Pinot Noir ($19.99 at Rick's).  Put in a bowl and filled with enough wine to cover.  The plan is to use this for 2.5 gallons of the saison.

01.31.2011 - Doubled up on the Hungarian cubes and now plan to use the soaked cubes for the entire batch.  The sample taken just didn't have enough yeast character.  There was a bit of banana and some mild spice, but nothing that would make for a particularly-good saison

02.01.2011 - Added a package of Wyeast Brett B.  This was partially frozen during transit from Northern Brewer, so we'll see how things turn out.

02.14.2011 – No apparent activity from the Brett, though I will check again soon.  Added the wine-soaked oak cubes in a hop bag after transferring to a keg.

02.28.2011 – Added dregs from a 375 mL bottle (Batch 005xF) of Russian River Temptation.  Gravity check reveals that the beer is at 1.003.  Still no real oak presence.