Demeter Vert (f/k/a Sorachi Lime Saison) (Batch 01): Recipe & Tasting Notes

Batch Number: 31
Brew Date: February 1, 2012
Keg Date: February 26, 2012
Batch Size: 5 Gallon
OG: 1.060
FG: 1.008
IBU: 32
ABV: 6.8%
SRM: 4.2

Mash: Single infusion for 60 minutes at 148 F.
Boil: 60 minute

Fermentables

8.00 lb Continental Pilsner
2.75 lb White Wheat Malt
1.00 lb Flaked Rye

Hops

1.0 oz Sorachi Ace (10.7 AAU) at 20 minutes
1.0 oz Sorachi Ace (10.7 AAU) at 5 minutes
1.0 oz Sorachi Ace (10.7 AAU) at flameout

Other

2.0 Tbsp Lime Zest at 5 minutes

Yeast

Belgian Style Saison Ale Yeast Blend (WLP 568)
Brettanomyces Claussenii (WLP 645)
Russian River Sanctification Dregs

Notes

At the end of the brewday, I had a Russian River Batch 5 Sanctification, and added the dregs from that to the carboy.

Fementation: Ambient temperature in a 6-gallon Better Bottle. Liquid temperature was approximately 72-73 F.



Tasting Notes

Appearance: Pours a moderately-hazy light apricot color with a nice, fluffy white head. Nice retention with some spotty lacing on the way down and a thin collar throughout. 2.5/3.

Nose: The first whiff brings in a bit of lime and citrus plus some backing yeastiness. The Brett may not have been entirely finished out when I decided to keg this one, and it shows in the nose. I was anxious to get this kegged for our moving date, probably at the expense of having a better final product. When I brew this again, I'll be sure to give it some more time. 10.5/12.

Flavor: The taste doesn't have nearly as much residual yeastiness as the nose does. Instead, there's a mild acidity to go along with some zesty citrus character. I think it actually comes through more as lemon, likely because of the Sorachi, though lime is present as well. There's also a slight touch of pineapple character in the background. Fairly complex and enjoyable. 16.5/20.

Feel: The flavor suffers because of the feel. The body is nice; it's quite light and crisp with minimal malt presence in the background. There's a light zest and faint acidity throughout. However, there's not enough carbonation. I let this one sit at 12 PSI for awhile, but that didn't quite give me what I was looking for. I'm coming to the conclusion that I probably need to start bottle conditioning saisons rather than just kegging them. One of these batches I'll need to split the batch by carbonation method and see the differences. With all that said, I really love the faint acidity and citrus character to the background, so probably no change in the recipe, just carbonation. 3.5/5.

Overall: I think this could be a much better beer if I were to give the Brett enough time to really work, and also boosted the carbonation up quite a bit, hitting somewhere around 3 or 3.2 volumes. I'd also boost the lime presence just a bit, probably to around 3 tablespoons. The hops are good where they're at. I think this could end up as a very nice beer with some minor improvements and/or changes in technique. 7.5/10.

Score: 40.5/50