Ambrosia Namur: Recipe

I've wanted to do a saison yeast experiment for a while now. Yesterday I finally had the opportunity to brew 8 gallons of saison, which I separated into nine separate 1-gallon jugs. The goal of this is to eventually develop a house saison for Ambrosia Ales. The name of this beer is Namur, after the Belgian province in the Wallonian half of the country.

Batch Number: 59
Brew Date: February 18, 2013
Bottle Date:
Batch Size: 8 Gallons

OG: 1.050
FG: 1.004 (est.)
IBU: 30.1
ABV: 6.0% (est.)
SRM: 3.3
Mash: Single infusion for 90 minutes at 150 F.
Boil: 60 minutes

Fermentables

8lb 8oz French Pilsner
2lb 8oz Red Wheat, Torrified
2lb 8oz Wheat, Flaked
1lb 0oz Oats
0lb 12oz Rye, Flaked
0lb 6oz Rice Hulls

Hops

1.25 oz Calypso (12.8% AAU) at 60 minutes
1.75 oz Calypso (12.8% AAU) at flameout

Yeast

See below

Notes 

02.18.2013 - Brewday. Hit the smack packs of 3711 and 3724 at 8:30 am. Both of these got a bit slushy during the shipment here, so hopefully they swell. The Tired Hands HandFarm dregs mostly froze in the mini fridge when I put them in to crash. The bottom of the vessel was not frozen, so hopefully the yeast there were fine. The top layer with Brett may have suffered. I'm still going to use all three since it's only three quarters to a gallon of wort for each, and I can always redo the experiment with these in the future as this recipe shouldn't be difficult to replicate.

Mashed for 90 minutes. Initial mash pH looked to be around 5.5 based on pH strips, so I added a tablespoon of 5.2 buffer. This is my first time using the new false bottom. Had to vorlauf much more than was typical with the stainless steel braid. Ended up vorlaufing three times for about 1.5 gallons. After that, mash ran clear. Got approximately 8 gallons to be divided between the 9 jugs. OG measured at 1.050. Going to use Mr. Malty to determine the approximate pitching rates given the small batches. Gave each jug 6 seconds of pure oxygen. Finally, each jug got two drops of Fermcap.

Set the chest freezer to sit between 69 and 75 based on dual temperature controls. One is on the chest freezer and the other is on Fermwrap. The chest freezer is set at 74 with a differential of 1 degree. The Fermwrap is set at 70 F with a differential of 1 degree.

Yeast Rundown:

• Wyeast 3711 French Saison: Manufactured November 18, 2012. Decided to use the whole package since it partially froze in transit.
• Wyeast 3724 Belgian Saison: Manufactured December 19, 2012. Decided to use the whole package since it partially froze in transit. 
• Wyeast 3725 Biere de Garde: Harvested from Demeter Auran (3725) on February 2, 2013. Mixed with a bit of water and used approximately 50mL of slurry.
• White Labs 565 Saison I: Best before May 9, 2013. Used about half of a vial after clearing with sanitized water and mixing in a Pyrex container. 
• White Labs 566 Saison II: Best before April 12, 2013. Used about half of a vial after clearing with sanitized water and mixing in a Pyrex container. 
• White Labs 568 Belgian Style Saison Ale Blend: Best before May 9, 2013. Used about half of a vial after clearing with sanitized water and mixing in a Pyrex container. 
• White Labs 670 American Farmhouse Blend: Best before April 5, 2013. Used about half of a vial after clearing with sanitized water and mixing in a Pyrex container. 
• Tired Hands HandFarm Dregs: Harvested from Tired Hands HandFarm bottle on January 15, 2013. Ended up with approximately 60 mL of thick slurry after pouring out all the beer (which smelled quite sour and oxidized). Hopefully this works out.
• Miscellaneous Saison Blend Dregs: Harvested from Demeter Auran on February 2, 2013. Mixed with a bit of water and used approximately 50 mL of slurry.  Coming from Demeter Auran, this makes this a third generation use for the blend.

02.19.2013 - Temperature 12 hours after pitching continues to sit at 70 F ambient. One of the jugs has a good krausen on it, while a few others have a bit of foam. Will check back at 24 hours.  At 24 hours, all but the Tired Hands and saison dreg blends were going strong.

02.20.2013 - At 36 hours, Tired Hands blend is going strong as well.  Saison dreg blend still hasn't done much.  At 48 hours, everything is going strong, with the temperature holding between 70 and 71.

02.21.2013 - At 60 hours, all still going well.  Some appear to be near completion of active fermentation.  Temperature holding between 71 and 72.