Namur (Batch 02): Recipe

This is my second time brewing Namur recently, and I basically stuck with the recipe from last time, mostly just increasing the fermentation temperature in an attempt to shift the balance more toward esters and away from the more peppery phenolics. The first batch was too heavy on the spice, so I transferred that one to a keg with Brett Trois and some white wine-soaked oak cubes, and plan to bottle it after it's had six months or so.  I also brought down the gravity to 1.050, though that was more of a factor of me hitting too high of a gravity last time.

To keep things interesting, I decided to do a 10-gallon batch, with the base only comprising half of overall volume.  For the remaining 5 gallons, I split 2.5 gallon portions out for a dose of Meyer lemon juice and zest, and Satsuma mandarin juice and zest.

Here are the full details on the new batch:

Batch Number: 75

Brew Date: December 14, 2013

Keg Date:

Batch Size: 10 Gallon

OG: 1.054

FG: 1.005

Fermentation Temperature: 79 F

IBU: 31 (Tinseth)

ABV: 6.4%

SRM: 3.7

Mash: Single infusion for 90 minutes at 150 F

Boil: 90 minute

Fermentables

19.5 lb Dingeman's Belgian Pilsner

Salts & Water

10.0g Calcium Chloride (all into the kettle)

5.0g Gypsum (all into the kettle)

9.0g Baking Soda (all into the kettle)

8.0mL of 88% lactic acid were used to adjust the pH in the kettle.  I opted to use the baking soda to get the sodium to where I wanted it, but in the future I'll use non-iodized table salt, and that way not worry about raising the kettle pH.

Satsuma Mandarins

Resulting water profile is as follows:

Mash pH (est.): 5.41

Calcium: 101

Magnesium: 12

Sodium: 50

Chloride: 98

Sulfate: 76

Hops

1.0 oz. Calypso (17.0 AAU) at 60 minutes

3.0 oz. Calypso (17.0 AAU) at flameout

Other

2.0 tsp. Wyeast Yeast Nutrient at 10 minutes (double the normal amount to provide extra FAN, per the suggestion in Phil Markowski's Farmhouse Ales)

2.0 ea. Whirlfloc tablet at 10 minutes

Prepping the Meyer Lemons

The Satsuma portion got 7 grams of zest as well as 200mL of fresh juice. The Meyer Lemon portion got 7 grams of zest plus 75mL of fresh juice.

Yeast

WLP585 (second generation; the cake is from the first batch of Namur, built up according to some rough calculations)

Wyeast 3725//Crooked Stave/Miscellaneous saison dreg blend, for the citrus portions.

Notes

12.14.2013: 30 seconds of oxygen to the main 5 gallon portion and 20 seconds to each of the 2 gallon portions.

Pitched at 68 F. 12 hours later, the temperature was at 66 F. At the 24 hour mark, added to a water bath. Water was in the upper 70s, and I set an aquarium heater at 72 F. At 36 hours, the beer and the bath are sitting at 79 F ,so either the heater is over-active, or the beer is actually raising the temperature of the water. There's quite a bit of exposure between the bucket and the water, as the bucket only has 4 gallons and started to float up a little bit, so I used bungee cords to keep it in place, though there's still room for water underneath the bucket.

01.25.2014: Bottling day for the Meyer Lemon and Satsuma Mandarin portions.  Brief notes on each:

Meyer Lemon: FG of 1.004. Final pH of 4.0. Aiming for 2.75 volumes of CO2, so added 54g of table sugar to keg. Yielded eight 750mL bottles.

Satsuma Mandarin: FG of 1.004. Final pH of 3.8. Aiming for 2.75 volumes of CO2. Added sugar directly to bottles, uses 5.5g for each 750mL bottle and 2.75g for the one 375mL bottle. Ended with yield of nine 750mL bottles plus one 375mL bottle.

07.22.2014: Tasting notes for the Satsuma Mandarin portion.