#6 Cherry Saison 06Apr09

Major sporting event? Must be time to brew. NCAA finals were tonight, although I can't say I paid much attention as it quickly became a blowout.

Titi Lilly, Matt, and Carolina were on hand to help pit about six pounds of frozen cherries. They needed to thaw just a bit to be able to pit them with two of the three cherry pitters.

I changed the procedure just a bit to save 15 minutes. I only boiled the first hops for 30 min, and then kept them in after adding the DME for a 15 min boil. I also forgot to add the standard 8 oz flaked oats to the mash. Bummer.

3lb Belgian Pilsner (Dingemans)
1lb Weyermann wheat
1lb Dingemans Carapils
4lb Briess light pilsen dry malt extract @ 15 min
1 oz E Kent Golding @ 45 min (5.0%, plug)
0.5 oz E Kent Golding @ 0 min (5.0%, plug)
0.5 oz Saaz @ 0 min (3.0%, plug)
6 lbs pitted cherries @ 2 min
WLP 568, fermented @ 80F (internal beer temp)
5.5 gallons total

Notes: Preheated mash tun with hot water. Strike water: 170F. Initial mash temp: ~155 F; final temp 150 F. I added the cherries (in the grain bag) to the wort at flame out. Active heating system in full force to maintain internal temp @ 80 F.

I forgot to take a gravity sample. The next evening the bubbler was going, but not very rapid yet. I opened up the bucket and interestingly, the bag of cherries was floating on top. Gravity was 1.053, which is pretty lousy, around 55% mash efficiency. If I assume I lost a couple of points to fermentation since it only started bubbling that day, I'm up to ~60% efficiency, which isn't so embarrasing. There are probably a couple more points locked up in the cherry sugars. I'm not looking for high alcohol content anyways, but it would be nice if I could get away with 1 lb less DME.

Next day bubbler is stopped. Bump up temp to 82 F. Gave the bucket a good swirl. Starts bubbling rapidly immediately, and for the rest of the night. What's up with that?

Fermentation was done after 6 days. Let set for a total of 2.5 weeks to maximize extraction of cherry flavors. Rack to secondary. Color is a deep orange-red. Gravity sample was 1.015. Tasted gravity sample- cherry flavor is subtle. Some definite tannins from the cherries on the finish. Lissette would have liked a much stronger cherry flavor. Probably need to suppliment with extract.

#5 Saison 08Jan09

I'm finally caught up to quasi real time blogging. Last Thur the usual brew crew (Pres B Slim, Jolly, Tim) came over to keep me in line while brewing yet another Saison. Another new yeast this time: Wyeast VSS 3726 Farmhouse Ale. My LHBS had one activator pack left from the end of the summer. If this is a really good one, I'll have to try my hand at "yeast washing" so I can brew with it some more before Wyeast (hopefully) starts selling it again in June.

The grain bill is on par with #4 Saison except for substituting 1lb of Vienna for 1lb of the Pilsner. The Vienna is slightly maltier in flavor. I'm going to ferment in a 6 gal better bottle this time instead of a plastic bucket- I want to see what's going on. And finally (drum roll please) I'm implementing an active heating system! I taped a 10" x 24" heating wrap to the BB and used it in conjunction with a temperature probe (insterted through the rubber stopper and into the beer) and a temperature controller. My house is 66F at night, and the Wyeast tech service recommended fermenting @ 75F.

Recipe:
3lb Belgian Pilsner (Dingemans)
1lb Weyermann wheat
1 lb Vienna
1lb Muntons Carapils
8 oz Flaked Oats
3lb Briess light pilsen dry malt extract
1 oz E Kent Golding @ 45 min (5.0%, plug)
0.5 oz E Kent Golding @ 5 min (5.0%, plug)
0.5 oz Saaz @ 5 min (3.0%, plug)
Wyeast VSS 3726, fermented @ 75F (internal beer temp)
5 gallons total

Notes: Preheated mash tun with hot water. Strike water: 170F. Initial mash temp: ~155 F; final temp 147 F. Original gravity was only 1.050 for a mash efficiency of 50%. Horrible!! I had the grains crushed about 10 days before I brewed and had them up in the (very cold) attic until the day before brewing. Maybe that affected it?

Props to Wyeast technical support, as they recommended fermenting @ 75F or the yeast will produce phenolics. This is despite the temp range for this yeast being described as 70-95F. Interestingly, the initial fermentation is so exothermic that the temp of the beer was 76F and didn't require any heating or a blanket for the first night. After the third night when I checked the beer in the morning, it was 72F, and the bubbler had ground to a halt. I put the blanket back on and turned on the heater, set to 75F, and it was bubbling at a good clip again within hours. I'm glad I have the heater! Today (day 5) the bubbler stopped.

Something else to note is it will be difficult to compare fermentation temperatures of previous batches with future batches fermented using this internal temp probe, since obviously the beer gets significantly warmer inside the fermenter compared to the room temperature (previous method of temperature notation) in the inital stages of the fermentation.

25Jan09
I bottled this yesterday (6 oz corn sugar, final gravity 1.014) and I thought it tasted pretty good. Couldn't detect any phenolics. I tried my hand at "yeast washing" http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/yeast-washing-illustrated-41768/ to recover some yeast for future fermentations. I need to do this if I want to make a beer with this yeast again before summer, since this is a seasonal strain.

#4 Saison 24Nov08

A slight vatiation of my successful #2 Saison:

1) I need to change yeasts since it is winter and my house is now ~68F. WLP568 needs at least mid 70s, and has a reputation for stopping (or taking weeks) at lower temperatures.
2) My LHBS ran out of EKG plugs so I had to use the pellets and strain before pitching the yeast


Recipe:
4lb Belgian Pilsner (Dingemans)
1lb Weyermann wheat
1lb Muntons Cara-pils
8 oz Flaked Oats
3lb Briess light pilsen dry malt extract
1 oz E Kent Golding @ 45 min (5.0%, pellets)
0.5 oz E Kent Golding @ 5 min (5.0%, pellets)
0.5 oz Saaz @ 5 min (3.0%, plug)
Wyeast VSS 3711 (Saison blend), fermented @ 68F (avg house temp)
5.5 gallons total

Notes: Initial mash temp: 151 F; final temp 147 F. Original gravity was 1.052 for a mash efficiency of 65%. Final gravity was 1.006 after 1 week- bone dry compared to #2 Saison, and I'm guessing is a result of the lower mash temperature for the #4 Saison, rather than differences in the yeast. Decided to condition in the primary for another week rather than bothering to transfer to secondary for clarification. Add 6 oz corn sugar before bottling on 10Dec08. Condition @ 68F.

I intitally thought this beer was pretty good. The color, body, and flavors were nice. Grapefruit is predominant with some pepper. Good carbonation and nice head without being annoying to pour. But after about 1 month in the bottle (and having dogfish head 60-min IPA for a period of time) I don't care for it. There is too much of a phenolic character to this beer. I'm not even a big fan of the good (clove-like) phenol flavors (think Hoegaarden). But to me this is more medicinal. These flavors should come from the yeast fermenting, so this shouldn't have changed over time, I don't know why I am just noticing this. A head-to-head with #2 Saison seals the deal. #2 Saison is awesome. No phenolics. A maltier backbone (the WLP568 yeast isn't as attenuative as the Wyeast 3711). Unless I can find another alternative that ferments well at cooler temps, I'll have to buy some warming equipment for my fermenter so I can use the WLP568 at the recommended temps.

New car buying advice

We were forced to buy a car this summer. My awesome little '92 Civic hatchback (may it rest in peace) was totaled when an oncoming extended-cab 4x4 pickup decided he preferred to drive in our lane instead of his. You can guess who came out better in that match-up, and I feel incredibly blessed that my wife and kids and I (and my parents driving behind us) are still alive, with no permanent injuries. But I digress.

Since we often have visitors, we wanted to move up in passenger capacity. I hate the concept of SUV's, so I assumed we'd go mini-van. However, I was suprised at the poor gas mileage for mini-vans, although they are still better than most SUV options save one: the Toyota RAV4. If you have small children, and want to seat 6 or 7 people from time to time, this is a great car to consider. But you have to find one with the option for a 3rd row seat. Not may have it (they just started offering it in 2006), and there is only enough legroom for small children or carseats, but nevertheless it seats two kids comfortably. On our annual trip to Indiana, we achieved 29 mpg driving 75 mph with the A/C on. 'Nuff said.

Before buying a new car, I recommend educating yourself by reading the various chapters at http://www.carbuyingtips.com/carintro.html
I bought my RAV @ $500 below dealer invoice, which is pretty good for the top-rated, highest mpg SUV in its class. And I didn't have to deal with a bunch of nonsense from the car salesman- he knew I had done my research and I made it clear I wasn't going to waffle.

#3 Belgian Blonde 29Oct08

My third beer was an attempt to make something akin to Affligem Blonde, a favorite of mine in that style. One method technique I changed here was to "mash out" (adding water to the grains left behind from the initial mash) by adding 180F (instead of 170F) water. Supposedly the grain bed will cool the water enough upon addition that the water will still be below 170F (to avoid extraction of undesireable tannins, etc) and this will allow for better extraction of sugars from the grains. In reality, my mash efficiency improved about 10% with the higher mash out temp being the only major change, so I gotta give props to my LHBS (local homebrew shop) for the advice.

4 lb. Belgian (Dingemans) pilsner
1.0 lb Dingemans Cara-pils
1 lb Weyermann Vienna
4 oz Aromatic
10 oz oats
4 lb Briess pilsen light DME
1 oz E. Kent Goldings @ 45 min (plugs, 5%)
0.5 oz E. Kent Goldings @ 5 min (plug, 5%)
White Labs 575 (Ale blend), fermented @ 70F
6 oz corn sugar at bottling
6 gallon batch

Notes: Initial mash temp: 157 F; final temp 150 F after 60 min. Original gravity: 1.055 for a 63% mash efficiency. Fermented 10 days to a final gravity of 1.010. Rack to secondary and condition 1 week @ 70F. Bottle w/6 oz corn sugar and condition @ 70F 1 week.

Taste: Improved after ~1month in bottle. Flavors not as smooth. Disappointed with poor head retention. The increased oats definitely enhance a creamy mouthfeel. Consensus is the #2 Saison is much better, but head to head against Affligem blonde, my blonde was actually pretty comparable in character. But #3 Blonde is getting neglected due to the option of the #2 Saison. It's just that good.

#2 Saison 26Sep08

I made several changes to this beer in order to try and improve on my first beer:
1) Increase the amount of grain and DME by 1 lb each to make up for my low mash efficiency
2) Increase the amount of carapils and add flaked oats to increase body
3) Use 1 lb of malted wheat to increase head retention

Recipe:
3lb Belgian Pilsner (Dingemans)
1lb Weyermann wheat
1lb Cara-pils
6 oz Flaked Oats
4lb Briess light pilsen dry malt extract
1 oz E Kent Golding @ 45 min (5.0%, plug)
0.5 oz E Kent Golding @ 5 min (5.0%, plug)
0.5 oz Saaz @ 5 min (3.0%, plug)
White Labs #568 (Saison Blend), fermented @ 75F (avg house temp) in blanket-wrapped bucket

Notes:
Initial mash temp: 156 F, final mash temp 150 F. Original gravity was 1.056 for a lousy mash efficiency of 56%. Final gravity was 1.015 after 1 week. Transfer to secondary for 2 weeks. Add 6 oz corn sugar before bottling. Condition in basement.

This beer was a big hit. The body and flavors were much improved. Smooth with a nice mouth-feel. The hops were not as bitter, which I'll attribute to limiting my bittering hops to 45 min, and were well integrated throughout the body and finish of the beer.

#1 Saison 10Jul08

I never cared much for beer until I started traveling to Europe more often, and visiting Belgium in 2002 was a revelation of sorts. It's interesting that Germany and Belgium are neighbors, because they take polar opposite approaches to beermaking. Germany is famous for their "Reinheitsgebot"- a beer purity law originating in 1516 that stated German beer could only have three ingredients: water, hops, and barley (they didn't understand that bacteria did the fermenting back then). In Belgium, if yeast can ferment it, or if it might be a tasty addition (e.g. fruit, spices), it's still beer. Until the Reinheitsgebot was repealed in 1987, a wheat beer was illegal to sell in Germany as beer! Those whacky Germans!

The first beer I brewed was a Belgian Saison, my favorite style. A light (by Belgian standards) and dry beer, but with a lot going on in the flavor department. I brew the partial mash method (a marriage of all-grain and extract brewing). Details of my partial method procedure are in a separate posting.

Recipe:
4 lb Dingemans (Belgian) pilsner
0.5 lb 9L Crystal malt
0.5 lb Carapils
3 lb Pilsen light dry malt extract
1 oz East Kent Goldings (plugs, 5.6%) @ 60 min
1 oz Styrian Goldings (pellets, 2%) @ 5 min
White Labs #568 (Saison Blend), fermented @ 80F
5 oz corn sugar added before bottling

Notes: Fermentation was complete in 4 days. After 10 days, racked to secondary to clarify for 3 weeks @ 72F. Being my first beer, this took me forever to brew and I forgot to take an original gravity sample when I finshed @ ~1am. However, I didn't need an o.g. sample to know my mash efficiency was low once I tasted it. The beer was tasty, but very light. Considering it was summer, not such a bad thing. The flavor and aroma were nice. I was very disappointed with the head and head retention, and made some adjustments in my second beer.