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Home > posts > 2013 > 08 > 20130819_210345_saison-home-brew.html

Saison Home Brew

/posts/2013/08/20130819_210345_saison-home-brew.html

Homebrew #2

2013-08-19 Brew Day:

I am going to try to brew a French Saison. The recipe is based on the one from [ Bull City Home Brew](<http://bullcityhomebrew.com/recipes.aspx?id=Fall%20on%20The%20Floor%20French%20Saison%20>(All%20Grain).xml)(PDF). I scaled it to 1.25 and I changed the hops a bit. I replaces 2/3 of the bittering AAUs with Columbus. (much less of it since Columbus is ~16% AA and strisselspalt is ~2.3%).

My recipe is attached as a PDF here. But, here is the recipe:

French Saison (from BCHB)

Method:

All Grain

Style:

Saison

Boil Time:

60 min

Batch Size:

1.25 gallons (fermentor volume)

Boil Size:

1.7 gallons

Efficiency:

70% (brew house)

Boil Gravity:

1.047 (recipe based estimate)

Original Gravity:

1.063

Final Gravity:

1.013

ABV (standard):

6.66%

IBU (tinseth):

32.77

SRM (morey):

13.17

Fermentables

Amount

Fermentable

PPG

L

Bill %

2.18 lb

American - Pilsner

37

1.8

72.7%

0.25 lb

Belgian - Munich

38

6

8.3%

0.25 lb

German - Wheat Malt

37

2

8.3%

0.07 lb

German - CaraMunich III

34

57

2.3%

0.25 lb

Belgian Candi Syrup - Dark

32

80

8.3%

Hops

Amount

Variety

Time

AA

IBU

Type

Use

0.08 oz

Columbus

Pellet

16

Boil

60 min

20.06

0.3 oz

Strisselspalt

Leaf/Whole

2.3

Boil

60 min

9.83

0.44 oz

Strisselspalt

Leaf/Whole

2.3

Boil

5 min

2.87

Mash Guidelines

Amount

Description

Type

Temp

Time

4 qt

Strike at 159.5

Infusion

148 F

75 min

Other Ingredients

Amount

Name

Type

Use

Time

0.13 tsp

Yeast Nutrient

Other

Boil

10 min

0.25 tsp

Irish Moss

Fining

Boil

15 min

Yeast

Wyeast - French Saison 3711

Attenuation (avg):

80%

Flocculation:

Low

Optimum Temp:

65 - 77 F

Starter:

No

Generated by Brewer's Friend - <http://www.brewersfriend.com/>

Recipe Last Updated: 2013-08-29 15:20 UTC

My Notes:

(italics are comments added not at the time or not on paper)

• 4:31 pop yeast
• Made oxiclean solution at "line 3" to 1 gal hot water.I decided I'll still rinse since I'll be sanitizing too.
• Goal 159°F for a 148°F 75 min mash
• Overshot temp. Waiting for it to drop
• Put the ENTIRE bag in. No bit hanging out the top
• 4:57 Poured at 162
• Water went to 153 then quickly dropped to 149. I'll check it again in 5 min and add heat
• T-1:10 temp 147.Hold
• Put a towel on it while it was sitting (see photo)
• T-1:04. 140°F. Setting 5 for 3-4 min. Cut at 150. The bag billowed. Not sure if water is boiling under it
• T-0:52:30 139. Heat on 5 until 154 (took about 45 sec).This is fishy...
• T-44. 163°FWhat???
• maybe it hasn't been mixed well before
• Not a fan of this method
• Note ~1/2 of 1/4 tso yeast nutrient is ~0.035 oz
• T-38. Temp 158. Ok. Too much heat before. I'lll go a bit before checking again
• T-28 152.I think this is holding temp better than I thought. I'll check again around T-20.
• I hope I didn't inadvertently mash" out" earlier
• T-18 149 (ish). I'll hold there for 10 min or so
• 5:58, started heating sparge water (heating 1 gal)
• T-11, 146. Heat on 3, constantly stirring_with the thermometer in._ Cut heat at 152 (~T-9)
• This (what I did above with stirring and the thermometer inside it) was much better
• I'll leave the mash there for the end but I'm interested in the final temp
• 6:13. Pulled bag. Temp 149
• 11 cups on first run. I need 27.2
• I pulled the bag out with tongs. Let it drip, then put it on the strainer. I let it sit for a min or so then moved the grains to a separate dish. Poured wort into measuring cup and then into pot.
• __Added 10 cups of sparge water_pouring through the bag then put the bag in the water._ let it sit ~5 min while stirring
• 9.5 cups on second run
• Added rest of the sparge water (~6 cups. I need 6.7 from this so we'll see. I may be able squeeze it really well)
• Sit 5 min (actually 7)
• Squeezed the bag with with another pair of tong. Pulled out 6 cups. 26.5 cups total into the boil
• 6:37. Stirred, pulled sample, heat on
• Sampled @120°F, Pre-boil (pre sugar) OG 1.040_(adjusted with this tool to 1.048)_
• 6:53. Very close to boil. Added syrup
• 6:55 Boil
• Using this tool, excluding the sugar, I get a 78% "Pre-Boil Efficiency"!
• Added hops/nutrients to schedule
• _7:56_Into the ice
• Temps:_8:04 - 120°F, 8:10 - 90F, 8:15 - 79F. _Pulled at 72F, Around 8:19
• Poured through the strainer into the fermentor. I also moved the strainer and poured about a cup and a half into a (sanitzed) measuring cup. I used this liquid to take an OG reading. I then poured that sample into the fermentor minus a bit to taste. I pulled the strainer away and scraped out hop material then kept straining
• 8:25 pitched yeast
• Slid container and shook for ~2 min to aerate
• OG - 1.071 (wow!)
• Measured height in fermenter: 13.4 cm --> 19.8 cups / 1.23 gal. (calibration link^[@rev])
• Based on the same efficiency calculator, my "Ending Kettle Brew House Efficiency "is: 78% Note though that I didn't measure the volume before draining so this is probably a bit low (due to loss for the sample, and what remained in the hop trub)

Thoughts:

I really do not know whether or not I want to go back to the cooler method. It was certainly simpler and I am sure my overshoot of the temp will have a small affect, but when I later added heat at the setting number 3, with the thermometer in, and stirring, then cutting it when I wanted, it was okay.

I was pretty close to spot on with the volume. So a pre-boil volume of 1.7 is pretty good for my system (I had a bit less).

It is obviously really hard to judge flavor from just wort, but this tastes like a sweet IPA. I wonder if the bitterness got out of hand somehow. This can obviously change wildly

I read more about the style and I may have an issue due to the high-temp swing. A low mash temp makes the sugars more fermentable and by going too high, I may have moved into the other regime. That_may_ also explain the high gravities I registered

... I'll come back and add more later

2013-09-08 Update: Bottling

I am a bit early but I wanted to bottle while I was brewing other stuff (clean kitchen, equipment out, etc)

I will use a lot of the process from the IPA

Notes:

• Aim for 3 volumes (Afraid to go higher)
• 74F, 1.002 (==> 1.003 @ 60F, ==>8.93% ABV)
• Spilled some when the tube came out of the bucket while racking
• pulled out when it started getting trub. Maybe too early. not sure. better than last time
• 11cm ==> 0.98 gal.
• Calculatorsays 1.17 oz corn sugar.
• 0.378 cup water/oz sugar (from last time) ==> 0.442 cups=7.072 Tbsp ~=7 Tbsp=1/4 cup + 3 tbsp
• (6:16pm) added sugar water when cooled to 75. Stirred gently
• 0.98 gal= ~12 bottles. Maybe have 12 ready and I'll drink whats left. Or try to use more 11.2 oz bottles(2013-09-13 note, this is wrong math. 1 gal is 10 bottles or so)
• Filled around 6:50 (see comments below)
• Made 9 normally and 1 with lots of bubbling, pouring, etc (tried to get another hydrometer read).May be infected. I noted this one with tape and I wrapped it in a towel so if it is infected and bombs, it won't shatter the others

I thought I was getting the hang of the siphon filling. I had the attachment on and pressed into a bottle to start the pump. I then was able to control it and, with the clip, filled the first 7-8 with no problem. Around then, I had to hold and tilt it which also picked up some settled trub (is it called trub when it's mostly flocculated yeast?). Anyway, I then lost a lot because the siphon stopped higher than the tip of the thing. I really want to make a bottling bucket. But, until then, maybe next time, I'll use the trub tip for bottling too (not just racking) and with that, I can tilt it more and better control what I've lost.

Original Wordpress ID and Date: 6508, 2013-08-19_210345