Monday, April 06, 2015

Melting Stream Spring Saison

Do you remember about SheppyBrew's Seasonal Saison series of beers?

It all began in the winter of 2014 with Arctic Vortex Winter Saison.

It includes a Summer Saison (Hail Storm Summer Saison) and an Autumn Saison (Falling Leaves Harvest Saison).

But, I skipped Spring. As obvious as it should have been, I didn't think of doing a Saison for every season until that first Spring was over.

But, Spring is back, and now I was finally able to add a Spring Saison to the series. I brewed it Saturday.





Sunday was Easter and my youngest son's birthday, so I knew I would not be brewing that day. Instead, I got up very early Saturday morning and got my mash going. Then I went back to bed.

When I woke up again, the sun was up and the mash was ready to sparge.


I also threw in a bunch of first wort hops.

The Spring Saison is my hoppiest of the seasonal series, and I decided to throw in all the same noble hops that I had used for Ello Poppet Czech Pilsner. I picked this combination because the Ello Poppet turned out so delicious.


This Spring Saison is the lightest in color, and the simplest grain bill with only Belgium Pilsner and White Wheat.

It is also going to be the highest in alcohol. I am hoping that the Wyeast 3711 French Saison yeast ("The Real Super Yeast") will be able to bring this beer pretty dry. A low mash temperature for 3 hours should help with that. I also added some honey as a simple sugar to help drive the attenuation.


Everything about the brew day went great. My OG turned out a little higher than I had designed the recipe for, but I figure that is fine.

I pitched the yeast at 64 degrees.


Sunday morning the fermentation was well underway and the temperature was at 66 degrees.

I am thinking that I should be ready to keg around the 18th and ready to drink around the 24th. We'll have to see how the fermentation seems to be going, though.

I'll be sure to let you know how it goes.

Go Blackhawks!


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