Arctic Vortex and Pork Butt

Here at the SheppyBrew Home Brewery, we love the Three B's.

Beer. Barbeque. Bicycling.

Like many Sundays, I did all three yesterday.

I actually started my brew day on Saturday. First, I made a yeast starter from the Wyeast 3711 French Saison yeast that I harvested last time I made a Seasonal Saison. 

I also mashed in before I went to bed to do an overnight mash.

This is one of the reasons I love my Anvil Foundry. It allows me to maintain some heat on the mash overnight. This is great to save time ... especially for styles of beer that should end up dry.

Like ...

Arctic Vortex Winter Sasion

This is the 9th time that I've brewed the Arctic Vortex, which means I've been doing the Seasonal Saisons for 9 years. 

Honestly, it doesn't seem like it was that long ago that I brewed my first Arctic Vortex, but yes, 2014. 2015. 2016. 2017. 2018. 2019. 2020. 2021. 

And 2022 makes 9.

Wow!

As I mentioned above, I started the mash the night before, so when I got up, I pulled the basket up and let it drain, turning up the heat on the Foundry to get the wort up to boiling.

After about 15 minutes, I squeezed the bag and then covered the kettle to let it heat up faster.

It did take over an hour to get the wort to boiling temperature. I would certainly like the faster heating capacity of 240 volts, but I like the flexibility of the 120 volts more, so I'll live with the slower heating time for now.

The pre-boil gravity and volume were basically right on target.

The boil went well. I added all the hops and other boil additions right on schedule.

My post boil gravity was right on target, even without adding the sugar addition that the recipe calls for.

So I left it out.

After the boil started, I got a pork butt on my weber kettle going.

Hickory smoke in the morning smells so Guuud! Yum!

After the boil, I chilled the wort. It didn't take long with my Jaded Hydra.

I had the yeast pitched and the fermentor down in the basement before 8:15 AM

I continued to smoke the pork until it hit about 160 degrees.

Then, I wrapped it in foil and let it go while I went on a wonderful January bike ride.

When I got back from the ride, the yeast was already showing signs of fermentation.

And, the pork butt was ready to pull off the kettle. I put it in a cooler to let it rest until dinner time.

Pulled pork sandwiches are yummy.

Now, the fermentation is going strong. I'll be drinking this before February. Stay tuned to find out how it turned out.


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Go Blackhawks!