Hail Storm Summer Saison

Saisons are an interesting style of beer. Sometimes I really like them. Sometimes I really don't. For the most part, the ones that I really like are a bit lower in alcohol. They are also ones that either don't use non-beer flavors (ie anything other than hops yeast water and malt), or use them sparingly enough that the makes yeast and hops can shine through.

For quite awhile, I've known I wanted to brew a summer Saison. Last summer, i thought the article Billy Brew's Summer Saison was going to be the thing that pushed me to do it. I never got around to a summer Saison last year. I did brew my Arctic Vortex Winter (black) Saison, but never got around to a more tradional Saison.

Until Sunday. Sunday I brewed Hail Storm Summer Saison.

The brew day went pretty well. I started pretty late for me, and let the mash go through church. My preboil gravity was low enough that I had to add some DME to bring it up.

The boil went as planned. I added in an ounce of hops with 5 minutes left in the boil and then another 2 hours in after the boil was done in a 25 minute "whirlpool". This "whirlpool" period is basically just turning off the flame, but not chilling. This steeping of the 2 ounces of hops should make for a very hoppy beer.

The immersion chiller got the wort down to about 70. Then I racked into the carboy and put that into an ice bath in the gott cooler. I left it in there long enough to get the wort to around 60 degrees.

I pitched the yeast at this cold temperature. I hope this doesn't cause fermentation problems. We'll see.

I am looking forward to drinking this beer in a few weeks. I'll let you know how it goes.