Falling Leaves is, of course, the Autumn version of my Seasonal Saisons series of beers.
It is an amber, obviously, darker in color than my Spring and Summer Saisons, but lighter in color than my Winter Saison. Most of the color comes from a Dark Munich malt from Gambrinus Malting Corporation, so there isn't any caramel flavor typical of most amber beers. You can think of it as the Oktoberfest of Saisons.
It has a large late-hop addition of Saaz hops giving it a pleasant noble character in the finish.
It is designed to be about 6% ABV, and should finish fairly dry like all Saisons.
Last year's version was delicious, and I am 100% positive that year's version will be too.
I added pumpkin to the mash, but not as much as last year. I also did a protein rest on the mash. I think I'm going to take that protein rest out next year.
Everything on the brew day went pretty smooth. My initial temperature on the saccharification infusion was way too high (part of the reason I don't think I want to do the multi-step mash next year). I think I got it down with ice quickly enough to keep the wort very fermentable, but we'll see how the fermentation goes.
I ended up with the wort right at 1.052, which matched the plan exactly, but the volume into the fermentor was not quite 5 gallons. This isn't great yield, but I'll live with it.
I pitched at about 58 degrees, but ambient temperature in my house got it up to 68 by day one and 76 today. Actually, the main fermentation is about done. I'll just give it another 10 days or so to do some clean-up.
If one of my kegs empties, I expect I'll be drinking this Falling Leaves Autumn Saison by Halloween.
Stay tuned on this blog, the SheppyBrew website, my twitter feed, and the SheppyBrew Facebook Page for updates on how the beer turns out.
Go Blackhawks!
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