2024 Hail Storm Summer Saison (batch 359)

So ... I brewed Sunday. I almost didn't, but I decided to go ahead and get it done.

I placed an order at one of my favorite Homebrew Shops on Friday expecting that I'd pick up the ingredients on Saturday, but various family activities made it so I never made it.

So, as of the morning of Sunday, I didn't have my malts.

If you follow this blog, you know that I usually get started brewing early in the morning, and for awhile I was thinking I'd get the malts sometime Sunday and then just wait until next weekend to brew.

But ... something made me decide to go ahead and brew. This is actually the first beer that I've brewed since Q2.

Hail Storm Summer Saison

I got the mash started ridiculously late at 11am. 

The yeast I had for this beer was harvested from 2024 Melting Stream Spring Saison (Batch 354), which was kegged at the beginning of May.

Usually for harvested yeast, especially one that had been sitting this long, I'll make a starter a day or two before brew day, but I had not done this for this batch.

So, I pulled wort from the mash, and did a quick "Vitality Starter". 

Other than the late start and the yeast starter made the day of the brew, everything else went as usual.

Usually for my Seasonal Saisons, I tend to do overnight mashes, and obviously I didn't do that, so the mash was significantly shorter than usual for this style.

I ended up with a low pre-boil gravity, but decided to just go with the lower gravity knowing I'd end up with a lower ABV beer.

And ... everything went as planned through the boil.

I meant to only chill the wort into the 80's, but I got distracted and chilled down close to 70, which is higher than I usually pitch yeast, but not was high as I try to hit with saisons.

I'm not sure what time I ended up getting done. I do know it was much later than usual, but I think the brew day was probably a pretty typical 4 hours or so.

The yeast was rocking the next day, and the hop aroma in the basement was amazing. 

I'm planning on kegging this beer around the 3rd of August, but part of it depends on long it takes my next keg to kick.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to drinking my Summer Saison.

As always, stay tuned on the regular SheppyBrew Channels to see what is happening with beer and other things: SheppyBrew's Facebook Page; Sheppy's Twitter Feed; SheppyBrew's Instagram Page; and SheppyBrew's Website.