Saison Split batch

Ceallach on the left, Saison 2.0 (French Sasion Yeast 3711) on the right

Thanks to the help of Kelly I was able to brew my Saison split batch this past Saturday. one was what I am dubbing Saison 2.0/ French Saison.  It has the exact same hop and fermentables profile as my first Saison only using 3711 instead of 3724.  The second was my first attempt at a hibiscus Saison I'm calling Ceallach.  with minimal research I came across the recommendation of using 4 oz of dried hibiscus for a 5 gallon batch, and putting it in at flame out.  In sampling the dried hibiscus, and some assumptions based off of the flavor profile of goose islands Fleur, the hibiscus will add a berry tart flavor with some astringency.  In the future I plan on experimenting and doing more research on a) using more hibiscus at the end of the boil b) dry hopping in some way c) making a hibiscus tea then boiling it down and d) using fresh hibiscus. In comparing the zest of a regular orange, an oddly colored grape fruit, and a mandarin, Kelly and I decided that the mandarin gave the best flavor and was rather mellow.  I believe it will add  a nice background flavor to the more upfront hibiscus, but I am not entirely sure what to expect from the addition to citrus zest to begin with so we shall see.

  In reality because of the need to through the hibiscus and mandarin zest needed to be added at the end I had to do two separate boils.  The good thing about this is that I actually did full wort boils for these two. the bad part is I simply cut the recipe for a partial boil in half so the French Saison will be about 10 IBU's higher then my first saison.  Another possible issue is that I pitched both of these saisons around 82 degrees while last time I was able to get it down to the mid 60's and then allowed it to ramp up. we'll see if this actually has any effect.  The big plus of the day was the Irish Moss made a huge difference in the racking process and there is far less trub in this batch. Starsan also turned out to be pretty easy to use. Both of the saison's OGs clocked in around 1.066.

Next up: I am going to be brewing an American Saison tonight using the 3724 yeast cake from my first saison, as well as an American hop profile and a partial mash of Munich and Malted Wheat.  I don't have a super clear idea of the right way to partial mash, and this is the first time I've racked on top of a yeast cake that probably has a fair amount of excess trub so we shall see how it turns out.

As for my Saison goals I seem to be doing pretty well.  by mid-October I will have been able to compare the two main choices in Saison yeasts, I will have gotten a rough draft of Ceallach to muse over, and I will have also developed a better understanding of what some all grain will bring to the table.

Ceallach

     According to Goose Island, many saisons are named after family members leading to Goose Island's saison being named after the brewer's daughter "Sofie". Along these lines I am planning on naming one of my finalized saisons after the she-devil.  Given that everything sounds better and fancier in french I decided to see if there was a French version of the name Kelly. Wikipedia and various dubious baby naming sites claim Kelly is strictly Irish, Scottish, and English in origin.  Apparently the given name Kelly is derived...

From the Irish given name CEALLACH or the surname derived from it Ó Ceallaigh.

I decided that Ceallach was a decent enough sounding name and that its meaning was possibly the following

The Irish word 'ceallach' translates to 'recluse' or 'hermit'

Among the meanings given in various 'name origin' sites for 'Ceallach' are bright-headed, war, strife or contention and some say that it is the Irish word for 'war', which it is not. The Irish word for war is 'cogadh'. The Irish word for 'bright' is near enough but it is spelt 'geal'. One site said that it could be from 'ceall', the genitive plural of 'cill' which means a church or monastery. 

That seems like quite a wide range of potential meanings to work with, so I'll just go with "bright-headed."  I plan on brewing a saison that is both bright in flavor and in color.  My intial thoughts are to brew a spiced saison with hibiscus and blood orange or blood orange zest.  I'm not sure if this will be part of my august mini batch this summer or come into fruition this following late spring.


The word on the forums is 4 oz of dried hibiscus is usually used for a 5.00 gallon batch so I'll use 2 oz. There has been some discussion of dry hopping or making a strong tea and adding it to the primary fermenter, but for now I think I'll just stick with all of it at the end of the boil (really flame out).


The next question is, where do you get it?


Some advice from beer advocate:

Any Mexican market should have it, but it will probably be called "jamaica" or "flor de jamaica". Its used in Mexico to make a tea that is quite delicious.. 

 The second potential ingredients is orange zest. for this I think I'm going to take a look at the saison Buffoon recipe in Radical Brewing and cut its estimates in half.  I'll get an exact recipe in a week or so and look into where I can get the additional ingredients.

Saison 2.0 and further thoughts

I've been hoping to make use of our  non air conditioned house, and continuing to develop an understanding of saisons.  my first objective was to establish what mainstream saison yeast I preferred.  therefore I am planning on brewing two 2.5 gallon batches, one using the exact same recipe as my first saison except using 3711 yeast instead of 3724.  the second mini batch will use the same malt, hops and yeast but will also include a certain spice regiment.  given that I hope to become competent in saisons I am planning on  amassing a list of potential saison ingredients.  I think I am going to give an attempt at my Saison Ceallach before next season. To sum it up I have 3 Saison Objectives before next spring: 1) decide which yeast I like better 2) do some research and become familiar with potential grains, hops, and spices I could use in a saison. 3) come up with a Ceallach recipe.

First Saison Recipe

%	LB	OZ	MALT OR FERMENTABLE
71%	5	0	Briess Pilsen Light DME
14%	1	0	Briess Bavarian Wheat DME
14%	1	0	Sugar, Table (Sucrose)
	7	0

Batch size: 5.0 gallons

USE	TIME	OZ	VARIETY	FORM	AA
boil	60 mins	0.75	Nugget	pellet	13.0
boil	1 min	1.0	Goldings	pellet	5.0
boil	1 min	1.0	Styrian Goldings	leaf	5.4

Boil: 3.0 avg gallons for 60 minutes

Original Gravity

1.062 measured

(1.062 estimated)

Final Gravity

1.014

(1.012 to 1.014)

Color

3° SRM / 6° EBC

(Yellow)

Bitterness

24.1 IBU / 10 HBU

ƒ: Tinseth

BU:GU

0.39

Alcohol

6.4% ABV / 5% ABW

Calories

204 per 12 oz.

Bottling/ Second Brew Day Reflections

Ok sooo the actual brewing was an improvement from the first time. the swirl while cooling and stainless steal scrubber worked pretty well, i had no hand dealings this time. though it still was pretty slow.  I had to constantly scrape it with a spoon which wasn't sanitized for forever.  might look into 

• some thicker stainless steel, 
• irish moss, 
• and possibly a funnel with a higher top.

bottling on the other hand was a semi-fiasco. 

• firstly, I mixed the priming solution, then half assedly poured too much in then added water to dilute then poured some out so I don't have a good idea as to how much went in.  
• Secondly, I couldn't not get the hang of the god damn tube. spilled everywhere and touched everything. that thing I clogged earlier is a must

Later potential issues with the saison:

• first there was the possible chocolate infection with the starter.
• the saison was apperently going really hard but within 2 or so days after fermentation it slowed quite a bit to between 16 -20 seconds per bubble.  I did aerate it some but probably not enough.  
• also another idea is that I really didn't pitch that big a starter.  I should figure out how to make better starters and what my pitch rate should be.
• also I thought I had made a decent water lock using the sanitized solution but two weeks into fermentation there was mold growing on the top of it.
• the hose also fell out of the water several times so I am strongly leaning towards only using the S shaped locks from now on.

Bottling combined with second brew day!

July 12th

make a starter

    -boil 160z of water with 1/2 cup of DME

    -how much DME did I have to begin with?

    -also need an ice bath for this!

sanitize

    -starter bottle

    -funnel

    -stopper and fermenter lock top

select bottles

    -make a oxi clean bath

    -put them in

-assemble the bottling bucket

things I still need for brew day

    -5 gallons of water

    -4 bags of Ice

    - 1 pound of table sugar

July 14th

.5. dump out metal tub

.75. see how the scale works

1.put bottles in the Dish Washer

2.sanitize carboy

    -let it sit 5 minutes

    -pour sanitizing solution out into sanitizing bucket 

3.sanitize everything else

   -thermoteter

   -blowout hose

    -beer thief

    -funnel

    -siphon equipment

    -stainless steel cover

4.clean out the brew kettle

5. add 5 gallons of water and bring to a boil

6. 60 min measure out .75 oz of nugget and put it into the boil.

7. 45 minutes add 2 pounds of DME

8. at 15 minutes add the rest of the DME

9. at 5 minutes add the sugar

10 at 0 min add the styrian golding and goldings

11. make the ice bath on top of the dishwasher

12. put the brew kettle into the ice bath

13 stir vigouroulsy for 10 seconds then let sit for 5 minutes

14. attach stainless steel to the siphoning equipment and siphon from the side of  the brew kettle

15. add 2 gallons to the carboy

16.siphon the wort

17. take a hydrometer reading

18. pitch the yeast.

19. seal the fermenter and aerate rocking back and forth for a minute or so.

19. put in my closet and put on a blow off hose with a sanitized solution.

bottling

21. record ending specific gravity

22.mix 2/3 cup in 16 ounces and boil for 15

23.pour it into bottling bucket

24.siphon beer into the brew bucket and stir gently.

25 Fill to about 3/4 inch from the top of the bottles.

26. cap them and put them downstairs for 2 weeks

27. open on the 28th.

First Beer Process Reflection

Sinistral Warrior in the fermenter

process changes:

the three majors issue that I can remember off the top of my head were

1. having all the ice melt in the cold bath

2. potential contamination in the transfer from the boil pot to the carboy

3. cold shocking the yeast after fermentation -I got down to 70

4. prolonged exposure to temps above the yeast appropriate range.

5. there may have been oxidization occuring during the pour

6. oxidation during the secondary fermentation proccess- I didn't have enough beer.

7.found our fermometer can't be submerged

potential solutions:

1. a) buy  a lot more ice. probably 4 bags and don't dump it in until the very end of the boil.

2. technically I should be able to siphon.  according to the homebrewers companion I should do the following 2 things

    a) create a whirlpool effect: "stir your boiled wort in a vigorous circular motion, taking care to minimize aeration.  This will take about 5 to 10 seconds.  Replace the lid on the pot and let it sit for 5 to 10 minutes. ahh if they suggest taking this long to settle then I might want to do the cooling up high

3. just pay attention. also didn't seem to do any damage.

4. won't be a problem with the saison, but we have yet to retry the swamp cooler method.  upgrade to a chest freezer. -get good demensions

5. siphon from first to secondary from the bench that we the siphon can be on the bottom of the secondary.

6. a) brew slightly larger batches. b) put a filter over the primary and flip it over into a straining funnel so the beer submerged in the trub drains out.

7. put it up higher on the fermenter

The Birth of Dionysus (Brewing)

Yes, I know, he is the god of WINE. However, Dionysus the god, in my opinion, relates far more closely to the culture and merits of modern day craft beer drinkers then those that imbibe his own beverage these days.  I'll back up this claim in a later post, but as a taste, simply answer this question: how many wine drinkers today do you see chugging from the bottle while urinating on the floor as pictured above? Not many. And I am positive that if Dionysus had to make a choice between the grain and the grape he would choose both, but further forced to choose he would take the imperial red and its company over a red wine and its associates. I have made this blog primarily to keep track of my ideas and experiences in brewing.  I don't intend to enter the attention-whoredom that blogging commonly is.  Spectators are far more likely to find personal reminders and to-do lists then gossip and commentary.  It is said that Dionysus was birthed out of Zeus' thigh, and hopefully I have the thigh capacity to birth  similarly energizing, inspirational, and influential brews.  At least, eventually.