Kegging Session

Kegged both the saison and wheat beer this past sunday. Saison never got down below 1.014, and the wheat also ended up a little sweet at 1.015. I think I shocked the yeast with the wheat when I put the carboy into the swamp cooler on day 2. Should have done that from the start. Lesson learned again. And the saison temps just were not consistent enough, won't do another one without a brew belt.

On the positive side, both beers taste good. The wheat is pretty good considering I just made up the hop schedule with no real idea of what I was doing. Same for the saison, it is definitely spicy. Will be interesting to see what some carbonation/aging does to these 2. Cheers!

Saison slowly getting there.

The saison is still slowing going down. OG was 1.055, at 1 week:1.035, 2 weeks:1.021, 3 weeks now:1.015. Still about 10 points high. I swirled the bucket today and am going to attach a heating pad to try and get the temps up into the 80's for another week. We'll see how it goes.

American Wheat

Brewing an american wheat for a camping trip I'm going on with some friends in a few weeks. Recipe is:
5# Pale 2-row
4# Wheat Malt
1# Carahelles
0.5 oz. Galena (12.4%AA) @ 60 min.
0.5 oz. Galena (12.4% AA) @ 5 min.
WB-06 Dry yeast
Missed my mash temp by about 5 degrees, so I ended up mashing at about 147-149 for an hour, might dry it out some. We'll see about og, should be around 1.055 for 6 gallons. Cheers!

Saison Still Going...

Checked the saison at 1 week and 2 weeks, the sg is still falling and has a little ways to go yet. At one week, sg was 1.035, warmed temp up to about 80 or so, and at 2 weeks sg had dropped to about 1.021. I think it should get down to near 1.005, but just needs more time and high temperature, which is unfortunate because the weather here is starting to cool down. We'll see how it goes!

Saison Brew Session

So I brewed the saison yesterday with my dad helping me out. Brewing went well, hit mash temp of 145 deg right on, mashed for about 70 minutes. Collected 7.5 gallons, boiled down to about 5.5 gallons in 90 minutes. Hit the og of 1.056 for 82% efficiency. Pitched yeast at about 72 degrees, fermenting away in the basement at 74 degrees. Very short lag. We'll see how it goes. Cheers

Belgian Saison

So, Wyeast released some limited edition strains for the summer. I picked up a pack of WY3724, Belgian Saison, since I wanted to make a saison this summer after reading about the style in BYO and trying Smuttynose's Farmhouse Ale last year. Here's the recipe I came up with, no real rhyme or reason to the hop schedule and varieties. We'll see...
7lbs 9 oz. Pilsner Malt
1 lb 5 oz. Light Munich
1 lb Flaked Wheat
2 oz. Saaz (3.0% AA) pellets at 60 min.
1 oz. Liberty (3.2% AA) pellets at 5 min.
Whirlfloc at 15 min.
Slurry from 2 liter starter of WY3724
OG of 1.055 at 80% eff. for 5.5 gallons

Chinook IPA

So the IPA I made using some hops I dug out of the freezer is in the keg. Ended up at about 1.009, really dry, which is what I was shooting for. The problem I have with this beer is it's not as bitter as I thought, which makes some sense since the hops were from the 2005 crop. But, it is really fruity/citrusy, I think as a result of the Cascade and Bramling Cross hops used as flavor/aroma additions.
We had a party this weekend and everyone seemed to enjoy the IPA, so it can;t be all that bad. Guess I can choke down the other keg! Cheers.