Saison time again

Summer has finally arrived in Bristol! Or is this just a late spring heatwave? It seems like so long since the sun came out I can't remember what season this weather is most representative of. But whatever the case, yesterday was hot so I brewed OUTSIDE! That's right, alfresco brewing has come to Bristol. Though it was only halfway through the brew day that I decided to move outside, so rather than being a relaxing day in the garden, there was a significant amount of scrabbling around for extension leads and general flapping about to get ready in time!

Ingredients

Amt Name Type # %/IBU 2.64 kg Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (3.9 EBC) Grain 1 58.3 % 0.88 kg Maris Otter Low Colour Pale Malt (2.5 EBC) Grain 2 19.4 % 0.76 kg Wheat, Flaked (3.2 EBC) Grain 3 16.7 % 0.25 kg Corn, Flaked (2.6 EBC) Grain 4 5.6 % 67.00 g Hallertauer (2012) [2.80 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 5 24.4 IBUs 1.00 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 15.0 mins) Fining 6 - 25.00 g Saaz [4.15 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 7 3.6 IBUs 33.00 g Saaz [4.15 %] - Boil 2.0 min Hop 8 3.0 IBUs 46.00 g Saaz (2012) [3.10 %] - Aroma Steep 0.0 min Hop 9 0.0 IBUs 8.00 g Saaz [4.15 %] - Aroma Steep 0.0 min Hop 10 0.0 IBUs 1.0 pkg French Saison (Wyeast Labs #3711) [50.28 ml] Yeast 11 -

So, it's another saison using the 3711 yeast but this one has no sugar addition. The two recipes I've made so far both had sugar additions, and I'm not sure whether I like this. There's a slightly sharp, cidery taste in the beer that I think might come from the sugar. I've heard from another source that the 3711 doesn't perform too well with sugar additions, so I looked around for a recipe without one. Happily I found this recipe on the mad fermentationist's blog here. It's his Lomaland saison recipe and so I have high hopes! Plus, the flaked corn is not something I've used before, so following this recipe I should be able to put together a recipe of my own that I'm happy with.

Alfresco boiling!

Brew day went smoothly but boiling outside may have resulted in greater boil off, as the final volume was down one litre on expected to 22L. Actually, this may also be down to the amount of hop material in the boiler. I used a total 179g of hops, so this probably absorbed quite a bit of wort. Minor panic with hops again as I didn't have the correct alfa acid percentages in beersmith. Had to re-jig the amounts to take account of this, but worked it all out in time.

The only other problem was that one of the extension leads I was using tripped out. I hadn't unwound it fully and I think it overheated or something. Switched to the other element for the rest of the boil, but don't think the extension lead has recovered. Might be time to get a new one!

Post boil, the wort went into the fermenter with O.G. 1.046, which is only one point above expected.

And if you're interested in such things as water treatment:
Lactic Acid: 9ml to mash to bring pH down to 5.46.
Gypsum: 4g to mash water, 4g to sparge water.
Epsom salts: 2g to mash water, 2g to sparge water.
Water left out overnight for chlorine to evaporate. Campden tablet added to drive off any chloramine.