Inspiration
This is my Left Fields Farmhouse Saison Series. The idea behind this series is to explore saison yeast strains (along with mixed fermentation), brewing techniques, malt composition and water profiles. I honestly can*t wait for this beer to ferment out. I just got my hands on Omega Lab*s C2C yeast: A “coast to coast” blend of a saison strain from a famous Northeast U.S. brewery (hill farmstead hill farmstead hill farmstead STOP) and a Brettanomyces strain from a Northwest U.S. brewery. The blend results in a fast developing fruity and funky farmhouse ale. Next, Ive opted for 30% Raw Wheat in the grist. This recipe is based loosely off of HF Florence, so I used unmalted wheat and 2 row. The raw wheat I used is a British Columbia grown organic red wheat: A Canadian heritage wheat that boasts exceptional flavour properties while remaining un-altered by modern genetic modification. As it happens, this malt has also been used by a couple other local breweries.
Boil Time: 70 min
Batch Size: 4.2 gallons (ending kettle volume)
Boil Size: 6 gallons
Boil Gravity: 1.035
Original Gravity: 1.050
Final Gravity: 1.002
ABV (standard): 6.2%
IBU (tinseth): 16.75
SRM (morey): 4.55
Fermentables
8 lb - American - Pale 2-Row (69.6%)
3.5 lb - Belgian - Unmalted Red Wheat (30.4%)
3 oz - German - Acidulated Malt (1.6%)
Hops
6.4 g - Simcoe, Type: Pellet, AA: 12.7, Use: Boil for 60 min, IBU: 15.56
0.5 oz - Saaz, Type: Pellet, AA: 3.5, Use: Boil for 0 min
0.5 oz - Saaz, Type: Pellet, AA: 3.5, Use: Whirlpool for 20 min at 170 °F, IBU: 1.97
Mash Guidelines
1) Cereal (only the Raw Red Wheat), Temp: 162 F, Time: 60 min
2) Infusion, Temp: 147 F, Time: 60 min, 146-148
3) Sparge, Temp: 170 F, Time: 10 min, 170F
Yeast
Omega Yeast Labs - C2C American Farmhouse
Water
Ca2: 36
Mg2: 0
Na: 0
Cl: 38
SO4: 37
HCO3: 0
2.25 grams (0.65tsp) CaCl added to Kettle (assuming 28L collected)
1.6 grams (0.34tsp) CaSO4 added to Mash (assuming 13.9L)
Post-Brewday Notes
Brewed May 10th
Fermentation begins at 66F, free rise naturally to around 68F with activity which began within 5-8 hours)
Day 2, ramp temperature up slowly to 75F
Tasted on June 6th, dry, and already so very farmhouse Brett forward. No off-flavours. Seriously looking forward to this carbonating.
June 10th, bottled and kegged
For my first time, I have embarked on blending beer for this batch! In August last summer (nearly a year ago now), I brewed an amazing Brett Saison with my brewing buddy under the name Backalley Brewers - a beer made from Four Winds and Logsdon dregs, Yeast Bay's Saison Blend and Crannog Ales hops. This beer was aged for roughly 6-7 months and bottled. The final gallon and a half was racked off into a gallon carboy with 680g of cranberries and the last 2L were dosed with 0.5oz of oak chips. So, today I had the pleasure of carefully creating blends of all three beers (Bretta with cranberry, Bretta with Oak and St. Etienne). After careful consideration and a light day-buzz, I settled on two blends. One was bottled, the other kegged.
Bottled portion: The bottled portion was a blend of 50% Cranberry (called Cretta) and 50% St. Etienne - together named Crettienne. The blend had a lively nose, a lightly tart character from the cranberry (which had been too strong in the initial batch) and a smooth mouthfeel. Honestly, a beer I can't wait to watch age and develop. Carbonated to 3.4 vol.
Kegged portion: The kegged portion became a blend of 7/8 St. Etienne and 1/8 of the Bretta on Oak Saison - still enough of the St. Ettienne to have it remain the same name. The Oak adds an extra dimension that is both subtle yet adds complexity/ another layer to the beer and a little bit of a sharpness that helps the beer *pop* out of the glass. This portion was also dry-hopped with an ounce of the most pungent Mosaic I've smelt. Again, really can't wait for this to continue to develop. Also carbonated to 3.3/3.4 vol.
Batch Size: 4.2 gallons (ending kettle volume)
Boil Size: 6 gallons
Boil Gravity: 1.035
Original Gravity: 1.050
Final Gravity: 1.002
ABV (standard): 6.2%
IBU (tinseth): 16.75
SRM (morey): 4.55
Fermentables
8 lb - American - Pale 2-Row (69.6%)
3.5 lb - Belgian - Unmalted Red Wheat (30.4%)
3 oz - German - Acidulated Malt (1.6%)
Hops
6.4 g - Simcoe, Type: Pellet, AA: 12.7, Use: Boil for 60 min, IBU: 15.56
0.5 oz - Saaz, Type: Pellet, AA: 3.5, Use: Boil for 0 min
0.5 oz - Saaz, Type: Pellet, AA: 3.5, Use: Whirlpool for 20 min at 170 °F, IBU: 1.97
Mash Guidelines
1) Cereal (only the Raw Red Wheat), Temp: 162 F, Time: 60 min
2) Infusion, Temp: 147 F, Time: 60 min, 146-148
3) Sparge, Temp: 170 F, Time: 10 min, 170F
Yeast
Omega Yeast Labs - C2C American Farmhouse
Water
Ca2: 36
Mg2: 0
Na: 0
Cl: 38
SO4: 37
HCO3: 0
2.25 grams (0.65tsp) CaCl added to Kettle (assuming 28L collected)
1.6 grams (0.34tsp) CaSO4 added to Mash (assuming 13.9L)
Post-Brewday Notes
Brewed May 10th
Fermentation begins at 66F, free rise naturally to around 68F with activity which began within 5-8 hours)
Day 2, ramp temperature up slowly to 75F
Tasted on June 6th, dry, and already so very farmhouse Brett forward. No off-flavours. Seriously looking forward to this carbonating.
June 10th, bottled and kegged
For my first time, I have embarked on blending beer for this batch! In August last summer (nearly a year ago now), I brewed an amazing Brett Saison with my brewing buddy under the name Backalley Brewers - a beer made from Four Winds and Logsdon dregs, Yeast Bay's Saison Blend and Crannog Ales hops. This beer was aged for roughly 6-7 months and bottled. The final gallon and a half was racked off into a gallon carboy with 680g of cranberries and the last 2L were dosed with 0.5oz of oak chips. So, today I had the pleasure of carefully creating blends of all three beers (Bretta with cranberry, Bretta with Oak and St. Etienne). After careful consideration and a light day-buzz, I settled on two blends. One was bottled, the other kegged.
Bottled portion: The bottled portion was a blend of 50% Cranberry (called Cretta) and 50% St. Etienne - together named Crettienne. The blend had a lively nose, a lightly tart character from the cranberry (which had been too strong in the initial batch) and a smooth mouthfeel. Honestly, a beer I can't wait to watch age and develop. Carbonated to 3.4 vol.
Kegged portion: The kegged portion became a blend of 7/8 St. Etienne and 1/8 of the Bretta on Oak Saison - still enough of the St. Ettienne to have it remain the same name. The Oak adds an extra dimension that is both subtle yet adds complexity/ another layer to the beer and a little bit of a sharpness that helps the beer *pop* out of the glass. This portion was also dry-hopped with an ounce of the most pungent Mosaic I've smelt. Again, really can't wait for this to continue to develop. Also carbonated to 3.3/3.4 vol.
Tasting Notes
June 10th, at packaging: Unblended beer looks red from the unmalted red wheat. The nose is low, throwing notes of spice, floral and a slight earthiness. Beer tastes full, dry, lightly grainy (raw grainy flavour), slightly rich, earthy and floral. This, however, will change quite a lot as it has now been blended with an oak beer and dry-hopped with Mosaic.
St. Ettienne: During the first 3-5 days of having kegged this batch, this was probably the best beer I had ever made. I was beyond thrilled at how complex, funky, fruity and aromatic it had become. The oak added a sharpness and extra character to the beer that I hadn't tasted become in my homebrew. This glimpse of amazing beer has made me realize that I should continue blending in the future as well. But then things changed. I got sick, forgot to take the dry hops out and didn't monitor the beer for about 4-5 more days, came back and it was developing a very unpleasant flavour. This flavour soon took over and was completely impossible to change. I let the beer go for another month or so before dumping. SO what did it taste like? I can still imagine it now - I was too choked to write about it at the time. It was like an off cheese (think moldy cheese) mixed with a fungus-like flavour with near vegetal notes. Honestly so bad I'll never forget it. Doing a diagnostic though, this beer is the same as Crettienne - which had no detection of this flavour - so I'm hoping that it was something to do with the dry-hopping or use of Mosaic hops in a saison. More on this to come.
June 10th, at packaging: Unblended beer looks red from the unmalted red wheat. The nose is low, throwing notes of spice, floral and a slight earthiness. Beer tastes full, dry, lightly grainy (raw grainy flavour), slightly rich, earthy and floral. This, however, will change quite a lot as it has now been blended with an oak beer and dry-hopped with Mosaic.
St. Ettienne: During the first 3-5 days of having kegged this batch, this was probably the best beer I had ever made. I was beyond thrilled at how complex, funky, fruity and aromatic it had become. The oak added a sharpness and extra character to the beer that I hadn't tasted become in my homebrew. This glimpse of amazing beer has made me realize that I should continue blending in the future as well. But then things changed. I got sick, forgot to take the dry hops out and didn't monitor the beer for about 4-5 more days, came back and it was developing a very unpleasant flavour. This flavour soon took over and was completely impossible to change. I let the beer go for another month or so before dumping. SO what did it taste like? I can still imagine it now - I was too choked to write about it at the time. It was like an off cheese (think moldy cheese) mixed with a fungus-like flavour with near vegetal notes. Honestly so bad I'll never forget it. Doing a diagnostic though, this beer is the same as Crettienne - which had no detection of this flavour - so I'm hoping that it was something to do with the dry-hopping or use of Mosaic hops in a saison. More on this to come.