Hoppy Brett Saison

Belgian Session IPA, Hoppy Brett Saison, American Farmhouse.....I'm sure there are plenty of other ways to name this concoction. Call it what you will, either way, it is delicious, refreshing, and sessionable, just like a solid Saison should be.

My intention was to have this be a table saison with awesome hop flavor and brett for complexity and fruitiness. Most saisons you see around these days don't drop below the 6.5% ABV mark. It's a shame because there is something awesome about a session beer with great flavor and complexity, which is what a saison was historically. Sometimes you just want to drink down a few glasses and not be on your ass. I think this brew has achieved my goal, although I think the half that I intend to bottle will meld together much better overtime compared to this fresh version.

Anyways, here's the stats:

Hoppy Session Saison - (brewed 12/18/13)
Size: 10.5 gallons
Boil: 13.0 gallons
OG: 1.042
Yeast: Repitch of WLP Sasion Blend, + WLP Brett B & C, WY Brett L

Grist12 lbs. 2-Row (78.7%)
2 lbs. Wheat Malt (13.1%)
1 lbs. Flaked Oats (6.6%)
1/4 lbs. Caramunich I (1.6%)

Water - (Corvallis, OR)
Treated water for chloramines with Potassium metabisulfite. Added 10 g gypsum/6 g CaCl to mash. Strike water pH = 6.825

Ca: 70.4 ppm            Cl: 51.9 ppm            RA: -27.5 ppm (as CaCO3)
Mg: 2.0 ppm             SO4: 106.8 ppm      Cl:SO4 = 2.1
Na: 17.6 ppm            HCO: 17.2 ppm

Hops
2 oz. each Sorachi Ace (14.7% AAU), Simcoe (14.5% AAU) & Mosaic (11.5% AAU) @ Hop Stand
IBUs calculated @ 10% utilization = 64.19 IBUs

Details
-Mashed at 154F @ 2qts./lb. Mash pH = 5.28. Stuck sparge PITA. New filter is too good, clogged easily. Chilled to 55F accidentally with plate chiller (ground water was really cold already).
-Stuck wort in fermentation chamber for a couple hours and pitched at 65F.
-Aerated 60 second pure O2. Set chamber to 72F.
-OG: 1.042. Initial pH = 5.25
-12/19/13: raised to 75F
-12/20/13: Raised to 78F
-12/21/13: Left for vacation, turned chamber down to 72F
-1/04/14: Brought inside to 68F
-1/07/14: Dry hopped with 2 oz. of Multihead in primary
-1/15/14: Brought outside to cold crash overnight
-1/16/14: Kegged. Aroma is fantastic, funk mixed with tropics, punched me in the face


Tasting - (1/26/14)
Appearance: Hazy yellow corn, white head, good lacing & retention.

Smell: Complex. Pineapple, lemon, barnyard (mostly hay/grass), black pepper, earth, rustic brett b quality, and bitter citrus rind.

Taste: Lemon & Pineapple dominant, with bitter citrus (grapefruit) rind in the finish. Light pepper, rustic, refreshing.


Mouthfeel: Medium high carbonation, medium light body, slightly prickly, dry, refreshing, lightly silky & tart.

Overall: Never had anything like this. Interesting play between the fruity hops (citrus rind/tropical fruit) and the yeasts. I love the aroma, tons of depth. The dry brett/saison yeast character mixed with the expressive hops creates a unique complexity. This does not carry as well into the taste, although the taste is still great, dry, refreshing, rustic and fruity, a great beer. I will definitely rebrew and tweak this recipe. I'm excited to see where bottle conditioning the other 5 gallons takes this beer.

3/1/14: Ran out of beer, so I kegged the other half rather than bottle it. ph = 3.98. Taste similar to the above, except a bit more barnyard in the nose as the hop aroma has faded (mostly right after you pour it). It has become more tart (as expected) and is now bone dry. Will probably loose the brett b next time.

Strong Sour

Usually my brews are well thought out. Use X yeast, pitch Y million cells per milliliter, and ferment at Z temperature, etc. In my quest to brew an astonishingly strong sour, no such approach existed. All the commercially available bacteria from major yeast suppliers have alcohol tolerances that peak around 8-10% ABV. The brettanomyces strains are capable of surviving in a much higher alcohol environment, working in conjunction with pediococcus to achieve super attenuation.

Most commercial strong sours are a product of blending, or rely on the acidity from fruit such as sour cherries. Blending was an option for this project, but even with blending you hit an ABV ceiling. If you are planning to blend a 13% old ale with some pale sour solera of a modest 6%, say 3 parts to 1, you are already at 11.25%.

Rodenbach foeder forest

There are straight, unblended strong sours that exist, such as Rodenbach Vin de Cereale, which is a product of a single foeder that's been aging for 3+ years. Some of these giant oak casks are 150 years old, so there is plenty of alcohol tolerant bugs that have evolved in this time living in the wood. Too bad the average home brewer doesn't have the luxury of a 150 year old foeder in their arsenal.

I chose to throw everything I had in my arsenal at this one. A healthy 3 liter starter of WLP670 American Farmhouse Ale was the primary pitch. This was co-pitched with a plethora of brett and bugs. Every commercially available strain of brett blended with a WLP566 Saison II and WLP530 Abbey Ale (from a previous brew), a fresh smack pack of Wyeast pedio, and an 8 week old starter of 20+ commercial bottle dregs. I am confident given enough time there is something in there that will get this beer where I want it, and if not, there's always blending.


Strong Sour - (brewed 5/26/13)

Size: 5.5 gal
Boil: 7.5 gal
Yeast: See above.
OG: 1.111

Grist

18 lbs. Maris Otter
3 lbs. Flaked Oats
3 lbs. Flaked Wheat

Kettle Additions

1.2 oz. Magnum @ 50 minutes for 17 IBUs
1 1/4 lbs. Dark Brown Sugar @ 30 minutes
1 1/4 lbs. Table Sugar @ 30 minutes

More beer ghosts popping up in my glasses!

-Mashed at 148F for 60 minutes. Aerated 2 minutes pure oxygen.
-Pitched at 70F, fermenting in the 68-70F range for first three days.
-Day four, temp dropping to 66F, added heat to finish out fermentation.

Updates

6/3/13: SG: 1.040

6/11/13: SG: 1.020

10/23/13: SG: 1.007, racked to secondary. There is actually already some lactic sourness developing, tastes like and imperial oud bruin, but too sweet for me still.

1/17/14: SG: 1.007. Really surprised to see no drop in gravity almost 3 months since the last reading! On the other hand, maybe not that unexpected since the ABV is sitting at 13.7% right now (93% apparent attenuation). The exciting part, however, is that it has developed more complexity and lost most of the sweetness I tasted last time. There are a few different levels of sourness (more tart than straight sour) on the front and back with the lactic in the middle, creating more depth. Definite alcohol warmth. The nose and finish really reminds me of some big bourbon barrel strong ales/sours. A tiny amount of astringency (in the finish mostly), as Jeff said he has detected in some of his strong sours in the comments below. This is probably contributing to the perceived barrel character. So far, my expectations have been exceeded.

Dozered - American Farmhouse

Today I had big plans to brew a low strength, pale, dry American Farmhouse. My plans took a turn when I mistakenly added one pound of Carawheat malt instead of a quarter pound to my grist. I decided to just go ahead with the brew anyways, and increased the base malt up to Super Saison status. Basically, the whole brew day morphed into a weird chance for experimentation, so reserve judgement. Who knows, this could be the best damn beer anyone has every tasted!

I have used WLP670 a number of times in the past, and really liked the results. It is a saison yeast (saison II?) with a brettanomyces strain (brett C?) and supposedly hails from Lost Abbey. My soon to be tapped kriek is tasting awesome at 10 months and used this strain.  I made a couple other Saisons last year with it and they all turned out great.  The one I bottled continues to get better and better. Your patience will be rewarded with this strain.

I had been fermenting in the 68-70F range in the past with this yeast, but decided to ferment high this time, being that this has turned experimental. The final change to my normal habits came in my brewing water. I jacked up the bicarbonate level to about triple what I normally use, but not nearly as high as historic Saison brewing water.

Saison with WLP Saison Blend

Dozered - American Farmhouse - (4/22/13)

Size: 5.5 gal
Boil: 7.0 gal
Yeast: WLP670 - American Farmhouse Blend, ~ 217 billion cells

Water

Ca: 125.0 ppm            Cl: 89.8 ppm                
Mg: 2.0 ppm                SO4: 188.4 ppm
Na: 42.0 ppm              HCO: 110.26 ppm
Cl to SO4 ratio: 2.1

Grist

12 lbs. Pale US 2-Row (1.7L)
1 lb. Wheat Malt (2L)
1 lb. Carawheat (45L)
1 lb. Wheat, Flaked (1.6L)

Crazy hot break from all that wheat!

Hops

0.50 oz. Chinook @ 60 mins
1.00 oz. Chinook @ 15 mins
2.50 oz. Chinook @ 0 mins

-Mashed @ 146F for 75 minutes. Mash pH 5.2. Aerated for 60 seconds with pure O2. Pitched at 74F. Temperature control set to 74F.
-OG: 1.071.

A rare bluebird brew day in Corvallis, OR

Brett Porn

Batch of American Farmhouse originally brewed in early February for a local competition. Just tasted it about a week ago and opened it up to this mega funk porn:

Brettanomyces Pellicle. Yep, this is how funky beers are made.

Did not seem ready to me, so I figured I would let it ride and enter something else.