l'Etranger Saison

Having done the Table Saison a couple of weeks ago, I wanted to brew something a little bit more substantial. This is a pretty straightforward saison with Brett. I've been looking forward to using some of the Al B/East Coast Yeast bugs. I would have loved to get a hold of the Farmhouse Brett blend or use the Brett blend #9 (which broke open during shipping). Brett Blend #1 is described as "Three individual Brettanomyces isolates from lambic producers combined to give an aggressive brett presence in any beer. Vigorous, funky and acid-tolerant, the blend can be added at any stage of fermentation and is excellent for priming or re-yeasting." I'm assuming that there's some Brettanomyces lambicus and probably some bruxellensis, though I'm not sure and don't know the proportions. Also, I've read that his blends are pretty assertive so I'm going to pitch the Brett in the secondary when the gravity is around 1.010-1.012. Hopefully this one is ready to drink in a couple of months.


l'Etranger Saison

Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Total Grain: 11.44 lbs
Anticipated OG: 1.050
Anticipated SRM: 3.3
Anticipated IBU: 17.3
Anticipated Efficiency: 70%
Wort Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Grain
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85.0% - 9.73 lbs. Castle Pilsener
10.0% - 1.14 lbs. Weyermann White Wheat Malt
05.0% - 0.57 lbs. Rye Malt

Hops
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1.25 oz. Czech Saaz (Pellet, 4.00% AA) @ 60 min.

Extras
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1.00 tablet Whirlfloc @ 10 min.
0.50 tsp Wyeast Yeast Nutrient @ 10 min.

Yeast
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White Labs WLP565 - Belgian Saison
East Coast Yeast ECY04 - Brett Blend #1

Water Profile
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Profile: Carbon filtered Waco

Mash Schedule
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Sacch Rest 30 min @ 149 F

Notes
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Brewed on 24 April 2011 by myself

Mashed in with 4.7 gal (1.8 qt/lb) and rested at 149 for 20 minutes

Yielded ~7.5 gal of 1.043 wort (calculated efficiency 75.0%)

Boiled for 90 minutes yielding 6.26 gal 1.051 wort (evaporation rate 11%)

Chilled to 85 degrees F in 33 minutes, racked to carboy and chilled to 72 degrees F in chest freezer.

Pitched 1.55 l starter into ~4.8 gal and aerated with aquarium pump and stone for 15 minutes

Moved to closet with ambient temperature of 76 degrees F

28 April 2011 - Gravity 1.015

30 April 2011 - Gravity 1.010. Racked to secondary and added Brett. Stored in closet with ambient temperature of ~75 degrees F.

23 May 2011 0 Gravity 1.003. Aroma is perfume, some very faint Brett character (more pie cherry than funky barnyard). Odd grainy/cereal aftertaste, maybe some green apple.