What if you could go to a beer event and try amazing beers, find out about industry trends & issues and talk to some of the biggest names in California beer?
I don’t know about you, but this is the kind of beer event that gets me hyped. Having gone to all the previous California Craft Beer Summits, I’m excited about this year’s summit.
3 days of activities including 28+ educational seminars, an expo where you can talk to manufacturers, suppliers, and vendors while sampling beer from all over California. And it’s that’s not enough there are Food and beer pairings and the summit ends with a beer festival on the State Capitol featuring 160 California breweries.
Every one-year-old needs a beer brewed specifically for their birthday party!
A week or so ago I put a poll question on Facebook, asking what beer I should brew for my grandson’s 1st birthday party. Saison just edged out IPA.
Brewing a Saison as my first batch of homebrew after my move to Sacramento seems to be fitting. Sacramento was once home to one of my favorites, Odonata. And I’m expecting it soon to be home to one of my new favorites from Urban Roots Brewing & Smokehouse.
Strangely (or way too obvious) both come from the same brewer extraordinaire and really nice guy, Peter Hoey.
Now I’ve never seen a clone recipe for the Odonata Saison, it did inspire me to brew a number of Saisons. Including one for my daughter’s wedding that was aged on Brett and peaches.
This photo was taken by JILL HEWSTON of ALLYSON MAGDA PHOTOGRAPHY
We some time and equipment restrictions (I’m still unpacking my equipment), I thought I would brew a fairly basic Saison that would come in right around 5% ABV, a perfect beer for summer.
So this is what I’m thinking
Grain Bill
88% Pilsner Malt
6% Munich Malt
5% Wheat Malt
1% Carapils Malt
Hops
I’m going to see what’s available when I hit the homebrew store. The plan is to keep the IBU’s (as if anyone cares anymore) to around or just below 30. I will most likely stick with a 2 hops varieties, with additions at 60 min, 10 min, flame out and dry hop. It might be nice to try using some of the newer varietals for this batch.
Yeast
White Labs WLP568 Saison blend has always worked really well for me. I should probably stick with what works on this batch.
If all goes as planned, this beer will be kegged and on tap just in time for the birthday party.
Here is one of my Saison recipes that I brewed back in 2012.
Just a quick update, the electrical installation is set to begin.
I hired a electrician to take care of the wiring side, but I will be doing all the grunt work. I’ve been a little scared to measure how far I need to dig the trench for the conduit, but I’m guessing it comes in about 75′ with a little tunneling to get under a small section of sidewalk.
The Details
50 amp sub-panel to provide enough power to run a small AC unit, refrigerator, lights and a handful of outlets.
If all goes well I will be able to move my fridge in soon and plan my first brewday. This will give me more time to plan the rest of the build-out.
Question
What type of material should I use for the interior walls?
4/14/18 Update: the trench for the electrical conduit has been dug. Tomorrow I will break-out the concrete and weather permitting, the wiring goes in on Monday.
Homebrewing has always been one of those things were I had to find space to do it. Kitchen, garage, backyard and maybe an unused bathtub. It was always about putting everything back in it’s place, but often misplacing that thing you need right now.
With the move to Sacramento, came the ability to start fresh with a new space. My space to configure how I wish to.
So this 10′ x 12′ shed will be my new brewing space. This is just the start. In the next few months, the plan will start coming together. Stay tuned.
I love homebrewing, but it can also be a pain in the ass. Planning, cleaning, cleaning and more cleaning. As enjoyable as that sounds, I sometimes need a little motivation and inspiration to get things going.
Inspiration!
I normally don’t brew clones, so It’s rare when another beer gets me inspired. So I was surprised when my newest inspiration hit me, it was a beer….Well a photo of a beer.
While cruising my instagram feed, I found this post from my friend @_eima of this lavender, purplish beer from Tired Hands Brewing called Prismatic Sea. I made a note of the post so I could come back to do a little investigation. The beer is described as an IPA brewed with oats and Butterfly Pea flowers, using Hull Melon and Simcoe hops.
Testing out the Butterfly Pea Flowers in a waterThe uncarbed version a little lighter
I looked on-line and even emailed the brewery to find out more about using the Pea Flower. Mostly tea recipes came up in my on line searches and the brewery never responded to my email. So I was basically on my own.
STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.054
Final Gravity: 1.012
ABV (standard): 5.5%
IBU (tinseth): 11.28
SRM (morey): 3.76
pH 5.28 Post Boil
pH 4.07 Post Fermentation
FERMENTABLES:
3.5 lb – American – White Wheat (50%)
3.5 lb – German – Pilsner (50%)
HOPS:
0.25 oz – Simcoe, Type: Pellet, AA: 13, Use: First Wort, IBU: 10.48
0.25 oz – Denali, Type: Pellet, AA: 13.9, Use: Boil for 1 min, IBU: 0.8
0.7 oz – Denali, Type: Pellet, AA: 13.9, Use: Dry Hop on day 7 for 5 days
2.0 oz – El Dorado, Type: Whole Leaf, AA: 15.2, Use: Dry Hop in keg
OTHER:
50 g – Whole Butterfly Pea flowers (dried)
MASH GUIDELINES:
1) Temperature, Temp: 122 F, Hold for 20 min
2) Temperature, Temp: 154 F, Hold for 40 min
3) Fly Sparge, Temp: 168 F, for 60 min
Mash Thickness: 1.25 qt/lb
WATER:
909 Pale
Glacier Vending Reverse Osmosis
Gypsum 13.5 g
Calcium Chloride 5 g
Lactic Acid 7 mL
All added in the mash
YEAST:
Fermentis / Safale – American Ale Yeast US-05
Yeast Pitch Rate 1.15M cells / mL / °P
Starter: No
Form: Dry
Attenuation: 78%
Fermentation Temp: 68 F
After 3 days, allowed the temperature to rise, and topped out at 72 F
BATCH NOTES:
10/2/16 – Brew day
10/9/16 – Cold Crashed
10/14/26 – Kegged
10/14/16 – Added 50 g whole Butterfly Pea flower in the keg
10/14/16 – Added 2 oz whole leaf Galaxy hops in keg
TASTING NOTES:
Color – Purple to lavender to blue, it really depends on lighting. The head has the slightest purple tinge.
Aroma – Fruity citrus with hints of candy.
Taste – Soft bitterness up front. An easy drinking malt sweetness, but finishes dry with a slight lingering bitterness in back of your mouth.
Overall Impression – This drinks like a dry blonde ale. Some of the dryness might be due to the Butterfly Pea Flower, but it’s not enough to really worry about.
This might be more of a gimmick beer than a style. That being said, the color really throws you out of whack. The beer looks sweet, like candy. The El Dorado hops also gives off that “candy like” hop aroma. The beer has some sweetness, but not worthy of the color. Would I brew it again? Not any time soon. If I did, I would bump the IBUs to the mid 40’s. It will be interesting to see how this beer ages in the keg. I will post updates if there are any significant changes.
Threefrenchs: A Fermented Exploration 