National Saison


Belgian Ale

This is a 2004 BJCP style 16c beer. The last bottle of my South Naperville Saison won first place in the Great Lakes Region First Round of the 2006 National Homebrew Competition so this beer was brewed to enter in the Second Round of the 2006 National Homebrew Competition.

Recipe: Belgian Saison
Volume: 5 gallons
Dates:
Ingredients:

Activity Log

Yeast Starter:

About 40 hours before the brew, boiled 5 ounces of DME in 1.5 liters of water and cooled. Shook to aerate, pitched yeast, fitted stopper and airlock, and placed at 75f.

Mash/Lauter/Sparge:

Heated 5 gallons of water to 168f in mash tun. Added grain and stirred to break any clumps. Mashed at 153f for 60 minutes adding head occasionally to maintain temperature. Raised to 168f to mash out and recirculated until clear. Sparged with 168f water to obtain 6.5 gallons.

Boil:

Boiled through break for 30 minutes and added first hops. Boiled for 50 minutes and added second hops. Boiled for 10 more minutes and added third hops. Removed from heat and cooled through counterflow chiller into 6 gallon carboy. Took specific gravity reading of 1.074. Rocked carboy on folded towel for 2 minutes to aerate. Pitched yeast, fitted stopper and airlock and placed at 75f.

Fermentation (target final gravity = 1.017):

Observations of primary stage (10 days @ 75 f) Filled 2 liter bottle 4/5 full, put at 30 lbs/sq in CO2 and placed in fridge. Took specific gravity reading of 1.032. Siphoned remainder to 5 gallon carboy. Fitted with stopper and airlock and placed at 72f.

Bottling:

Boiled 4.5 oz of corn sugar in 600 ml of water, cooled and placed in bottling bucket. Siphoned from carboy into two 2 liter bottles until 4/5 full and put under 30 lbs/sq in CO2 and placed in fridge. Took specific gravity reading of 1.030. Siphoned 4 gal into bottling bucket. Filled and capped 38 bottles and placed at 72f.

See National Saison labels here.

Results:

This beer won 2nd place in its category at the 2006 Happy Holidays Homebrew Competition held by the St Louis Brews club. You can see the scoresheets from the competition here.