St Thomas Summer Saison

Strong Belgian Ale

This is a 2015 BJCP style 25B beer.

Recipe: Belgian Saison
Volume: 5 gallons
Dates:

Brew date: Jul 4, 2020
Transfer to secondary: Jul 18, 2020
Bottling : Aug 3, 2020

Ingredients:

Water source: basement utility sink filtered dispenser
Yeast: WLP568 Belgian Saison Yeast Blend

Grain bill

	Potential sg pppg	Points per gal
9.7 lbs Pilsener Malt 1.0 lbs White Wheat Malt 0.33 lb Rolled Oats	1.037 1.037 1.032	358.9 37.0 10.7
	Ideal: Pre-boil: Target:	406.6 406.6 406.6	/ 5 gal = 81.3 >>> 1.081 * 70%/ 6 gal = 47.5 >>> 1.048 * 70%/ 5 gal = 56.9 >>> 1.057

Pellet Hops

0.6 oz Sterling - 9.7% avg alpha Utilization: 85 minutes @ 1.050 = 22.4%	*IBU = 0.6 9.7 * 22.4 * 0.75 / 5 = 19.6**
0.5 oz Czech Saaz - 2.8% avg alpha Utilization: 30 minutes @ 1.055 = 17.0%	*IBU = 0.5 2.8 * 17.0 * 0.75 / 5 = 3.6**
	Total IBU = 23

Other
4 oz Rice Hulls in mash

Activity Log

Yeast Starter:

About 72 hours before the brew, let yeast sit at 72f. About 48 hours before the brew, boiled 5 ounces of DME in 1.4 liters of water for 10 minutes and cooled in cold water bath. Shook to aerate, pitched yeast, covered with foil and placed at 72f.

Grain:

About 24 hours before the brew, milled the grains.

Mash/Lauter/Sparge:

Added grains to 3.5 gallons of 170f water. Single-infusion mash at 150f for 60 minutes. Recirculated to clarify then sparged to collect 7 gallons of wort.

Boil:

Boiled 90 minutes. Added hops at indicated times. Chilled with counterflow chiller to fermentation temperature of 72f. Took specific gravity reading of 1.054. Ran wort from chiller into funnel with filter so wort dropping into carboy helped aerate. Pitched yeast, fitted stopper and airlock, and placed at 72f.

Fermentation (target final gravity = 1.012):

Observations of primary stage (14 days @ 72 f)

high krausen 1 1/4 inches
7-5-2020: 3/4 inch of foam, 74 bubbles per minute
7-6-2020: 1/8 inch of foam, 34 bubbles per minute
7-7-2020: partial foam, 24 bubbles per minute
7-8-2020: no foam, 22 bubbles per minute
7-9-2020: no foam, 19 bubbles per minute
7-10-2020: no foam, 18 bubbles per minute
7-11-2020: no foam, 16 bubbles per minute
7-13-2020: no foam, 10 bubbles per minute
7-14-2020: no foam, 8 bubbles per minute
7-15-2020: no foam, 6 bubbles per minute
7-16-2020: no foam, 4 bubbles per minute
7-17-2020: no foam, 2 bubbles per minute

Siphoned into 5 gallon carboy taking specific gravity of 1.010. Fitted with stopper and airlock and placed at 72 f. Captured 2 liter bottle until 3/5 full. Pressurized with 30 lbs/sq in CO2 and placed in fridge.

Observations of secondary stage (14 days @ 72 f)

7-19-2020: no foam, 1 bubble in 148 seconds

Bottling:

Took specific gravity reading of 1.009. Siphoned into 2 liter bottle until 3/4 full. Pressurized with 30 lbs/sq in CO2 and placed in fridge. Boiled 5 ounces of corn sugar in 2 cups of water for 10 minutes. Cooled and placed in bottling bucket. Siphoned remainder from carboy into bottling bucket. Filled and capped 42 bottles and placed at 72 f to condition.

See St Thomas Summer Saison labels here.

Results:

This beer won second place in its category at Brixtoberfest 2020. Scoresheets can be found here
This beer won first place in its category at The Drunk Monk Challenge 2021. held by the Urban Knaves of Grain homebrew club. Scoresheets can be found here
This beer won third place in the Missouri MASH-in 2021