Saison

So the Stella is going to take forever in the dark before we get to enjoy it. But the good news is we were inspired by another beer locally that we both really liked. A local restaurant is pouring a unique Belgian Saison using telecherry Black Pepper and we just had to try this at home. So after searching and finally finding the pepper and making another trip to Adventures in Homebrewing we fired up the stove and 22qt pot to meld some flavors.

link to original recipe: recipe

The only changes we made to the mix were as follows:
Eliminate coriander and paradise seed in favor of 1oz of Telecherry Black Pepper (Crushed using a rolling pin and plased in muslin bag with Orange Peel)
Addition of some lemon peel grated, then 1/2 lemon peel sliced and placed in bag
We didn't have any Irish Moss on hand for the boil so this first batch isn't going to get it. I"m debating still if I want to add a little paradise seed and pepper in the secondary. I'll decide on that when the time comes.

Starting SG = 1.052


Link to Wikipedia explaining a little about Saison Beer

And were back

So we have gotten back on the homebrew bandwagon briefly, between moves between states, the local homebrew shops closing shortly after arriving in different locations, and lack of space, we have finally decided to try it again.  By we I mean I have done this several times before but the wife is new at it.  Thanks to the great knowlegeable staff at Adventures in Homebrewing we have gotten re-educated and supplied with ingrediants.

Our first batch to take off with is a clone of Stella Artois.  A beer I fell in love with while living in Leuven Belgium and have since been disappointed with how it taste when it arrives in bottle form in America.  Our trip to Europe together in 2008 also led my wife to really like this amazing brew.  So it was a fairly simple choice of how to start this homebrew phenomonon.

The recipe we used was one I found online searching through homebrew forums.
 recipe: http://brewersroundtable.com/library/stella-artois-clone-recipe.htm

I’ve made this twice and I swear its the closest thing I’ve ever had to a Stella Artois, so I felt it necessary to share. For all those stella fans.
YOU’LL NEED

3 gal of distilled water

1lbs Cara Pils

6lbs Mutons extra light

Wyeast 2007

3/4oz of Perle @ 7.8%

1oz Saaz @ 3.0%

1 Hallertau German @ 5%Steep cara @ 150F for 45 min, then remove Bring to a boil and add 3/4oz Perle and 1/4 Saaz -after 45 min add 1oz of Hallertua -after 40 additional minutes add 3/4 oz of Saaz for 5 minutes The key is the distilled water. One of the secrets to a pils is the PH, its very low. SO use the 3 gal of distilled in the boil, then after the boil top up with tap or spring water to about 5 1/4.
Let the beer at 70F until the fermention takes off, then primary ferment at 50 for 7-10days and transfer to secondary Then lager at 32-40F for six weeks Let go to room temp for a couple of days bottle or keg and lager for 4-6 more weeks below 50F

So as the first batch is sitting..........we wait