brew day: Saison sans Merci

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Time is utterly without mercy, fleeting by in blur until there’s just a midden heap of brew days, barbecues, and fishing trips that could have been. This is about closing down summer and the thirties, about getting back on the blog horse, grabbing what’s left of the daylight in the midst of transitions. A silent brew session in anticipatorily fall-like weather. Porter that isn’t quite ready to be porter, a saison turning dark for autumn.

Well, at least I’ll have some damn beer on tap.

Saison sans Merci
Target OG: 1.055

Grist:

Mash:

  • 152°F for 75′
  • 170°F for 10′

Boil:

  • German Brewer’s Gold (pellet, 6.2% aa) at 60′ to 30 IBU

Fermentation:

  • Chill to 85°F, O2 and pitch with Wyeast 3724 Belgian Saison – for that classic flavor
  • After ~48 hours, pitch Wyeast 3711 French Saison – for quicker attenuation, because time is without mercy

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Sweeney Astray Irish Red Lager

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Citizens, I’ve had pints (many pints, if we’re being honest) of Caffrey’s and Smithwick’s in front of peaty turf fires an empty pint glass’s throw from the north Atlantic, but this is not going to be about peaty turf fires and Caffrey’s and Smithwick’s and throwing pint glasses. Mostly. Continue reading

zeit für brauen: 21st century American amber lager

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Beer style guidelines: some homebrewers I’ve encountered in the past two decades don’t want to brew anything that can’t fit into an established category (or even deviate from a fixed recipe), while others hate them with an ad-hoc and improvised passion (and can’t or won’t stick to a recipe no matter what). Continue reading