The other night the bartender accidentally opened a bottle of Firestone 15 Anniversary Ale when my buddy ordered a double jack. Later he offered us a discount on the bottle and boy was that a beautiful mistake!

I haven't brewed a saison yet, but just based on stuff I've read, I think you'd be fine to ferment at that temperature as it falls right within the ideal range for saison yeast.

+1

Except I would pitch at 60 if you can then let it free rise from there.

Great!

I've so far used the EKG for a House Ale and a Brown--both came out pretty good.

I'm just about to tap a keg of Moktoberfest that I used the Hallertau for. Got my fingers crossed for a good brew since I ruined the IPA I brewed the same day by dry hopping with too much Zeuss. ****ing thing tastes like onions now.

Could be a good base for a batch of French onion soup?

Trying to be optimistic.

I brew a decent amount of Saisons, I brewed 7 of them this year so far, all slightly different. I keep the malts similar, 70% Pilsner, 10% Munich, 10% Wheat/Rye/Oats, 10% simple sugars If I'm going for a bigger Saison. Mashed low at ~146-148 for 90 mins. Although I may change this up a bit, Im going to do a all Pilsner saison with noble hops, similar to Dupont. Dryness is key, Ive had some under attenuated Saisons (one of which was mine) and they are very odd.

I usually change up the hop profile for some variation, I use a clean bittering hop like Warrior when I'm using big Citrus American hops Amarillo/Citra/Centennial. Ive also done some more traditional hop schedules with noble hops, hallertauer, saaz etc that wer nice and earthy.

Ive been using WLP 565 for most of them this summer, but have 2 with ECY08 that I'll be kegging soon. Other people have issues with it stalling out but thats never been the case for me. I chill the wort in the mid 60s and pitch, let it free rise to room temp for 24 hours then hit with my heating pad on low for 48 hours ~82f, then turn the heating pad to high and ramp to 90f to finish. At which point I just turn it off and let it go back to room temp and primary for a total of 14-21 days.

I may modify this profile a little bit since I just built a better fermchamber and should be able to ramp to the tenth of a degree.

I brewed one this spring with tons of Sorachi Ace at 10, 5, and flameout, dry hopped with Simcoe which was one of my favorites, 1.065 SG and finished bone dry at 1.002.

Do you think this is because of your lower mash temp or more based on fermentation temps/particular strain of yeast?

Not sure actually, I mean I would assume its bc of my low mash temp and addition of simple sugars, but I do pitch the proper # of yeast cells per Mrmalty and aerate well so I guess its a combination of the 2.

But yea, a hot fermentation definitely helps it dry out.

That would be a large batch of soup.

I just tried it again last night and it's seems to be coming around a bit--the onion is much less pronounced as it continues to carbonate. Now instead of onion it just has a really pronounced "dankness" to it, which is more in character with an IPA.

Still a bit more dank than I would prefer but at least it's going to be drinkable.

haha, glad to hear that it's coming along. How many oz. of Zeus did you dry-hop with? Other hops in this brew?

Dry hop was 1 ounce Zeus and 1 ounce Cascade.

60 minute addition was Zeus and then Cascade at 20, 10, and 5. All homegrown and wet hopped--so I was guessing and planned the additions as if they were all on the high end of the AA range. Figured then I would either get a nice IPA, or if they were on the weak side of the AA range would get a decent APA. Prolly ended up somewhere around 70 IBU with an OG of 1.060 or thereabouts.

I did dry the hops that were saved for dry hopping with a food dehydrator but don't think I got the Zeus dried out enough. When I opened the package to dry hop they smelled a little funky. In retrospect I should not have used them.

Aha, I see, I thought there was some inherent flavor of the Zeus that caused it. It's a good lesson for next year when I actually get a yield from my hops plants: dry the ish out of them. Nugget and Cascade. Although, I don't see Nugget being mentioned/used a lot, so I'll have to figure out what to do with them. Anybody use them?

I've never used them but the highly acclaimed nugget nectar does. You could always try and clone that.

Im drinking a 2010 DFH Burton Baton atm, and to be honest I'm not a fan of this beer anymore. It just tastes like an oak bomb to me...I think Ive grown tired of this whole oak thing, Ive had many a beer that has been oak aged and in the end thats all I taste and its over whelming. Same goes for an ESB I sat on oak for a little bit.

I tend to like the beers aged in oak with Brett/bacteria much more, I think the flavors compliment eachother but big hops and strong oak clashes for me.

Side note: I had an Exponential Hoppiness from Alpine last night, oh my what and wonderful beer! I must have it again...

Gonna try and give this a shot tomorrow at my new place. Don't have a ferm chamber here so will try a bath method I guess. If anyone has tips on that lmk please.

Amt Name Type # %/IBU
11 lbs 3.2 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 96.6 %
6.4 oz Victory Malt (biscuit) (Briess) (28.0 SR Grain 2 3.4 %
1.00 oz Summit [17.00 %] - Boil 90.0 min Hop 3 77.5 IBUs
1.00 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Boil 12.0 min Hop 4 15.2 IBUs
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 12.0 min Hop 5 9.8 IBUs
1.25 oz Summit [17.00 %] - Boil 0.0 min Hop 6 0.0 IBUs
1.0 pkg American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) [124.21 Yeast 7 -
2.00 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] - Dry Hop Hop 8 0.0 IBUs
1.00 oz Summit [17.00 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days Hop 9 0.0 IBUs

You had me at "Im drinking a 2010 DFH Burton Baton atm" but then quickly lost me. I guess I am just a sucker for their somewhat over the top style but I love most of their high gravity stuff and grew to even more so when I lived 10 min from their brew pub for a year or so. Getting it on all on tap different though obv. Just had a bottle of 2011 Bitches Brew last night that was tasty as always.

On a different note: still no one is seeing wet hopped ales out yet!?

They should be out. Ours has been out for over two weeks now, and I wouldn't be surprised if harvest was later here than it is in the NW.

wet hop beers are out. I've come across them already. Gonna dig into my 4pks of Founder's Harvest Ale tomorrow

I hate u both. I've told two bottle shops in the area to alert me as soon as they get in and nothing yet. NC is biggest alcohol fail state comfirmed

There is a new bottle shop opening up 2 blocks from my house, and it is massive. So now I have a beer bottle shop and my Local Homebrew Shop both within 2 blocks. I might be broke come christmas...

Being bottled as we speak for nov release.

Just made mess in pants.

I went to a Cigar City tap takeover at a local beer bar last night and had some fantastic beers.

Citrus Wizard - new hoppy red from them, absolutely amazing. I'm not sure what hops they used, but this was literally like biting into an orange. Not a big nose, but huge citrus notes. I was very impressed.

Marshal Zhukov - just a great imp stout. The head on this one was a dark, rich chocolate and took 10 minutes to die down. Great roast and chocolate notes, one of my favorites.

Oblique Belgian Dark Strong - I should have known better, but I wasn't impressed. I should note that I'm not a fan of this style either though.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookie - brown ale base then it hits you with the oatmeal, cinnamon, and cookie notes. One of those beers where you take a sip and laugh because they nailed exactly what they were going for. Liquid cookies.

Humidor Cedar aged Jai Alai - One thing CCB knows is wood aging their IPAs. The cedar isn't overpowering, but gives this woody, peppery taste that is so unique. One of my favorites, the wood actually improves the Jai Alai base (which I also love).

Overall, a great night, Citrus Wizard was the standout, but very rough morning.

Sounds good, looked up citrus wizard and found this on BA.

This guy is an American red ale aged on orange wood, Spanish cedar, dry-hopped with New Zealand Motueka hops and aged on some citrus elements. What that all means is that this is a citrus bomb. Huge grapefruit flavor! Tasting room exclusive. We're selling growlers to go as well, both quarts and gallons! Come stop by and see if the wizard puts you under his spell.

EDIT: Corroborated here: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?p...00038243349595

That wizard sounds amazing.

U guys are beasts that brew.

I strive to start brewing, I don't want to do the kits tho, never done it, what's my first step? What's best read?