After two weeks in the fermentor, the Honey Saison was ready to be primed and bottled. Taking that last gravity reading made me happy.
I was looking for 1.007 reading and I got a 1.006 reading instead. No issues there. The drier the better.
Reflecting on the fermentation, I didn’t push the temperatures as high as I could have. I was using ambient room temps to push the fermentor temp, which got the fermentation to the high 70s.
I could have used a heating pad to warm it up to the 80s and beyond, but with the yeast strain I was using was a blend and I didn’t think I needed to push the temperatures to higher than where I pushed them.
Tasting the hydrometer sample led me to believe this beer will finish dry. It also tasted more clove-y than pepper-y but that’s coming from a warm, non-carbonated sample. We’ll see.
Since this style needs to be highly carbonated, I calculated the amount of corn sugar I needed to be 6 ounces based on the temperature of the beer and the final volumes of CO2 I wanted in the beer. I don’t remember how much sugar I primed with when I brewed my other saison but it must have been a lot. I remember that beer having a nice lemon-y acidity to it and a thin body which was pretty refreshing at the end of a long day.
So the saison throwdown is on. Mike has been on vacation this week but that doesn’t stop his main competition from getting his submission ready to do battle.
As of the time of this posting, the beer has been in the bottle for 5 days. I hate drinking beer before it is ready, but I might have to chill one and see how it is coming along.
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