Honey Saison Brew Day

Yesterday was my honey saison brew day. The grains I selected for the beers had been shipped in time.

For hops, I had a good stockpile of them from over the last few months. I was buying packs from the local homebrew shop near works for when I needed them. It turned out that I used them for the saison.

The yeast starter I had ready at room temperature and looked good when I inspected it before I lit the burner to get the brew session going.

One thing I decided to try was pre-packaged brew salts that were measured and combined by the homebrew shop to be added to Boston municipal water. The measurement were derived so that after adding the salts to the water, the profile of water chemistry would match that of a famous brewing area’s water source. I choose Munich since it was close to what I wanted for brewing the saison.

Other things of note from the brew day were the low mash temp. I kept it in the 148° F for 60 minutes although I could have mashed for longer. I felt confident that I would successfully convert enough of those starches to sugars within the hour.

I also didn’t brew for 90 minutes to take the extra step to prevent DMS in the final beer. Man, I was living on the edge yesterday.

Since this was a honey saison, I did measure out a pound of honey for the boil. I added it with 15 minutes to go. It probably won’t be much of factor in the finished beer from an aroma or flavor standpoint but it should help the finish to be dry.

There may have been an added ingredient to the brew that I haven’t officially announced yet. Hey, this is a throwdown. You need to bring something special to the party.