Frankenstein Saison

[mjohnson]

So I just moved across the country, no longer have a basement that is 60-65 year round, but wanted to brew. Also, no banjo burners allowed at the apartment. Whats a brewer to do. I decided to try a 2.5 gallon all grain on the stove. Saison seemed good cause I can ferment at room temp. Found a local homebrew shop in Trenton: Princeton Homebrew.

Here's what I ended up with:
4lbs Pilsner 2 Row
1lbs Light Munich
.5 Crystal 20 (found this in my equipment bin - crushed with a rolling pin!)
.5 demerara (added at 5 min)
.5oz cascade 5.7AA FWH (90 min - not sure if thats a good thing. We'll see.)
.3oz cascade 5.7AA (30 min)
.25oz cascade 5.7AA (5 min)

Mashed @ 150 for 60 - dropped to 148 over the hour (not bad for 1.6 gallons in a 10 gal mashtun! Thought the head space was going to kill me. I put a bit of tinfoil on top of the mash. Not sure if it did anything or not.)

Boiled for 90 min.

Chilled to 75 (coldest my tap water gets to for my immersion chiller) and pitched Wyeast 3711 French Saison. Fermenting at 72-75ish. Post boil gravity is 1.062. So, I think IBU's (27ish?) and gravity are on style, but not sure about the cascade. Don't really care I guess. I made beer.

It was great. My 3rd all grain. I've gotten to the point where I understand the process well enough where I didn't stress. Was very enjoyable. Wort tasted great. 2.5 gallons in the was actively bubbling well before 12 hours.

Love it when a not-plan comes together.

 

[Pappers_]

I do this sometimes too, its the 'leftovers' beer. And congrats on your third all-grain!

 

[mjohnson]

The cool thing was how relaxing it was. With so many people building really complicated (and extremely cool) brewing rigs, its easy to forget that really all you need is grain, water, hops, yeast, and a heat source. Its also easy to forget that you don't need to brew 5 or 10 gallons. So if anyones just starting up and is intimidated - don't be. Use what you've got and just make what your equipment allows! The important thing is to brew.