Maisonette 3.0

For the third iteration of my mosaic hopped grisette/table saison I decided to make a number of changes. While I was happy with the last version I felt it needed more hop presence, less yeast character, and a touch less wheat. For this batch I reformatted the entire grain bill swapping Spelt Malt for the wheat and Floor-Malted Pilsner for the American 2-row. I also am adding more mosaic hops to really emphasize the berry, citrus, and funk that they give. The batch will be split 4 ways with half receiving "Brett" Brux Trois and the other 3 gallons split in 1 gallon containers each with their own yeast.



An additional new feature of this version is that it will be the first beer I have brewed outside on my new Darkstar burner.

Fermentables:

Amount

Fermentable

Maltster

Use

PPG

Color

6.5 lb	Pilsner (DE)	Weyermann	Mash	37	2 °L
2.5 lb	Spelt (DE)	Weyermann	Mash	37	3 °L
6.5 oz	Turbinado	Any	Boil	44	8 °L

Hops:

Amount	Hop	Time	Use	Form	AA
0.35 oz	Mosaic	55 min	Boil	Pellet	12.8%
1.0 oz	Mosaic	10 min	Boil	Leaf	12.8%
2.0 oz	Mosaic	0 min	Boil	Leaf	12.8%

Yeast:

Name	Lab/Product	Attenuation
Saccharomyces "Bruxellensis" Trois	White Labs WLP644	85%

Notes:
9/7/15 (brew day)
Added 2g CaCl, 1g CaCO3, and 8g gypsum (CaSO3) to mash
Water: 8.5 gallons filtered Burtonsville water
Mash Water 3.5 gallons
Mash Thickness 1.25 quarts/lb
Strike Temperature 168
Mash Temperature 155
Mash pH: 5.24
Mash Time 60 minutes
Mashout: 1 gallon boiling, raise to 168
Sparge Water: 4 gallons
Sparge Temperature: 155.5
Sparge Time: 45 minutes
Boil Time: 55 minutes (x2 due to wort being split into 2 halves)
Cooled to ~70 degrees in ice bath, ~30 minutes per each half. Flameout hops added after moving to ice bath.
Split wort to one 3 gallon better bottle and four separate 1 gallon jugs. 2 quart yeast starter of Trois pitched into 3 gallon batch + a little bit in a container with a little less than a gallon of extra wort.
Weihenstephan Hefeweizen yeast, Tired Hands dregs, and Lacto Del pitched into each of the other three 1 gallon containers.
Massive fermentation in the 3 gallon better bottle, with airlock shooting off after only 3 hours and replaced with blowoff tube.

9/8/15
Tired Hands and Lacto Del batches also required a blow off by morning after brew day. Hefeweizen and extra Trois batches showing slow signs of fermentation.

9/9/15
1 gallon Trois batch showing vigorous fermentation and also received a blow off tube. Hefe version finally started bubbling during the day, not as intense a blow off as the others but solid fermentation activity.

9/13/15
Early tasting notes - Trois version is quite fruity (pineapple) but not as dry as I would like. Lacto Del is lightly sour but not overly exciting. TH version is nice, similar to previous versions but with less yeast and more hop characteristics than the last two batches. Hefe version is bland without much character from hops or yeast, might need to add something to make it worth drinking.

9/18/15
Moved the main Trois batch to keg and topped off with a little of the Tired Hands version (less than a quart). Moved to keezer at 33F, attached to gas, and cranked regulator up to 30 PSI. Hopefully this will carb very quickly.

9/20/15

Served this beer at the 4th Annual DC Homebrewers BBQ at 3 Stars Brewing Company. Got lots of feedback, mostly positive, including a few votes for the best homebrew there.  People seemed to agree that this was a nice, easy drinking beer, but it didn't do quite enough to blow people away and catch their attention as some of the other beers did. Seem to have enough left to get in a full tasting.

9/22/15

Tasting:

A: small white head sits on top of a cloudy pale yellow beer. Pretty for a cloudy wheat beer.
S- moderate fruity hoppy an yeast derived aromas dominate giving an impression of pineapple and guava.
T- more flavorful than the nose implies with more tropical juicy character. Fairly clean yeast character for a "saison" and it is hard to tell where the hops end and the yeast begins. The spelt and pilsner give a light sweetness and just a touch of grainy character.
M- moderate carbonation. Very dry but with a touch of lingering stickiness on the tongue that may be from the yeast or the spelt.
O- while not really a saison, more of an interesting take on an American wheat, it's an enjoyable and refreshing light summery beer, which is exactly what I told the people I served it to at the BBQ. Maybe my least favorite of the 3 versions so far, but still a nice beer. I would love to use Trois again after this beer, just not for this specific beer.