Maisonette ‘23 - Mosaic Grisette

Appearance: Fairly hazy light gold color with a nice fluffy white head of small bubbles with good retention. Pretty much exactly what I’d expect in a saison.

Smell: Earth, spice, pine, citrus. Slightly more herbal (oregano/sage) and earthy/grassy than the floral and fruity chamomile and juicy-fruit gum I would ideally get. There are light elements of those fruit/flower components and enough white pepper to clearly be a saison though.

Taste: Leads with a moderately grainy malt flavor that then segues into some light juicy-fruit and pear like fruitiness with some grassy and herbal hop bitterness and moderate peppery phenols at the finish.

Mouthfeel: Moderate body and carbonation, surprising how full it feels given the low finishing gravity, though the yeast may have produced some glycerol that gives that effect. The carbonation being less than very high also doesn’t help the body and may be the biggest fault this beer has as far as a saison.

Overall: I’m not surprised this beer didn’t do well in one competition - while it’s a beer I like a lot, the mosaic hops always seem to cause confusion when this is entered as a saison. That said, I’m happy with the beer and find it to be similar to a lot of previous batches I’ve made, though not the best examples. There was a short period when the hop aromas had just started to fade where this beer seemed to be at the edge of what I’m aiming for but I now have to search hard for the floral and fruity characters I’d like to see pop here.

Notes for the future: I’ll likely go back to a Pilsner or Pale Ale Malt base for future batches and won’t necessarily go back for spelt over malted or unmalted wheat, I also think dialing back the wheat/spelt percentage would probably be a good idea. The Napolean and Rustic yeasts seemed to work really well here and I wouldn’t hesitate to use them again, although I might aim for a slightly higher fermentation temperature to increase the fruity esters. I also don’t think the higher hop load was a bad change, though doing a longer hop steep at moderate temperatures might be better than the flameout hop addition and I’m not sure the extra ounce+ of hops made much of an impact so I’ll likely go back to the 4 oz version in the future.

2/20/23: Brewday

Grain Bill: 5 pounds 6 row (Rahr), 1 pound Pilsner (Sugar Creek), 2 pounds spelt malt (Best Malz)

Hops: 5.35 oz Mosaic

Mashed at 152 for 30 minutes, which fell to 145 over that time before adding additional water to bring to 158 for another 30 minutes. Batch sparged at 170F.

.35 oz mosaic added at first wort and boiled for 60 minutes, 1 oz flameout hops added when cutting flame and immediately rapidly chilled. After reaching 170 the chiller was stopped and 2 oz mosaic added and let sit for 10 minutes. Temperature fell to near 150 during this time and chiller was started briefly to bring to 140. 2 more oz of hops were added and let sit for 10 more minutes before slowly chilling to 80F. Ran off wort into carboy, collected 5 gallons at 1.042 and pitched a pack of Imperial Rustic. Because the wort was under intended volume and over intended gravity, I boiled, chilled, and added another half gallon to reach 5.5 gallons at 1.038.

2/21/23: yeast is fermenting strong less than 24 hours after pitching with a decent sized krausen and plenty of airlock activity.

2/23/23: Krausen has fallen and the beer is no longer showing any signs of active fermentation. Sample shows 1.008. Smells terrific with juicy fruit gum and a touch of pine aroma but weirdly the sample is thin, not very flavorful, and roughly bitter, hopefully it just needs some time. Added Napolean yeast harvested from Hoppy Black Saison to attempt to dry it out further and do what it does.

2/24/23: No signs of activity, moved to a warmer area in the basement near a vent.

2/26/23: Gravity sample shows the beer has dropped slightly to 1.006 and is also tasting much better and fuller at this point, may have just needed more time but the Napolean may also be adding some slight character that improves the overall impression.

3/1/23: Kegged.

3/17/23: Tasting (notes were somehow lost, will need to redo, but photos below)

4/2/2023: This beer did not place in it's category at the DC Homebrewers’ Cherry Blossom competition receiving a 27 (which seems harsh in my opinion). One judge commented that everything in the beer seemed too subtle (I wouldn't agree with that) while the other knocked it for being too fruity and tropical (that's probably accurate). This beer isn't brewed "to style" for a saison so while other variations of Maisonette have been received well in competitions that use audience favorite style judging or when entered in specialty categories, I don't think it's worth entering in any more BJCP style competitions as a saison (other than the one that I've already sent it too).

4/4/23: Tasting, notes above.

5/1/23: This beer surprisingly placed second out of twelve entries in the Belgian Ale & German Wheat category at the BURP Spirit of Free Beer competition. The beer scored a 34 and was only beat out in the category by another saison that went on to win Best of Show for the entire competition.

Maisonette ‘22

After recently moving to a new house back on the east coast it seemed like a good idea to do a simple, easy, tried and true recipe for my first batch in a new environment and with new equipment. While most of my brewing gear from San Francisco made the trip with me I now have a yard and so am able to brew outside on a burner again for the first time in about 5 years. In addition to buying a Bayou Classic burner I also needed to adjust to other variable including a new (leaky) hose for providing water to the wort chiller, a new location for fermenting, and a new-ish water source (still WSSC water so it should be similar to what I used at my parents’ house)

In addition to a few new variables I also chose to make this specific recipe due to being super busy moving in and preparing my new house. In addition to brewing this beer today I am also building the collar for my keezer, assembling a grill, prepping for painting, and moving furniture in multiple rooms this week. Productive but exhausting work that only left room for an extract brew day with minimal interaction.

The recipe is pretty similar to a doubled volume version of the very first batch I made of this beer: dry malt extract, mosaic hops, saison yeast. One big change is that in the first version I made it used only about one third wheat DME whereas this really upped the wheat content with 100% Briess Bavarian Wheat DME. It will be interesting to see how this beer turns out with this high of a wheat content, I expect it to be fine but maybe not quite as enjoyable as the ~20% I usually aim for.

Tasting Notes:

Appearance: Light gold with moderate haze. Large white head with great retention. Looks somewhere between where this beer usually falls and a classic hefeweizen, darker and hazier than ideal but within range for a farmhouse style beer and pretty appealing all around.

Smell: Fruit and spice from the yeast dominate giving an even balance of banana and bubblegum with Christmas/baking spice aromas of clove and allspice. Moderate malt presence then shows with sweet honey and breakfast cereal character. Hard to pick up the hops specifically but the mosaic character seem to be just there, blending into the fruit and spice character giving slight berry and herbal characters.

Taste: Fruity up front with banana/bubblegum/berry character that quickly blends into a mix of honey-like malt notes, leafy bitterness, and a lingering peppery and clove like spice that lasts into the finish. As it warms the Mosaic hop character comes out a little more but is still largely drowned out by the pepper/clove and banana from the yeast.

Mouthfeel: Moderately low in body and moderately high in carbonation, keeping this one very drinkable. There is a touch of astringency in the finish but it isn't off putting.

Overall: This beer is a fine grisette/saison but lacks some of the subtlety of yeast character and complexity of hop character I go for with this recipe. The hops don't show through to the normal level I look for and the yeast seem to have produced both more clove like esters and more banana/bubblegum than the more subtle "Juicy Fruit"/Chamomile/pineapple characters I aim for. Part of that may be the temperature conditions being lower than expected in the beginning then fairly high, and part of it may be due to adding the hops at warmer temperatures in the hop stand than usual. Next time I will likely go back to all grain, cut down the wheat percentage to my usual ~20% and add most or all of the post boil hops closer to 140F. 

3/6/22
Brewday:
Measured out 6.5 gallons of tap water, added half a campden  tablet, then began heating on my new bayou classic burner. Added DME and stirred as much as possible until dissolved. Added .35 oz mosaic hops at boil. Added 1 oz at flameout and began cooling. After ~10 minutes stopped cooling and added another 1 oz hops at ~180F. Let sit for 10 minutes before cooling again. Added 1 oz at 150F and stopped cooling again for ~20 minutes. Cooled to 95F and moved to 2 separate 3 gallon carboys, each with half of remaining .65 oz of hops. Pitched half a pack of Wyeast Belgian Saison in each. Plan to add Wyeast French Saison to dry it out after giving the Belgian Saison a few days to create character.

3/11/22
Pitched an inflated pack of Wyeast 3711 French Saison split into each carboy. Yeast appeared to still be active but very slow. Ambient temperatures are far below ideal for saison strains in the low-mid 60’s.

3/16/22
Still showing slow signs of fermentation. The beers were placed next to the actively fermenting oatmeal stout in hopes the heat generated by those carboys would help kick start these but while those are overflowing with yeast activity these continue to just very slowly bubble with a thin layer of krausen.

3/17/22
Hydrometer reading shows this is only down to about 1.030 so it has hardly fermented. Taste is very sweet with a surprisingly high hoppy bitterness. Moved to an upstairs bedroom at around 72F (instead of the 62-64F basement). Hopefully the warmth re-ignites the fermentation but if not I'll probably add a yeast more capable of fermenting at the cool to moderate temperatures in a few days.

3/21/22
Gravity reading shows this has fallen to 1.015 so the higher heat definitely seems to have helped, but it should have a few more points to go. Sample is very tasty with lots of juicy fruit gum and grainy sweetness finishing with a pronounced but not overly strong bitterness. I don't think this will be one of my best batches yet but has shaped up nicely over the past few days and should be ready to keg soon.

3/24/22
Bubbling very slowly, seems about ready to keg.

3/26/22
Gravity down to 1.014, doesn’t seem to be going any further. Transferred both carboys to a single 5 gallon keg. Didn’t do a great job avoiding the trub and got more yeast and hop particulate than desired, hopefully that will settle out. Set keg to 10 psi in keezer at 32F.

3/27/22
Increased PSI to 15 and keezer temp to 40F.

3/30/22
Dropped temp back down to 33F and lowered PSI slightly. Seems fairly well carbonated. Taste is fairly fruity but a bit more bitter, rough, and hazy than usual. I think the higher percentage of wheat and adding a large amount of the hops as high as 180 may be part of the issue. Hoping a couple more days at cold temps clears some things up but doesn't seem like a bad beer as is.

4/2/22
Probably the most or second most popular of the 4 beers on tap for a housewarming party. Overall it's not my favorite version of this beer but is definitely a Saison with fruity and spicy characters and a touch of the things I like most about Mosaic hops.

4/13/22
Tasting night, notes above.

Maisonette 7.0

So I've moved straight beyond Maisonette 6.0 and directly to 7.0, what gives? 6.0 was brewed, I just didn't take great notes. It was "essentially" 75% barley (in this case Maris Otter), 20% malted spelt, and 5% sugar (turbinado). Why didn't I record it? Well, it's a complicated story that includes blending beer, stepped starters from dregs, and a beer that included a large portion of wheat extract. In the end the beer was a little lower in gravity than my typical batch but tasted pretty good and got strong responses at Homebrew Con where I was even interviewed by Basic Brewing Radio.

For 7.0 I took a few ideas (especially of using 6-row barley) from Dave Janssen's presentation on grisettes at Homebrew Con and used 6 row barley, with a blend of 4 adjuncts. Sound similar to my witbier recipe? It was actually a double mash day where the wheat influence came entirely from second runnings of the wit.

While the mash process was drastically changed from past batches the beer also under saw a slight tweak to the hop additions, still 4 oz of Mosaic but with 3.65 of them coming only post boil and in 3 separate hop steep additions of near equal amounts at 180, 140, and 120. The long whirlpool was influenced by my previous experience and Scott Janish's recommendations, while the temperatures of the whirlpool had more to do with personal experience and Jamil Zainashef's comments on Can You Brew It where he mentioned that flameout/whirlpool hops will still be above isomerization temperatures.

Fermentation was split between a starter of a repitch of 3724 for 3 gallons and 3 gallons with Jester King and Off Color dregs that had been previously used in variations of version 6.0.

7/9/16

Brew day

7/23/16

Fermentation still very active on DuPont half at 70F ambient temps. Tasting great so far, hoppy but in a juicy, fruity way, not the overly dank/hop bag character I sometimes get from Mosaic (especially when dry hopped).

Fermentation on JK/Off Colour half is much slower and beer is clearer but will give it more time. Less hops and more spice forward, good but not much Brett/funk.

8/6/16

It's amazing what a couple of weeks has done to these beers. The 'clean' half has had its hop bite fade substantially to the more expected juicy fruit/chamomile/pineapple character that I expect from this beer.

The 'Funk' version has much more pronounced Brett characters now with a mix of pineapple/overripe fruit and a touch of barnyard, pretty similar to most Jester King saisons I've tried. Racked both to 3 gallon kegs and added 10 psi of carbonation.

9/20/16

Tasting of bottled versions of each.

Straight version

Appearance: golden pale (lighter than the photo), fairly clear with a small but consistent head

Smell- Light banana, juicy fruit, light spice and citrus. Close to what I expect from this beer.

Taste/Mouthfeel- less fruit forward than expected, moderate spice, moderate body (a little too high).

Overall- less fruity and less refreshing than this beer usually finishes but still enjoyable.

Funk Version

Appearance- almost identical, less head retention.

Smell- light Brett funk, more classic hop character 

Taste/Mouthfeel- Brett funk, light sourness, some slight grape character, dry

Overall- while I had one person describe this as a "diacetyl bomb" I don't get much if any diacetyl. To me it's more funk/lightly sour/grape juice in a way that reminds me of some Jolly Pumpkin offerings.

Maisonette 5.0 Tasting and scores

My 4th version of Maisonette was easily one of, if not the, best beers I've ever brewed. Super fruity and flavorful but also delicate and refreshing, it encompassed everything I looked for in my grisette.  I enjoyed it so much that I intended to enter it in a few competitions. Unfortunately, I also enjoyed it so much that the keg kicked while I was bottling from it and I ended up not being able to send it in. Having already paid entry fees and with nothing else drinkable on hand, I decided to do a speed batch version, saison yeast blend after a few days (which included French saison yeast and Brettanomyces) that I knew would get it to finishing gravity quick.

The beer didn't excite me nearly the same as the previous batch, it was drier, less fruity, and overall fairly toned down. I added keg hops, mainly Azacca, which gave it some interesting character at first but even that faded after a couple days. With no time left and the entries already paid for I decided to bottle a few up and send into some competitions.

I received my National Homebrew Competition first round results today, where I entered the beer as both a clone of Oxbow Grizacca and as a table saison. I had previously received my results from the DC Homebrewers' Cherry Blossom Festival. Let me start by saying the scores are all over the place. In the Clone beer category in NHC the beer received a 40 and advanced to a mini-BOS round. On the other hand, in the Saison category the beer received a 22 with the judges notes including the words: stinky, sweaty, mustiness, autolysis, meaty, sour, oxidation! The scores from the Cherry Blossom festival (entered as a clone beer) were much closer to the clone beer scores from NHC than the saison scores with a 35 overall and mostly positive notes.

There's 3 ways to read this: 1) Beer (or at least this beer) is super subjective and the judges had very different tastes. 2) The beer had characters that judges were willing to forgive for a clone beer of a hoppy grisette but not in a strict saison category. 3) The one that ended up in the saison category was a bad bottle. In the end I think it was likely a combination of these factors with 3 being a definite possibility as this was my first time bottling off a keg for competition.

I decided to do a tasting and my own score sheet to see where I see this beer.

Aroma 8/12
Acid, fruity hops, spicy yeast phenols, some light pale malt, grass, a little barnyard, an occasional touch of solvent.

Appearance 2/3
Very pale straw, small white head fades quickly, lots of small bubbles throughout, very clear. Very nice looking beer.

Flavor 14/20
Less pronounced fruitiness than the nose, light pepper, no noticeable barnyard or solvent as the nose, light acidity, light bitterness in balance with the malt

Mouthfeel 3/5
Very dry and thin, even for the style, moderate carbonation is refreshing

Overall Impression 6/10
A refreshing light drinker but lacking in the hop and saison characteristics and with a little bit of funkiness that is out of place. Not a bad beer.

Maisonette v4.0

Between Two Succulents without Zach Galifianakas

Here once again is the latest take on my little house beer. Maisonette is a beer I first brewed in March 2015, which means that in less than a year it has gone from an extract batch brewed on a whim to by far my most rebrewed recipe. Part of what keeps me brewing this beer is that it consistently comes out enjoyable regardless of the variations applied. Maybe even a larger part is just how terrific my very first mini batch of it was and how difficult it has been to emulate. With that in mind I set out to once again split this batch 2 ways but with yeasts that should be closer to the yeast blend I initially used.

Brew notes: Pulled 8.75 gallons straight from the sink. Added 1/2 of a campden tablet, then 1 g Gypsum and 2 g CaCl. Missed my mash-in temp hitting just 144° before raising to 149° after 10 minutes. 50 minutes later I ran off, batch sparged with 170° water (to bring to 165° let sit for 15 minutes then ran off slowly over the course of half an hour before moving the wort to the burner.

Added .35 oz. hops and 6 oz turbinado at boil, 60 minutes later I cut the heat and added 1 oz. for 10 minutes before applying cooling. Applied cooling to 145° then added additional 2.65. Applied additional cooling after 20 minutes only to have the wort chiller begin leaking. A small amount of the chilling water made its way into the beer, and I had a hard time deciding whether to reboil or just move ahead but was on a time constraint so I tightened the loose connection after about 15 minutes of cussing and yelling at it and continued the chill. Reached 80° degrees after about 15 more minutes.

Split evenly between two 3 gallon carboys and pitched yeast. One full packet of Danstar Belle Saison and a quarter cup of BKYeast C2 Brett slurry in one half with a pack of Wyeast 3724 Belgian Saison in the other.

8 hours after pitching both carboys had fallen to near room temperature at 65° with the Belle/C2 version showing vigorous fermentation and the Belgian Saison just starting to bubble. 8 hours later both versions are actively chugging along nicely. Moved the carboys next to each other and wrapped in a blanket to allow them to maintain some heat.

12/20/2015
Belle/C2 version down to 1.004 gravity, while Belgian Saison version is still slowly bubbling away and only down to 1.029. Belle/C2 version kegged with 2 oz. bagged Mosaic hops.

1/17/2016
Belle/C2 version still on tap, pretty good, super fruity gooseberry/kiwi character from the hops, but not much else. Belgian Saison version down to 1.003 but still showing weak signs of fermentation (krausen and occasional off gassing). Tasting pretty great! I'm super excited to keg this one soon.

1/18/2016

Tasting:

Appearance- very pale in color, moderately hazy, with just enough clarity to make out some shapes behind it. Small but fairly stable and sticky white head. 

Smell- big sweet fruity hop aroma giving lots of gooseberry and a touch of mango and spice.

Taste- the hops are more subdued than in the nose with grainy, lightly sweet malt leading and the hops just giving a faint fruit salad character over top. Bitterness is cleansing but slightly spicy/astringent and stronger than I would like.

Mouthfeel- moderately thin mouthfeel, fairly low carbonation after a couple days in the growler.

Overall- a drinkable, likable, super fruity beer that isn't exactly what I'm going for. This beer seems to be heading more in the direction of an IPA without the bitterness than the juicy grisette I'm after. A fine beer, but off target. The Belgian Saison seems like the much more exciting option than this fairly clean/lightly spicy Belle Saison.

1/31/2016

Kegged the Belgian Saison version with the Belle/C2 version kicking.

2/6/2016

Brought a growler of the Belgian Saison version of this beer to the annual JamBEERee homebrew meeting between several DC/Northern Virginia area clubs (BURP, Grist, WortHogs, and DC Homebrewers). Received a lot of positive feedback mixed with a lot of confusion on what a Grisette is. I'm pretty pleased with how this batch turned out and plan planned to submit it to a few competitions.

2/19/2016

Tasting of the Belgian Saison version:

Appearance: Surprisingly clear pale golden yellow. A few weeks in the keg have done wonders for this beer. High carbonation (nearly 15 PSI) gives it a large head, that recedes to a small film after a few minutes.

Next to a Fern without Zach Galifianakis

Smell: The wonderful, almost artificial (makes me think of juicy fruit gum) fruitiness that I want in this beer leads the way. There is also some lemon, pine, coriander, banana taffy, and cranberry. The hops and yeast seem to work harmoniously to produce the big bouquet.

Taste: Light grainy sweetness fills the first sip with a myriad of tropical fruit and citrus flavors coming in later. A moderate bitterness lingers on the back of the tongue with a touch of pepper.

Mouthfeel: Super dry and crisp. After a few weeks in the keg this beer seems to have become even drier, bringing it closer in line with a traditional saison.

Overall: I am very happy with the way this one turned out. While it isn't quite as fruity and delicious as the first couple days on tap it seems to have developed into something more akin to what someone would expect from a saison. This beer is impeccably light and drinkable, enjoyable enough in a small taster or pint after pint. This is a good beer.

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.

Maisonette 2.0

After my first attempt at a Mosaic Table Saison turned out so well I decided to make a 6 gallon batch, split into two batches with different yeast strains.  Unlike my first attempt this version is an all grain batch but is designed to be very similar with just the replacement of turbinado with white sugar and a slight increase in the wheat percentage.

Fermentables

Amount	Fermentable	Maltster		Use	PPG	Color
7.0 lb	2-Row (US)	Any	71 %	Mash	37	1 °L
2.5 lb	White Wheat (US)	Any	25 %	Boil	40	2 °L
0.33 lb	Sucrose (Table Sugar)	Any	3 %	Boil	46	0 °L

Hops

Amount	Hop	Time	Use	Form	AA
0.35 oz	Mosaic™ (US)	60 min	Boil	Pellet	12.8%
0.35 oz	Mosaic™ (US)	10 min	Boil	Pellet	12.8%
1.7 oz	Mosaic™ (US)	1 min	Boil	Pellet	12.8%

Yeasts

Name	Lab/Product	Attenuation
Yeast Blend		80.0%

The 2 yeast options are my Saison blend #3 (primarily Wyeast French Saison with some Brett'd beer dregs) and the second use of the Tired Hands yeast from the last version of Maisonette.

Updates

These were bottled over a month ago, both at an FG of 1.007 and in 3 gallon kegs. The Tired Hands version is still in the keezer though the other was removed to make room for other beers.

Tasting 1- Tired Hands Version

Appearance- hazy yellow/white. Looks like a good wheat near though the head is a bit short lived, leaving just a few strange clumps on the top after a few minutes.

Smell- very similar to the previous Tired Hands fermented version: lemony, fruity, lightly spicy. The Mosaic are present but don't shine the way I would like.

Taste- the funky, lightly tart yeast are again front and center with grainy, wheaty malt character and just a touch of bitterness to back it up. The hop flavor is really subdued here, when it should be the star.

Mouthfeel- fairly thin and dry with moderate carbonation (the regulator is set to around 11 PSI). About the body I want from a saison, and it makes for a fairly refreshing beer despite the low bitterness.

Overall- this beer, like the previous version made with the Tired Hands yeast, is enjoyable enough but isn't exactly what I'm looking for in Maisonette. The yeast character is too distracting and I think I prefer the wheat percentage a little lower (it was about 25% in this iteration but closer to 20% in the original). Hopefully I can post a tasting of the other version soon.