Luc brews...someday (part 1)

Things have fallen a bit quiet in the last few months here at trillium...singularly due to the preparation and subsequent arrival of our son, Luc. The big guy (11lbs, 1oz) arrived in style, and in many ways, is now the man of the house. We have put our old, carefree child free lifestyles aside and traded that in for parenthood. We haven't looked back. Sure, reducing sleep to a mere fraction of what I comfortably need is tough, but then I keep reminding myself...I'm not the one who was carrying around an 11 POUND BABY inside my body.

A bit of perspective is all I need, when I look through my new dad bleary eyes up at my crying baby (hungry? tired? dirty? cold?...nope, he's hungry... again) and, even with these big eyes staring up at me, I now can understand that life's passion won't erode, fade away. I simply look back at the guy, and grin, looking forward to the day he has the manual dexterity to hold and then turn over a bowl to make his first hop addition.

Even as I really should be hunkering down on Sunday morning for some make-up zzz's (you simply must sleep when the baby sleeps), I shot out of bed to the apartment's annoying, grating buzzer. That damn buzzer is reminisce of the most annoying sound in the world (at 0:51).

"uhhhhhh...who is that? god...what time is it?"

"its Jason...we're brewing today, remember? I'll take the baby; get more sleep...you need it"

"uhhhh...Ok"

Jason has arrived, and I haven't even set up the grain mill, never mind finished bringing up the equipment out of storage.

I walk around somewhat aimlessly, flailing and failing at my stumbling impression of preparedness. He's lugged up his big boy batch mash tun complete with its DIY copper manifold, 44 quart stainless kettle, an a prapo sample bottle of breakfast stout, and a strong 'I'm going to need some coffee before we do anything, so I can't even imagine how you feel' look on his face. Tell me about it...

At least I had made up the saison yeast blend starter, started off gassing/heating the strike water and cleared out the kitchen for a double/double brew day. These two ten gallon batches will hopefully make up for a bit of down time.

We had exchanged some texts the night before, and decided in vague generalities on the recipe, so things were definitely a bit out of order for my usual brewday. I tossed Brew Like a Monk and Farmhouse Ales at him said 'here, hold my baby', grabbed a shopping cart from the hallway, and made my way down to the storage space.

Loaded 'er up with the gear, sacks of grain (gotta love the apartment elevators), and grabbed a first sample bottle of the 2009 RIS (notes to follow in another post) to follow Jason's marginally lower abv breakfast stout.

Jason wanted something that would be generally appreciated by beer nerds and curious but as yet uninitiated alike. I wanted something that could serve as a nice foil to some Brett + bug character. We settled on a hoppy saison as the base beer...his portion to get the white labs saison yeast blend, mine to also get house bugs from the stonington sour pitched into the primary with the sacch.

A brew day + babysitting requires a brewing partner.

We swapped off getting in QT with Luc, all while keeping on the brewday's requisite schedule. Jason would rock him while I mashed in, I changed his diaper as Jason vorlaufed.

Saison

Saison

Type: All Grain	Date: 8/22/2010
Batch Size: 10.00 gal	Brewer: JC, Jason, Luc
Boil Size: 11.45 gal	Asst Brewer:
Boil Time: 60 min	Equipment: My Equipment
Taste Rating(out of 50): 35.0	Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00
Taste Notes:
Ingredients
Amount Item Type % or IBU 20 lbs Pilsner (2 Row) Bel (2.0 SRM) Grain 86.96 % 2 lbs Wheat Malt, Bel (2.0 SRM) Grain 8.70 % 1 lbs Wheat, Flaked (1.6 SRM) Grain 4.35 % 2.00 oz Citra [12.00 %] (60 min) Hops 39.6 IBU 2.00 oz Goldings, B.C. [4.40 %] (15 min) Hops 7.2 IBU 2.00 oz Goldings, B.C. [4.40 %] (1 min) Hops 0.6 IBU 12.00 gm Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash 60.0 min) Misc 1 Pkgs WLP568 Belgian Style Saison Ale Yeast Blend (White Labs #WLP568) [Starter 1600 ml] Yeast-Ale
Beer Profile
Est Original Gravity: 1.063 SG	Measured Original Gravity: 1.010 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.012 SG	Measured Final Gravity: 1.005 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 6.63 %	Actual Alcohol by Vol: 0.65 %
Bitterness: 47.4 IBU	Calories: 43 cal/pint
Est Color: 4.2 SRM	Color: Color
Mash Profile
Mash Name: Single Infusion, Light Body	Total Grain Weight: 23.00 lb
Sparge Water: 2.42 gal	Grain Temperature: 72.0 F
Sparge Temperature: 168.0 F	TunTemperature: 72.0 F
Adjust Temp for Equipment: FALSE	Mash PH: 5.4 PH
Single Infusion, Light Body Step Time Name Description Step Temp 75 min Mash In Add 28.75 qt of water at 161.4 F 150.0 F 10 min Mash Out Add 18.40 qt of water at 200.2 F 168.0 F

Stonington Sour-Bottled

T-minus ~24hours until the little Taco arrives

...and I can't legitimately extend the aging on the stonington sour any more. Its (well past the) time to make room in the guest bathroom for the encroaching baby bathing accoutrement, and while the beer has only been on the bugs for ~4 months, the pellicle fell quite early in the game, and there has been no positive pressure on the airlock for quite some time. Not having a hydrometer (broken...2nd one), I'm strictly relying on my sense and gut that this thing is mostly finished. Its highly probable that I'm wrong.

But in the battle of beer vs. baby...the mighty baby wins the guest bath, but in truth it looks like this beer is going to make us all winners. Immediately after removing the airlock, this Brett C beer/wild ale had strong tropical fruit aromas with a touch of compost-y earth. I can't wait for it to develop further in the bottle and have those aromas further carried by what will likely be ample carbonation. The beer was blended with 750ml of 2007 Saltwater Farm Chardonnay (100% estate grown grapes, fermented in stainless, aged in French Oak). A small sip brought those aromas to life...the fruity aromas highlighted by a medium-acid brightness. A fullness in the body still remains somehow (wheat?), though it finishes with dry snap, so I'm quite certain (hoping) the FG is reaching terminal. Oak tannins aren't where I'd want them to be, but do provide more soft fullness. The microbial impressions lean toward a nice menage a trois of the Fantome Printemp, JP Oro de Calabaza and Brett C, with the aromas sitting squarely with Brett C.

Many friends of mine, especially Sue and Pat, have been saving their thickest of glass for these high pressure brewing endeavors. And its a good thing, you never know where the 'wild' ones will end up. Chances are, even with a modest dose of the priming sugar, the strains of Brett et al will continue to carbonate well past their enzymatically challenged Sacch brethren, and it is best to have hedged some bets toward the higher CO2 vol tolerant vessels. Its a motley crew of green, brown, and clear (gasp!) glass...375ml all the way up to a 1.5L magnum. Corked + caged a few, while most were outfitted with either the standard or larger diameter euro cap.

My attentions will certainly be turned almost solely toward the taco for short bit, which will keep me and my friends from running through this, my first earnest attempt at a wild fermented beer.

...I wonder if I can sock away a bottle of this until Taco is of age (or somewhere reasonably close to it).