Slamable Saison - brew day

The Brew

I decided after the last brew's low ABV that perhaps this was a good trend. So I am formally kicking off my Summer of Sessions. So every brew I make to drink this summer will be less than 5% ABV. (One exception will be a mid summer Russian Imperial Stout brew, but that one doesn't really count because we won't drink that until Christmas time). So if the Berliner style was the first, then beer number two in this Summer of Sessions is a take on an old favorite from last Spring, a saison made with the fermentation monster Wyeast 3711 French Saison strain.

The Recipe

Grain/Sugars:

4.5 lbs. Pilsner

1.0 lbs. Wheat

0.75 lbs. Vienna

0.25 lbs. Acidulated Malt

0.25 lbs. Flaked Oats

0.25 lbs. Flaked Corn

Hops:

1.0 oz. Willamette @60. (A: 5.1%, B: 3.8%) 20 ibu

1.0 oz. Czech Saaz @10. (A: 3.6%, B: 4.2%) 5 ibu

Yeast:

Wyeast 3711 French Saison

Extras:

0.5 tsp Wyeast nutrient

1 tablet Whirlfloc

Brewday

Brewday was a cloudy Saturday afternoon made available by rained out baseball and soccer. Lemons to lemonade! Setup solo to start it off in the garage. I decided with such a small grain bill to use the BIAB setup today, so i heated up 8.75 gallons of water to about 152F and mashed in for 60 minutes. During the mash got all the boil additions measured and even started on this very write-up.

At 60 minutes fired up burned and started mash-out. Pulled the bag, light squeeze and fired up burner to full. Measured 8 gallons of 1.030 preboil wort. With the high percentage of pilsner malt, the recipe called for a 90 minute boil. Added hops per schedule, chilled, pitched yeast and set to ferment.