Final draft and brewing with friends

[Gymrat]

Yesterday a couple of friends came over to help me brew Ralph's Lazy Day Farmhouse Ale. It really was an interesting experience brewing with laymen. I guess I have picked up tidbits of brewing knowledge like marbles in a jar. The answers to their questions seemed so simple and obvious to me. And they had a lot of questions. I got the biggest kick from when I sanitized the conical. I got done and started saying "ok now we need to...." and I noticed both of them with very concerned looks on their faces. One of them says "don't you need to rinse that stuff out?"

These guys both worked very hard and I am very thankful for their help. After yesterday I realized that I am not going to brew by myself for at least another month and a half.

Now for the finalized recipe. Beersmith predicted a 1.056 OG mine was 1.058

BeerSmith 2 Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Ralph's Lazy Day Farmhouse Ale
Brewer: Roger
Asst Brewer: Ralph the Wonderdog
Style: Saison
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (30.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 5.70 gal
Post Boil Volume: 5.20 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.00 gal
Bottling Volume: 5.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.056 SG
Estimated Color: 6.4 SRM
Estimated IBU: 50.2 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 72.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
6 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 57.1 %
3 lbs White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM) Grain 2 28.6 %
1 lbs Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 3 9.5 %
8.0 oz Aromatic Malt (26.0 SRM) Grain 4 4.8 %
0.50 oz [12.60 %] - Boil 20.0 min Hop 5 14.5 IBUs
1.50 oz Nelson Sauvin [12.60 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 6 26.1 IBUs
1.00 oz Nelson Sauvin [12.60 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 7 9.6 IBUs
1.0 pkg Belle Saison (Lallemand #) Yeast 8 -


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Light Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 10 lbs 8.0 oz

[jimjohson]

and of course you said "don't fear the foam!". just fyi, you forgot to name the first hop drop. i assume to be Nelson Sauvin, by the alpha. looks tasty to me .

[Gymrat]

and of course you said "don't fear the foam!". just fyi, you forgot to name the first hop drop. i assume to be Nelson Sauvin, by the alpha. looks tasty to me .

Yes...for some reason beer smith dropped the name out. I don't know why. But this was single hopped with Nelson Suavin.

[Inkleg]

Looks like it's going to be a tasty one Roger.
Are you going to allow the fermentation temperature to free rise? The temp notes from my Saison are more detailed than any others I've tracked.
I took mine from 69* pitching temp to 85* over the course of 10 days and the Belle Saison yeast took it from 1.049 down to 0.998. I'll try one in about 5 weeks, but plan on letting it sit till spring.

[Beer-lord]

You always come up with nice recipes. The Munich is what I really like and I've used White Wheat a few times now after tasting some of your great beers.

[Gymrat]

Inkleg yes I have no means of temp control other than ambient temp in my basement so the yeast will do what ever it wishes

[FedoraDave]

Looks good! And it's great that you got some laymen involved in brewing. It would be terrific if the spark took hold and they became as obsessed as all of us are.

I think I should try some white wheat down the road. I do want to make some more saisons when the weather gets warmer, so I can continue brewing during the warmer months. I can definitely see a Belgian White in my future.

[madman960]

Always good to bring in your friends. Hopefully you get them into home brewing or atleast helping with the clean up.

[Gymrat]

Yesterday I dumped a pound of corn sugar into this beer. I just couldn't resist. I think that is going to push the ABV up to almost 9%. I don't know if I want to keg a beer that strong or not.