Iron Brewer Brewday

I procrastinated far too long on this brew. I did what I had to do though. I have no regrets about choosing Sarah, and My Father on separate weekends over brewing beer a bit sooner. I still think a month is plenty of time for a low alcohol brew. The internet indicated 91% apparent attenuation in under two weeks. I am not too worried.

I picked up the grain and hops from Sicilianos on Friday morning. I rushed home to brew. I choose to go with fresh lemons and rosemary instead of the dried options. I used my micro plane grater to de-zest four lemons and I chopped up a sprig of rosemary. From those measures I measured out my accurate weights.

(read more after the break.)

The Final Recipe:
3 lbs Pilsner Bohemian (2.0 SRM) 54.5 %
2 lbs White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM) 36.4 %
4.0 oz Acid Malt (3.0 SRM) 4.5 %
4.0 oz Caramunich II (63.0 SRM) 4.5 %
0.20 oz Sorachi Ace [12.00 %] - 60.0 min 14.3 IBUs
0.30 oz Strisslespalt [4.00 %] - 20.0 min 4.3 IBUs
0.05 oz Sorachi Ace [12.00 %] - 20.0 min 2.2 IBUs
0.20 oz Strisslespalt [4.00 %] - 7.0 min 1.3 IBUs
0.05 oz Sorachi Ace [12.00 %] - 7.0 min 1.0 IBUs
6.00 g Lemon Zest (Boil 0.0 mins)
3.00 g Rosemary (Boil 0.0 mins)
ECY Single Strain Saison (ECY #13)

Name             Description                                      Step Temp        Step Time    
Mash In          Add 7.88 qt of water at 159.9 F          150.0 F            60 min       
Mash Out       Add 3.85 qt of water at 209.5 F          168.0 F            10 min      
Sparge: Batch sparge with 1 steps (2.33gal) of 168.0 F water 

Brew Day:
The brew day went slowly; they all do when I am alone.  I finished under my projected volume of 3 gallons. Normally this wouldn't have been a problem but I wanted to have a bit left over after mailing out 16 bottles of saison. I boiled up a gallon of water to top off and poured it in. When the outer temp of the carboy was back to normal after adding hottish water I added my yeast starter. It took about 30 hours for the airlock to start going gangbusters. I suspect this was a result of being too cool at the beginning. It smelled the part when I added the yeast starter, lots of rosemary in the nose, the lemon may not have survived but I will see next weekend when I add the oak chips. If it requires an addition of something that will be the time to make alterations.