Motueka Saison

Water is the most important ingredient that goes into beer.  It's common for most people to focus on the grain bill or hops in a beer and often overlook water by simply using whatever comes out of the tap.  Part of this stems from the common advice many homebrewers give: "if it's good enough to drink, it's good enough to brew with".  I don't believe this is entirely true.  While adding brewing salts are not necessary to brew great beer, understanding what potential off flavor elements your water contains is extremely important. The two most popular in municiple water are chlorine and cholarmine (a compound of chlorine and ammonia).  DC tap water contains both, depending on the time of year.  Luckily, all you have to do is buy a carbon block filter to remove the chlorine/chloramine and you're good to go.

It's extremely important to remember how your carbon filter works once you buy it.  I did not.  Being the neat freak that I am I decided that after I brewed my last beer, I would empty out my carbon filter and clean it.  So I did.  And I put it back together, and used it for this beer.  However, when I went to brew my next beer, I needed to move it on my counter.  When I picked it up, the filter seemed extremely light and I quickly noticed that it was not full of water, thus no pressure to force the water through the filter.  I forgot that after you drain the filter, it must be turned upside down in order to fill it back up again.  If not, water simply passes through it and not through the carbon, rendering the filter useless.  To compound the problem, I brewed this beer as DC was "shocking" their water (loading it up with chlorine).  Needless to say, I brewed with chlorine in the water. A lot of it.

Anyway, the idea for this beer was to use Motueka hops (a descendent of Saaz, grown in New Zealand) in a saison to provide the spicy, earthy aroma associated with Saaz but with slightly tropical twist that New Zealand hops impart.

Motueka Saison

Brewed 15 March 2013 by myself
Batch Size: 5.75 gallons
OG: 1.055
FG: 1.003
SRM: 4.1
IBU: 30

Grain
8 lbs. Rahr 2-Row
2 lbs. Rahr White Wheat Malt

Hops
0.65 oz. Warrior (Pellet, 13.7% AA) @ 60 min.
0.50 oz. Motueka (Pellet, 6.5% AA) @ 10 min.
1.50 oz. Motueka (Pellet, 6.5% AA) @ 0 min.
1.00 oz Motueka (Pellet, AA) Dry Hop 5 days

Yeast
Wyeast 3711 - no starter, wanted to stress the yeast to see what flavors it would provide

Misc.
1 Whirlfloc tablet @ 15 min.
1/2 tsp. Yeast nutrient @ 15 min.

Mash
Sacch. rest 151F for 60 min.

Water
(Un)filtered DC water with 4g gypsum split between the mash and sparge

Notes
Hot liquor tank had a crack by the spout, had to find every pot in my kitchen to heat and store enough water to use for the sparge.
Collected 6 gallons of 1.049 runnings, cooled to 76F, added 1/2 gallon of boiled and cooled (un)filtered DC water to lower the gravity. Left at 64F ambient to ferment.
8 hours later the airlock is bubbling away.

3/29/2013 - Down to 1.003 (~7%)

4/1/2013 - Dry hopped with 1 oz Motueka

4/5/2013 - Kegged. Phenolic, medicinal flavor, slightly tart.

4/28/2013 - Realized I didn't let my carbon filter fill up.

5/11/2013 - Entered the beer into the DC Homebrewer Club/Sam Adams competition (winner gets to brew on the Sam Adams small system with the bearded dudes from the commercial). Out of about 70 entries, this beer made the final 15.  When all was said and done it received a respectable 37. With the flaws being too hoppy and not enough yeast character for a saison.  I think this is due to the fact that the phenolics made the flavor slightly harsh and 3711 isn't an overly expressive yeast.

Tasting Notes:
Appearance: Pale yellow, nice head that sticks around

Smell: Subtle fruity yeast, medicine (maybe some hops are there too, but for me the medicine trumps it)

Taste: Tart, fruit, medicinal

Mouthfeel: Thin, nice carbonation, easy drinking and refreshing for a 7% beer

Notes:  Maybe I did not pitch enough yeast, which could have stressed out the yeast and added to the medicinal flavor.