Brett Saison with Oak-Soaked Tequila Recipe (One Gallon Homebrew Recipe)

This brett saison commemorates ten years of homebrewing for me. It is a couple weeks late for the official ten year anniversary of my first batch of homebrewing but close enough to celebrate. I still remember that first time brewing in my apartment kitchen with a Belgian blonde ale extract kit of an unknown age and waking up the next morning to see the airlock bubbling away. Even a cursory glance at this blog tells you Belgian beer and brewing techniques remain an important part of my homebrewing. I may not brew as many of the Trappist/abbey styles but saisons and Belgian-inspired sour beers definitely remain a consistent part of my brewing. It is fitting then that I celebrate those ten years and reflect on my first beer by brewing another Belgian beer that showcases this decade-long journey of homebrewing.

What is up with this brett saison and tequila

Today's beer is another stab at exploring the mixed fermentation/brett saison culture I have been slowly brewing with over the past few years. (E.g. here, here, here and here.) The last saison tested the saison culture against a high degree of hops. This saison recipe dials back to a more moderate hopping rate and shifts to more gentle hop varieties My goal here is to create a brett saison that retains some hop flavor and aroma but lets through more of the delicate yeast notes. Then I am ruining all of that by slipping in some tequila that I have aged on oak cubes for like five years waiting for a good project. This is not my way of wedging in an obligatory weird ingredient into an otherwise straight up beer. The tequila addition is a nod to Fantome's one time release of a tequila barrel aged saison that I was unfortunate not to get to try. 

This brett saison culture is quirky with strict demands for how it is brewed. It needs a warm fermentation in the mid to upper seventies with a dry, simple grain bill. As a result I am keeping this beer simple with a 90% pils/10% unmalted wheat base. I like this combination as a starting point for any saison-ish beer so no reason to back away from it. I am also continuing to use a moderately mineralized water profile that skews in favor of bitterness to keep dryness in the feel and taste. I like this culture's flavor profile with light minerality in the background. After a firm bittering addition for this 5.5% beer follows a post-boil addition of Aurora and Aramis for a light grassy and citrusy hop flavor. This culture does such a great job retaining hop flavor that I do not worry about dry hopping or overhopping to keep hop flavor and aroma in the beer. 

To add the tequila I am just adding a 1oz/gal addition of this heavily oaked tequila right along with the yeast pitch. I want to emulate the effects of fermenting and aging the beer in a tequila barrel without oppressive tequila flavor. I find this is a good starting point for spirit additions for this purpose but I may add more at bottling if I feel it is too light. The tequila itself is a midrange blanco aged with an absurd amount of oak so it carries over plenty of tannins to give it the feel of a barrel aging rather than pouring a bottle of liquor into beer. As you can see from the picture the tequila has the appearance of a well aged anejo tequila but it is unpalatable on its own with so much oak. 

Brett Saison with Oak-Soaked Tequila Recipe 

Details
Batch Size: 1 gallon
Est. ABV: 5.5%
Est. IBU: 40
Est. OG: 1.054
Est. FG: 1.008 (?)
Est. SRM: 3.6
Expected Efficiency: 72%
Grain Bill	Pounds		Ounces		SRM		Pct. Grist
Pils malt	1		14		2		90.00%
Unmalted wheat	0		3		1.6		10.00%
Water Profile	ppm
Bru'n Water Yellow Bitter
PH: 5.3
Calcium	50
Magnesium	10
Sodium	5
Sulfate	110
Chloride	45
Bicarbonate	-93
Water Additions					Mash		Sparge
Gypsum					0.3g		0.4g
Epsom Salt					0.3g		0.3g
Canning Salt
Baking Soda
Calcium Chloride					0.2g		0.2g
Chalk
Pickling Lime
Lactic Acid					0.3ml
Mash Schedule	Step Temp.				Step Time
Single infusion mash
Mash volume: 2.56qt
Sparge volume: 0.86 gal
Infuse 2.56qt at 167F	150				75
Sparge 0.86 gal	180
Boil Schedule	Volume		Unit		Time		IBU
60 minute boil
Belma [12%] hops	0.18		oz		60		40
Aurora hops	0.75		oz		Whirlpool		0
Aramis hops	0.25		oz		Whirlpool		0
Fermentation Schedule	# Days		Temp.
Yeast: Brett saison culture
Pitch at 70F, free rise to 75F	14		75
Age at 72F	300		72
Bottle to 3 volumes

Brew day and fermentation notes

Brewed on 8.3.19.

Preboil volume: 1.3 gallons
Preboil gravity: 1.042
Mash efficiency: 74%
Postboil volume: 1 gallon
Postboil gravity: 1.054
Brewhouse efficiency: 74%

Overall a very normal, successful brew day.

Bottled 5.24.20. This is a really nice beer going into the bottles. The mixed saison culture does a great job preserving the hop character and the combination of lemony Aramis and fruit punch-y Aurora are still present despite nine months of bulk aging. The hay and blueberry notes from the culture hang out in the background. The tequila is not quite as present as I had hoped so I added another half ounce of the oaked tequila to the bottling bucket to bump it up to a clearly identifiable ingredient.