I’ve got a Kölsch that is stuck

[Hayzer]

Mashani, I'll solve all that by moving to MI once the school year is over (8yr old daughter). The basement is much cooler than my non-basement home here in Misery/Missouri. I have also recently acquired a like-new rebuilt three door industrial refrigerator. I can now brew at most any temperature I wish, once we move

[Hayzer]

Remember this stuck Kölsch? Well, I took 5 gallons of it and 3 gallons of my Rye to a BBQ Saturday. Only nine people because of coronavirus restrictions LOL. I'd say roughly 11 of us emptied these 8 gallons. I either need less friends or to brew more beers. I can't wait to get to MI so I can brew year round. I'm not set up for 12 months of brewing here in North Misery, but when we get to MI I'll be sure get set up for it.

Next up is two 5 gallon batches of Rye (one kegged and one bottled) and a Peanut Butter Cup Stout for keg.

Next fall I am going to try a two gallon batch of bacon wheat. I butcher my own hogs and cure my own bacon. I will take some 3/8" thick bacon and bake it slow and low in the oven. When it is fully cooked, I will then dehydrate it. I want to be sure ALL the fat is gone and hope there is still some flavor left. If this 2 gallon batch works out, I will jump up to 5 gallons. This brew should help find some new friends in MI lol.

[John Sand]

I'm glad the beer worked out well!

[Hayzer]

Mashani, I think a Saison would be nice to try on. I'd like to find a 3-3.5% grain kit and brew a batch.

[mashani]

Mashani, I think a Saison would be nice to try on. I'd like to find a 3-3.5% grain kit and brew a batch.

Look on Northern Brewers web site for "petite saison d-ete", that is a pretty good recipe. (you can download the recipe). It would scale to a very low abv saison. IE Brew it as 6+ full gallon end result instead of 5 if you can, or tweak the grain bill or both.

If you want it to be that low ABV and still have some body, I would highly suggest you use Belgian Saison yeast, not French Saison yeast. All of the dry strains are French Saison, you would want specifically the Dupont strain, which is Imperial "Rustic" or Wyeast/White Labs "Belgian Saison".

Those specific yeasts can go up to 90 degrees btw, in fact you are going to WANT to make sure you get it up into the 80s for sure after 3-4 days to get the yeast to finish fermenting fast and not fall asleep and get stuck. If not hot enough it will fall asleep at about 1.020, and you will need to warm it up and give it a swirl to get it going again. It will give you a spice and bubblegum flavor like Saison Dupont, or Avril (Dupont's low abv table beer that is exactly like what you are saying you want to make). You could look for a clone recipe for Avril as well, but I don't know if there is one out there. You could find a Dupont clone and shrink the grain bill and it would probably be closeish.

Expect about 80-85% attenuation from the Dupont strain. Not the normal 75% or whatever you get from regular yeast.

If you were using French Saison, you will get 97%+ attenuation (really) so it would mean to make a beer that low in ABV your grain bill would be tiny, and your beer would be very thin. (adding dextrin malts *will not help*, it will eat them!!!).