Troy, I know what you mean about the oven like temps here. Are you near Parker AZ? The cold water here is already starting to get hot and will probably be that way until September or October, which is why I won't bother with a wort chiller. I bottled my Saison du vin last week and will be ready to go in a couple of weeks. I've never had saison before but I thought the description(from Northern Brewer) sounded really good.
Sudbuster, what kind of cheese is that in the photo? Pepperjack?
You were close, Daphne. I'm in Blythe, about an hour's drive down-river.
I have an unfair advantage: I have access to unlimited ice where I work, and I brew in our company outdoor kitchen. So I hook up a pre-chiller between the sink faucet and my chiller, and immerse it in a pot of ice water. Between doing that and floating my brew kettle in a sink of ice water, I can take a 5 gal batch down to 70 degrees in about 12 minutes...
My first batch of homebrew was last year from a dusty, out-of-date Mr. Beer kit marked down 50% at Kmart. My second was half Mr. Beer's Farmhouse Ale seasonal (basically a saison) with Belle Saison yeast, and half grain. I went from there to all-grain, ordered in a pile of Belle Saison yeast, and I've been brewing saisons ever since. I love 'em with a passion that I generally reserve for representatives of the fair sex...
But my last batch was a departure. I wanted something light for a summertime thirst quencher, so I did a petite saison. It's only about 4.2% ABV, as opposed to the 8% plus saisons I've been brewing, and I dry-hopped it for a bit more hop-forward taste than the usual saison. At the time I was worried that I had cut back too much on the bittering and aroma hops during the boil, trying to adjust for the lowered grain bill, and the dry hopping wouldn't pick up the slack. But I tasted it today after a week in the bottle, and I think it's going to be just fine.
I have fond memories of Lake Havasu. Back when Moby Dick was a minnow and I had just mustered out of the Navy, I finished concrete there for a couple of years before moving on. In the summer we started at 5:00 in the morning, and worked straight through until 1:00 in the afternoon. By 1:20 I'd be sitting in the lake at Crazy Horse Campground, with a beer in my hand.
add: by the way, it's been my experience that saisons seem to benefit from a few weeks in the bottle; it brings out the flavors. So after tasting yours in a couple of weeks, you might want to try staying out of them for another two or three weeks. Or at least stash a few bottles so you can find out what it could've tasted like.
I confess I usually get into mine earlier than I should, because I'd rather drink them than BMC.
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