Grisette.

Summer is coming and will be here before we know it. With this in mind, I wanted to move to brewing some paler and more refreshing beers.
Amazingly, I only had my first bottle of Saison Dupont a few months ago, but loved it. I read Farmhouse Ales, and in it a beer similar to a modern Saison but of lower alcohol was discussed. This beer is a Grisette. There seems to be little idea of how it came to be called that (gris meaning grey in French), but it was brewed specifically to quench the thirst of the miners working in that region of Belgium.
Expect to see many of the fruity and peppery flavors found in a Saison, but an alcohol content of 3.5-5%. Light bitterness, light hop aroma. Sounds perfect for a hot day. I wanted to get it started now since I will age it for a month or so before I bottle.
5 lb Pilsner malt
2 lb white wheat malt
3 oz acidulated malt
3 oz light crystal
4 oz biscuit
1 oz Hallertauer pellet @ 60 min
.25 oz Kent Goldings @ 60 min
16g Kent Goldings @ 15 min
12g Kent Goldings @ 2 min
.25 tsp Irish moss @ 15 min
3711 Wyeast French Saison
Target og- 1.042
Actual og- 1.028???? Not sure how this happened...
Currently- 1.001
Actual fg- 1.001
3.6% abv
96% apparent attenuation!!!
79% actual attenuation
3/10/10- Rest at 123 for 30 min, rest at 138 for 15 min (didn't have enough water to reach 145 yay for maf!), rest at 145 for 45 min. Sparge with 4 gal 170 deg water. Boil for 90 min. First hop addition after 30 min, second and irish moss at 15 min left, 3rd at 2 min left. Chill, add to fermenter, top off with water to get over 5 gal volume (maybe too much water here changed the gravity), pitch yeast. Happily and rapidly bubbling away the next morning. In a 78 degree water bath.

My mash tun.

Adding yeast.

Og.
3/17/10- To secondary and .5 oz heavy toast French oak cubes and .5 oz light toast French oak chips boiled in 5 changes of water. Very clear at this point. Broke my hydrometer today so no gravity reading. At room temperature 66-68 degrees.
3/24/10- Noting some bubbles on the surface.
3/25/10- New hydro, gravity at 1.001. This yeast is a beast! Tastes good, fruity, peppery, hops come through.
4/1/10- Tasted tonight. The oak is definitely coming through, getting close to too much. I will probably bottle this next week. Hopefully I can collect a ton of bottles before then. Added .5 oz Willamette Goldings leaf hops for a dry hop finish.

Dry hops.
4/7/10- Bottled today with 3.8 oz corn sugar, aiming for 2.5+ volumes of co2. Got around 4.25 gallons, so I will get a higher carbonation than that even, hopefully not into the range of bottles bursting. At 3.6% abv with a light hoppiness and some oaky character, this should be a nice summer beer once it carbonates.
4/16/10- The yeast dropped out pretty quickly and it was clear within 2-3 days after bottling. Had my first tasting tonight.