Adventures in Homebrewing: Saison du Senegal

It seems like forever since I've been able to brew but I've finally gotten my act together and am ready to brew again. One of my best and oldest friends is heading off to Senegal to join the Peace Corps where she'll be...oh I don't know...making the world a better place for about two and a half years. What better way to send her off than to brew a batch of beer in her honor.

Senegal is a semi-French speaking country in West Africa so I decided to go with a saison this time around...it seemed like a fitting brew all around. I'm going to be using some Melegueta Pepper which is a West African spice similar to black pepper which is often used in saisons. I've also decided to go with a French Saison yeast strain to try and incorporate what I can from the region. My parents made a big move this Christmas and got me a wort chiller so I'll be putting that to good use with this saison. This is also the first time I'm using dry extract which has me a little nervous for no particular reason. Here's the recipe I'm going with.

Light DME – 3 lb

Wheat DME – 2.5 lb

Cara-Pils – .5 lb

Munich – 1 lb

Raw Orange Honey – 1 lb

Hallertau – 2 oz

Saaz - 1 oz

Melegueta Pepper - ¼ tsp or so

Grapefruit peel

Orange peel

Wyeast 3711 – French Saison

Apparently the above photograph is depicting some sort of traditional African brewing technique that I hope my friend masters throughout her time over there.

Hopefully brew-day goes smoothly but of course I'm not banking on it.

Cheers!