Birthday Brewing: Dark Session Saison

I've been asked to brew all of the beer for my friend's Birthday. It's in mid-August, so I have to get everything going right now. There will be five beers in all: Dunkelweiss, Wit, Saison, Dark Saison and Kölsch.

Rather than post all of the recipes at once, I'm going to spread them out into separate posts. My Session Saison and SMaSH Kölsch were already underway before I was asked to brew the other beers.

The Dark Saison below is an extension of the Session Saison. I've expanded the original recipe to make a darker beer. CaraMunich Malt adds a little caramel sweetness, while Carafa II brings a light dark chocolate edge to the brew. The rest of the beer is as it was before, with the same hops and yeast. Adding extra grains does push the alcohol content up a bit, but the beer still shouldn't break the 5% ABV mark. I'm anxious to try my two Saisons out side by side and taste the difference that two extra grains can make.

For five gallons:

Grains:
6.5 lbs Castle Pilsen
12 oz Castle Aromatic
12 oz Briess Flaked Wheat
8 oz Weyermann CaraMunich III
4 oz Weyermann Dehusked Carafa II

Hops:
0.5 oz Magnum (14.7% a.a.): 60 min
1 oz Styrian Celeia (4.0% a.a.): 20 min
1 oz Styrian Celeia (4.0% a.a.): 5 min

Total Boil Time:
90 min

Yeast:
White Labs WLP566 - Belgian Saison II

Mash Schedule:
Protein Rest: 125F for 20 min
Saccharification Rest: 149F for 60 min
Mashout: 168F for 15 minutes

Original Gravity:
1.047
Estimated Final Gravity:
1.008

IBU: 40
SRM Color: 15

Fermentation Schedule:
2 Weeks Primary
4 Weeks Secondary
2 Weeks Bottle Conditioning

Cost: $15 per case (Closer to $20 if you don't reuse your yeast)
Commercial Equivalent (sort of): Great Divide Colette: $36 per case
Savings: $21

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