Nox

This beer is based on M. Tonsmire's Dark Saison IV. I chose not to use dried fruit here.

Roasted barley was cold-steeped in 1qt of room temp water over night, collected in a secondary container, and rinsed in an additional qt of room temp water. The 2qts extract was added at beginning of boil. This is to remove 'acrid' or 'astringent' harshness from the dark grains and leave a smooth chocolate/coffee flavor that will not mask more subtle flavors of the yeast.

Ferment 67F for 24 hours, bump to 70F and hold for 48 hours. After the first three ays bump temp t0 76*F over the course of 5 days and hold for at least 3 weeks.

after 4 months boil 1oz of medium toast oak cubes in 2 cups water for 10 minutes to remove harshness and prevent them from being overbearing. Soak in red wine for 1 week. Add cubes to beer; leave wine behind. Let sit for roughly 3 months.

Bottle and prime to 2.74 vol CO2; slightly lower than standard saisons. I prepfer darker beers slightly less carbonated comparatively.