Homebrew Summer: Sandlot

Many people get into homebrewing because the beers they want to drink aren’t available at bars or on store shelves. That was the case for Aaron Justus, a co-founding brewer at East Village Brewing, who prefers the types of farmhouse ales brewed in Belgium and France to those produced in the U.S. Over the past several years, he’s devoted a good deal of research and development to getting his downtown business’ saison, Sandlot, just the way he likes it. And now, San Diego Beer News readers can benefit from his hard work, as he’s offering the recipe for that beer (in all-gran and extract format) as part of our sixth-annual Homebrew Summer initiative. Keep scrolling, not only for the recipe, but for some detailed tips on how to approach the art of brewing superior farmhouse ales.

This is one of over 20 beers we’ll be sharing recipes for throughout the summer, so be sure to check back with us often. Or, if you prefer, you can sign up for our email newsletter, and we’ll send all of the recipes directly to your inbox. Cheers to homebrewing and another fun Homebrew Summer!

Aaron Justus
Co-founder & Brewer, East Village Brewing

I’ve attempted to make saison many times as an amateur and commercial brewer. Admittedly, I think I originally misunderstood the beer. I visited Belgium several years ago and was inspired. Compared to what you get in the States, they are sharper with a pronounced hop character ‒ effervescent, crisp, dry, almost lager-like. Every time we brew Sandlot, we change the recipe slightly to chase that memory of Belgium. The grist isn’t complicated: Pilsner, wheat and Munich malt with sugar added to give a dry finish. The malt should be just enough for a chewy, bready foundation, yet still have a clean finish. In the kettle, we blended some of my favorite traditional German noble hops: Herbrucker (floral) and Spalt (lemon zest, green tea). A small amount of Hersbrucker was also added as a dry-hop to brighten the beer. I’m happy with the hop character, though this crop year of Herbrucker was a touch too floral, so perhaps dial the dry-hop back in your recipe. This batch we blended two saison yeast strains from White Labs: WLP 590 (French Saison) and WLP 565 (Saison I, or Dupont strain). French Saison is a wonderful yeast, but is a tad too clean for my taste, so I blended in Dupont, which is one of my favorites. Fermentation started fairly cool at 65° Fahrenheit, but we quickly ramped to 78° to avoid the dreaded stall at the end of saison fermentation. The blend worked well, producing nice pear, melon and white pepper notes. The banana esters were also subdued, which was pleasant surprise. If you want more yeast character, you can ferment the beer into the 80s.

East Village Brewing is located at 201 Park Boulevard, Suite 101 in downtown San Diego’s East Village neighborhood