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Saison for the Bee Keepers

This is more of a story about the brewing of a beer than anything else. My original brew partner (Daniel) has had two children since we first started brewing five years ago, so we rarely get to brew together. This was a rare event to be able to brew alone like we used to. The brew day started off perfectly, the weather was warm and there bees were flying around. We decided to brew a Saison for the fall to capture the perfect warm fall day. We were mashed in and were cleaning as we went, when Daniel suddenly screamed and found a bee up his pant leg. The bee stung him and I laughed as I asked if he was allergic. He said he wasn't but that all changed quickly... Fifteen minutes later he turned to me with his face swollen to twice the normal size. He quickly headed over to the drug store for Benadryl. He returned a few minutes later with the pills and took a few, chasing them with a little beer. All seemed fine until he fell out of his chair onto the floor nearly unconscious. After calling his wife, my girlfriend, and a doctor, we headed over to the ER, but not before I stopped recurring the wort and set up to mash out. After a short wait in the waiting room and 2 hours with a doctor, we found out Daniel had developed a deadly Bee allergy. After a life time of being a hobbyist bee keeper he had lost all resistance to bee stings. After the ER and a day of panic we returned back to my house to finish the beer. To always remember his near death experience, we added the dead bee to the mash-out and a small amount of honey to the wort.
Brewed By: 
Izzy
Brew Date: 
09/03/2011
Brew Type: 
Recipe Category: 
Batch Size: 
5.0 gallons
Boil Time: 
90 minutes
Original Gravity: 
1.058 O.G.
Final Gravity: 
1.010 F.G.
ABV: 
6.2% ABV
IBUs: 
25.0 IBUs
SRM: 
6.7 SRM
Malt/Grain/Sugar/Extract: 

5 lbs Standard 2-Row
3 lbs Belgian Pils
1 lbs Carared®
.5 lbs Wheat Malt
1.25 lbs Honey

Mashing Instructions: 

155 for 4 hours (see story above)

Hops: 

.5 oz Nugget (13.2%) - added during boil, boiled 60 min

Extra Ingredients: 

1 dead bee

Yeast: 

White Labs WLP670 American Farmhouse Blend (traditional farmhouse yeast strain and Brettanomyces)

Special Instructions / Notes: 

Left to ferment outside in a plastic bucket for 4 weeks. 85 degrees for first 10 days.

Comments

Jim McGowan's picture
 #

Sounds like a candidate for Doug King.

Glad your friend is ok. Thanks for sharing the story!

 
The Izzy's picture
 #

He now carries an Epipen when he comes over to brew or even hang out! A sting can trigger a dangerous anaphylactic reaction where your blood pressure drops and kills you. Glad we went to the doctor.

 
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