7venth Sun Brewery
Dear Replicator,
During a previous vacation to Florida’s west coast, I discovered a cool little brewery in the town of Dunedin called 7venth Sun Brewery. I had an amazingly refreshing beer called Saison in Paradise that I still think about to this day. I’d like to try to replicate this beer at home, can you help me find the recipe?
Rocker Clark
San Diego, California
Devon Kreps had a crystal clear vision of what she wanted to be when she grew up: Brewery owner. Not just any brewery, Kreps envisioned creating a large-scale production facility that would distribute her beers near and far.
Putting her vision into action, the Battle Creek, Michigan-born Kreps started her cross-country beer journey with a degree from Oregon State University’s brewing program. Kreps built her beer industry resume with four years at Anheuser-Busch (St. Louis, Missouri, then Cartersville, Georgia), and later gained valuable real-world business experience with Sweetwater Brewing of Atlanta, Georgia, where she spent three years as Production Manager.
Permanent Vacation
Moving to the Tampa area in 2009, Kreps was captivated by a small town on Florida’s west coast called Dunedin, a mixture of vacation/tourist town with a solid, year-round local base. In early 2010 Kreps relocated to Dunedin, which, at the time, featured a sole eponymously named brewery.
Big brewery plans quickly turned into tiny brewery reality as the housing crisis struck, which impacted any chance of her brewery-in-planning getting a loan.
“It was impossible to get any loans,” said Kreps. “Not coming from money, my family used our house as collateral, putting everything on the line, so I started looking smaller. I fell in love with Dunedin and knew that’s where I wanted to establish my business.”
A Sun is Born
Against everything she had previously envisioned, Kreps created a cozy 3.5-BBL neighborhood brewery that opened in 2012 on Kreps’ birthday — January 7th. 7venth Sun Brewery became Dunedin’s second craft brewery.
Brewing a variety of styles, a one-off unexpectedly took center stage.
“We made a creamsicle wheat beer intended to be a single batch,” said Kreps. By popular demand, it became our biggest selling beer.”
As popularity continued and 7venth Sun quickly outgrew its tiny brewery, Kreps’ original vision came to light with the opening of brewery #2 in August 2017, a much larger production facility in the Seminole Heights neighborhood of Tampa, Florida. It fulfilled a number of Kreps’ life goals.
“We could fit about 18 of our original locations in that place,” said Kreps. “Not only was I thrilled that we were finally able to build the production facility I envisioned for years, but I’m very proud of the fact that I’m a majority owner of a woman-owned brewery, with women managers in both locations and a woman brewer in Tampa, all making great beers. As an organization, we try to elevate women as much as we can.”
Modern Tradition
The production facility afforded Kreps the opportunity to expand her brewing offerings by delving into foeder brewing. Foeders are traditional wooden aging vessels made popular by Belgian lambic brewers.
Partnering with fellow Tampa brewers Cigar City, the two breweries eventually collaborated on a series of foeder beers, with the vessels owned by Cigar City but stored at 7venth Sun.
“We got to have a foeder program without having to purchase the foeders, while Cigar City also got to participate with no need to store the large vessels,” said Kreps. “We both won.”
Releasing its first foeder beer for its tenth anniversary, 7venth Sun’s anniversary beer was called Deceptive Decor.
“It took a little longer to get the beers off the ground, so people thought the foeders were there just for decoration,” said Kreps. “To date the collaboration has yielded three different beers: A straight up blend, one with stone fruit, and one with berries.”
7venth Sun quickly established itself among Florida’s most respected breweries. Besides the popular Creamsicle Wheat, in demand IPAs and the specialty foeder lambics, true-to-style saisons also became fan favorites. Saison in Paradise is one of the most popular and remains one of Kreps’ personal favorites.
Saison in Paradise
An original 7venth Sun offering, Saison in Paradise is inspired by traditional, Old-World dry saisons. Employing a French saison yeast, a simple malt bill, light hopping and a touch of grains of paradise, the end result is a very dry, crisp, and spicy beer with extreme drinkability.
“It’s got a life to it; layers, subtle spice with delicate esters, creating an effect that is both complex and refreshing,” said Kreps. “It’s a great, versatile beer.”
The saison style is a great option for novice brewers as well as seasoned experts. Inexpensive and easy to make, saisons are perfect for those brewing in warm climates. One of the advantages of brewing a saison is that the style can be very forgiving if you don’t have a lot of temperature control. While the optimum fermentation temperature range may be 65–77 °F (18–25 °C), exceeding that rarely negatively impacts the beer. Now you can brew your own saison and enjoy a little paradise of your own.
7venth Sun Brewery’s Saison In Paradise clone
(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.050 FG = 1.005
IBU = 45 SRM = 3 ABV = 5.9%
A modern take on a classic French saison with an addition of grains of paradise to provide additional citrus and peppery spice notes.
Ingredients
8 lbs. (3.6 kg) German Pilsner malt
1.5 lbs. (0.68 kg) German wheat malt
8 oz. (230 g) flaked corn
3.2 AAU Saaz hops (60 min.) (0.9 oz./26 g at 3.5% alpha acids)
4.5 AAU East Kent Goldings hops (60 min.) (0.9 oz./26 g at 5% alpha acids)
4.9 AAU Saaz hops (3 min.) (1.4 oz./39 g at 3.5% alpha acids)
7 AAU East Kent Goldings hops (3 min.) (1.4 oz./39 g at 5% alpha acids)
1 g yeast nutrient (10 min.)
1 Whirlfloc tablet (10 min.)
0.69 g grains of paradise (5 min.)
Wyeast 3711 (French Saison), White Labs WLP590 (French Saison Ale), or LalBrew Belle Saison yeast
¾ cup corn sugar (if priming)
Step by Step
With a mash thickness of 1.75 qts./lb. (3.7 L/kg), heat 4.15 gallons (16.6 qts., 15.7 L) to achieve a stable mash temperature of 145 °F (63 °C). Hold at this temperature for 60 minutes or until complete. If using reverse osmosis or very soft water, add 1 tsp. of gypsum to the mash. When mash is complete, raise temperature to 168 °F (76 °C) for mash out, recirculate, and prepare for sparge.
With sparge water at 170 °F (77 °C) and as close to 5.2 pH as possible, collect about 6.5 gallons (24.6 L) of wort then raise to boil. Boil for 60 minutes, adding bittering hops at beginning of boil. Add a yeast nutrient and/or a clarifier such as Whirlfloc or Irish moss, spices, and the final hop additions per the ingredients list. Whirlpool at knockout, let wort sit for about 20 minutes.
Upon completion of whirlpool, chill as quickly as possible to 65 °F (18 °C), pitch yeast, and aerate. Allowing the beer to free rise is fine as the optimum fermentation range is 65 °F to 77 °F (18 to 25 °C). Exceeding this range usually has little negative impact on the final product, so you have a lot of flexibility with fermentation temperature as long as it ramps up relatively slowly. Fermentation should be fully complete in two weeks. If you want to achieve further clarity, chill before kegging or bottling. Carbonate to 2.65 v/v or bottle condition.
7venth Sun Brewery’s Saison In Paradise clone
(5 gallons/19 L, extract only)
OG = 1.050 FG = 1.005
IBU = 45 SRM = 3 ABV = 5.9%
Ingredients
4 lbs. (1.8 kg) Pilsen dried malt extract
1.7 lbs. (0.77 kg) wheat dried malt extract
3.2 AAU Saaz hops (60 min.) (0.9 oz./26 g at 3.5% alpha acids)
4.5 AAU East Kent Goldings hops (60 min.) (0.9 oz./26 g at 5% alpha acids)
4.9 AAU Saaz hops (3 min.) (1.4 oz./39 g at 3.5% alpha acids)
7 AAU East Kent Goldings hops (3 min.) (1.4 oz./39 g at 5% alpha acids)
1 g yeast nutrient (10 min.)
1 Whirlfloc tablet (10 min.)
0.69 g grains of paradise (5 min.)
Wyeast 3711 (French Saison), White Labs WLP590 (French Saison Ale), or LalBrew Belle Saison yeast
¾ cup corn sugar (if priming)
Step by Step
Raise 3 gallons (11.36 L) of water to near boiling temperatures, then slowly stir in half of each of the extracts. Return to the heat source and raise to boil. Boil for 60 minutes, adding bittering hops at the beginning, Whirlfloc/Irish moss (if desired) at 10 minutes remaining, the rest of the extract (slowly) and spices at 5 minutes, and the final hop additions with 3 minutes remaining. Upon completion of the boil, whirlpool, then let wort sit for about 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, boil and chill about 2.5 gallons (9.46 L) of water so you can “top up” your wort later.
Upon completion of whirlpool, chill wort quickly to 65 °F (18 °C). Add pre-boiled and chilled water to top up to 5 gallons (19 L). (Ideally, your chilled water is also 65 °F/18 °C.) Pitch yeast and aerate if using a liquid yeast strain. Follow the all-grain instructions for fermentation and packaging instructions.
Tips For Success:
7venth Sun Brewery employs a 60-minute boil. Since the majority of the base malt is a Pilsner malt, feel free to extend the boil to 90 minutes if you choose to drive off DMS (dimethyl sulfide) precursors. Just be sure to account for the extra boil volume loss if doing so.
Remember, brewing spices go a long way. It is better to be conservative than to overdo it. You can always add more, but you can’t undo an overspiced batch.
Making a yeast starter will ensure you have enough healthy and vibrant yeast to fully ferment this dry saison when using a liquid strain.
Saisons have a lot of leeway regarding fermentation temperature. The key is not letting it free rise too fast. Ideally, you want to be in the optimum fermentation temperature range during the important primary fermentation stage. Exceeding this temperature after primary is over rarely negatively impacts this forgiving beer style.
