I finally made it out to Northern Brewer yesterday afternoon. While there I purchased the ingredients for my Leftover EPA and an ingredient kit for a batch of ESB.

Unfortunately, NB was out of some of the ingredients I had chosen for the Leftover EPA. As a result, I made the following substitutions:

• Loose leaf Cascade hops were substituted for Fuggles.
• Crystal 20L was substituted for 10L
• Wyeast #3944 (Belgian Witbier) was substituted for #3724 (Belgian Saison)

Cascade hops are usually higher in alpha acid than fuggles, so this beer will beer more bitter than I expected. The difference between the 10L and 20L should be negligible. The change that concerns me the most is the yeast. I had chosen the Belgian Saison yeast because it had a high attenuation rate and a fermentation range that extended to 85 degrees. My second choice would have been Wyeast #3522, Belgian Ardennes, with the same fermentation range but just a slightly lower attenuation. Instead, I followed the clerk’s advice and chose the Belgian Witbier, which has a lower attenuation rate and a lower fermentation range.

I still have high hopes for this batch however.