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Recipe: Birds Fly South Saison is Dead
This recipe from South Carolina’s Birds Fly South—where rumors of saison’s death have been greatly exaggerated—borrows a couple of tricks from IPA for a hop-forward yet grounded saison.
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Birds Fly South cofounder Shawn Johnson says this recipe is a recent riff on their base saison recipe, Ism.
“Ism is a play on our church of saison as we call it, like Buddhism, Catholicism, etcetera,” he says. “We preach Saison!”
This particular version is dry hopped with Mosaic. “‘Saison is dead’ is a joke inside the brewery, as a lot of new, quirky styles emerge and take front row in American craft beer,” Johnson says. To save saison, they use boutique hops, often combined with a grist and hopping regimen more akin to a hazy IPA. “Saison is Dead is a marriage of the two directions.”
ALL-GRAIN
Batch size: 5 gallons (19 liters)
Brewhouse efficiency: 72%
OG: 1.050
FG: 1.004
IBUs: 32
ABV: 6%
Birds Fly South cofounder Shawn Johnson says this recipe is a recent riff on their base saison recipe, Ism.
“Ism is a play on our church of saison as we call it, like Buddhism, Catholicism, etcetera,” he says. “We preach Saison!”
This particular version is dry hopped with Mosaic. “‘Saison is dead’ is a joke inside the brewery, as a lot of new, quirky styles emerge and take front row in American craft beer,” Johnson says. To save saison, they use boutique hops, often combined with a grist and hopping regimen more akin to a hazy IPA. “Saison is Dead is a marriage of the two directions.”
ALL-GRAIN
Batch size: 5 gallons (19 liters)
Brewhouse efficiency: 72%
OG: 1.050
FG: 1.004
IBUs: 32
ABV: 6%
[PAYWALL]
MALT/GRAIN BILL
7.7 lb (3.5 kg) Riverbend Pilsner
1 lb (454 g) flaked barley
1 lb (454 g) wheat malt
10 oz (283 g) sucrose (at dry hop)
HOPS SCHEDULE
0.25 oz (7 g) Perle at 90 minutes [7 IBUs]
1.5 oz (43 g) Mosaic at whirlpool [25 IBUs]
2.5 oz (71 g) Mosaic at dry hop
YEAST
White Labs WLP670 American Farmhouse Blend, Omega OYL-217 C2C American Farmhouse, or a blend of favored saison and Brettanomyces strains
DIRECTIONS
Mill the grains and mash at 149°F (65°C) for 60 minutes. Run off into the kettle, sparging and topping up as necessary to get about 6.5 gallons (25 liters) of wort. Boil for 90 minutes, adding hops according to the schedule. After the boil, stir to create a vortex, add whirlpool hops, and allow 30 minutes to steep and settle. Chill wort to about 75°F (24°C), aerate, and pitch the yeast blend. Allow the fermentation temperature to free rise as warm as it likes. When the beer is about 75 percent fermented (around 1.015–1.016), add the dry hops and sugar. Once fermentation is complete and gravity is stable, package and carbonate to about 3 volumes.
BREWER’S NOTES
Water: Adjust for a 1:1 sulfate-to-chloride ratio.
Hops: If you control for bitterness, you can experiment with any hops you want. We have done everything from Cascade to Styrian Wolf, Galaxy, Vic Secret, Comet, Bella, Strata, and more.
Yeast: Our house blend consistently takes beers down to 1.002; your mileage at home may vary, but then again, that’s the fun.
Fermentation: Another route you can take is to pitch a Belgian saison yeast on Day 1 and allow it to free rise. When the gravity hits about 1.015, add Brett and sugar. (If you rack to a different fermentor, be sure to purge with CO2 and minimize oxygen pickup.) Ferment for 2 more weeks, adding dry hops after 1 week.
Dry hopping: If your fermentor can’t handle an aggressive secondary fermentation, consider adding sugar first and then dry hops at terminal gravity.
Drinking: We like this beer fresh, but we have found that after 6 months in package, the hops mellow and allow that Brett-tastic profile to shine through.
