Chris Betts of Transient Artisan Ales (Bridgman, Michigan) provided this recipe for their versatile saison. Transient has created multiple iterations of it using variations of hops, yeast, Brett, fruit, and barrels.
ALL-GRAIN
Brewhouse efficiency: 75%
OG: 1.063
FG: 1.002
IBUs: 18
ABV: 7.2%
MALT/GRAIN BILL
8 lb (3.6 kg) Pilsner malt—the highest quality you can find. With so little in this beer to hide behind, ingredients matter.
1 lb (454 g) wheat malt (typically flaked or torrified to give some extra heft/mouthfeel)
8 oz (227 g) oats (usually flaked, but Golden Naked is a great choice if you can get it)
6 oz (170 g) sugar (in the boil to help dry the beer out entirely)
HOPS AND ADDITIONS SCHEDULE
0.25–0.35 oz (7–10 g) Galaxy, Magnum, or Warrior [18 IBUs] at 60 minutes
2 oz (57 g) Galaxy at flameout
2 oz (57 g) Galaxy dry hop for 6 days when beer is where you want it
YEAST
Saison yeast (Blaugies, Dupont, or French)
Brett (see “Directions” for more information)
DIRECTIONS
Use 1/3 gal/lb (1.3 l/454 g) water to grain density. Mash at 148°F (64°C) for 60 minutes. Boil for 60 minutes, following the hops schedule.
Primary ferment for 3 days with the saison yeast (our preference is the Blaugies strain, but Dupont and French will work as well). Add Brett 3 days into fermentation. (We use Fantôme and Jolly Pumpkin strains for this, but you can also add dregs from any bottle-conditioned Brett beer you like.)
Ferment until entirely dry (1.002 or below), then dry hop or age longer in oak. Much of the Brett character will come out better if you bottle-condition this beer.
BREWER’S NOTES
We adjust our water with roughly 2 g of calcium chloride and 1 g of calcium carbonate, as well as 3–4 g of lactic acid for a mash pH of 5.2.