Sour Saison (For Advanced Homebrewers) Recipe

By
Joe Postma
Joe Postma
Joe Postma is an experienced homebrewer with a passion for craft beer.  He guided beginners through the basics of homebrewing through a series of features in the Serious Eats “Homebrewing” column and developed craft beer recipes for homebrewers of every skill level.  
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Updated Aug. 09, 2018
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If this is your first sour ale, be sure to read through our Intro to Sours and What to Expect posts.

This is a pretty standard saison recipe, but it adds Wyeast's Roeselare Ale Blend, which from Wyeast's description is "a Belgian style ale strain, a sherry strain, two Brettanomyces strains, a Lactobacillus culture, and a Pediococcus culture". For the flavors to fully develop, this homebrew should age for about 1 year. It will produce a rustic farmhouse style ale that will have a mild sour flavor, but it won't be overwhelmingly tart. You will also get some mild barnyard aromas and flavors from the Brett that's in the mix.

Recipe Facts

Active: 5 to 7 hrs
Total: 0 mins
Makes: 5 gallons

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Ingredients

  • 10 pounds Pilsner malt
  • 1 1/2 pounds wheat malt
  • 3/4 pounds Munich malt
  • 1 ounce Willamette hops - 60 minutes
  • 1 ounce Willamette hops - 10 minutes
  • 1 liter starter of French Saison yeast (Wyeast 3711)
  • 1 package Roeselare Ale Blend (Wyeast 3763)

Directions

  1. Mash-in the 12 1/4 pounds of grain to 152°F using 4 gallons of water at about 165°F (1.3 quarts of water per pound). Stir for 2 minutes to prevent balls of grain from clumping together, creating a consistent mash

  2. Cover the mash, only uncovering to briefly stir every 20 minutes. Heat 4.75 gallons of sparge water to about 185°F.

  3. After mashing for 60 minutes, mash-out and sparge. You should have about 6.5 gallons in the kettle. Add 1 ounce of Willamette hops and bring to boil, uncovered.

  4. After a total of 50 minutes, add 1 ounce Willamette hops.

  5. After 60 minutes remove from heat and chill using a wort chiller to 75°F. Transfer to a carboy and take a gravity reading. It should be around 1.068

  6. Add the French Saison and Roeselare Ale yeasts and ferment at 70° to 75°F for 4 weeks. Transfer to a secondary carboy and age at room temperature in a dark place for at least a year.

  7. Keg or bottle for a medium level of carbonation.

Special equipment

8 gallon kettle (or bigger), homebrewing equipment setup with mashtun

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