McKenzie’s Brew House’s Saison Vautour clone

McKenzie’s Brew House’s Saison Vautour clone

(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.057 FG = 1.006
IBU = 30 SRM = 4 ABV = 6.7%

Saison Vautour is named for the vultures that ominously circle the brewery on brew days. This is the recipe for McKenzie’s Brew House’s multi-gold-medal-winning rye saison from head brewer Ryan Michaels. It’s a good example of how a very simple recipe can result in a beer of extraordinary complexity. The clean version has a wonderful rustic character from the rye and yeast, while the barrel-aged version adds some tartness and funk.

Ingredients
9 lbs. (4.1 kg) Pilsner malt
2 lbs. (0.91 kg) rye malt
0.50 lbs. (0.23 kg) soft blond candi sugar
5.1 AAU Hallertau Tradition hops (60 min.) (1.3 oz./37 g of 4% alpha acids)
1.5 AAU Hallertau Tradition hops (15 min.) (0.35 oz./10 g of 4% alpha acids)
1.25 AAU East Kent Goldings hops (15 min.) (0.25 oz./7.1 g of 5% alpha acids)
1.5 AAU Hallertau Tradition hops (5 min.)
1.25 AAU East Kent Goldings hops (5 min.)
White Labs WLP566 (Belgian Saison II) yeast
4.5 oz. (127 g) table sugar (for priming)

Step by Step
Mash at 145 °F (63 °C) for 60 minutes. Boil for 90 minutes adding hops as indicated. Start fermentation at 60 °F (16 °C) and allow to rise into the mid-80s °F (28–29 °C). When the gravity is stable, bottle with enough priming sugar to reach 2.5 volumes of CO2.

To mimic the barrel-aged version, rack to secondary and add 1 oz. (28 g) of medium toast French oak cubes (boiled to extract excess tannins and to sanitize), along with either a pack of Wyeast Lambic Blend (WY3278) or the dregs from two bottles of your favorite unpasteurized sour beer. Allow the gravity to stabilize before bottling, aiming for 2.5 volumes of carbonation.

Partial Mash Equivalent:
Replace the Pilsner malt with 0.50 lbs. (0.23 kg) of table sugar and 4.25 lbs. (1.9 kg) of Pilsner dried malt extract. Mash the rye malt for 45 minutes at 150 °F (66 °C) before adding the extract and sugar.