23rd Brew – Bier De Garde & Berliner Weisse (I Think) – July 11, 2009

A lot of people have been asking me when the next brew was, so I figured it was about time I finalized it. This brew will more 10 weeks from the last brew so we are going to make it count by doing two brews.

I’m not sure what order I will do them in, but one of them will be a Bier De Garde which is a french take on the classic farmhouse ale. The Bier De Garde style is a little different in that they don’t use the same kind of Saison type yeast that ferments at high temperatures. In fact many producers use a lager yeast at higher temperatures, or traditional ale yeast at lower temperatures. This styles is lagered regardless of the use yeast used, hence the word “Garde” which means to store. Its also not clear whether the modern technique of lagering for storage is a new thing and whether the traditional gardeing period was just done in a cellar or maybe cave. This style is know for its strong, malty, but clean taste. It should be more malty than a Saison but still have that dry finish. My preliminary recipe is below (no mash schedule yet).

The second brew that I want to do is a Berliner Weisse. I am hesitant on this one because I was hoping to get some Maryland peaches to mix into the fermentation to give it a peachy tart flavor, but I don’t think MD peaches are out and ripe till August. I may just get some peaches at the local fruit stand and use those instead. The Berliner Weisse style may be the most advanced style I have tried to date, short of the lambic. It requires that I use a sour mash or inoculate the fermenting wort with Lactobacillus (the main source of sour). For those who are not familiar with this style, it is a pale wheat beer that is sour and very low in alcohol (2.8-3.8). My main issue with this beer is whether I want to put bacteria into my nice fermentor or use carboys. The other option would be to use a sour mash that is mixed into the main mash to produce the sourness. The downside with the sour mash is that your sourness is predetermined by how your sour mash goes. With a lactobacillus culture its pitched into the fermentor and stays in the beer for future maturation. The downside being that the fermentor gets infected and you probably can’t put the beer on draft.

Check back later and I will post again with more details once they are finalized. Cheers!

Bier De Garde

16-D Bière de Garde Author: Jaime Size: 11.0 gal Efficiency: 85.0% Attenuation: 83.0%

Original Gravity: 1.069 (1.060 - 1.080)	|==============#=================|
Terminal Gravity: 1.012 (1.008 - 1.016)	|===============#================|
Color: 13.99 (6.0 - 19.0)	|=================#==============|
Alcohol: 7.5% (6.0% - 8.5%)	|=================#==============|
Bitterness: 23.4 (18.0 - 28.0)	|================#===============|

Ingredients:

17.0 lb French Pilsner
4.0 lb Munich Malt
1.0 lb Aromatic Malt
1.0 lb Caramel Vienne
0.10 lb Black Malt
1.0 lb Candi Sugar Amber

1.0 oz Brewers Gold (9.0%) - added during boil, boiled 90.0 min
1.0 oz Fuggle (4.8%) - added during boil, boiled 90.0 min

3.0 tbls 5.2 pH Stabilizer - added during mash
2.0 tsp Irish Moss - added during boil, boiled 10.0 min
2.0 ea White Labs WLP072 French Ale Yeast