Biere de Garde recipe

[alsch890]

Hi there,

I guess its the time of year to brew a Biere de Garde. I am planning to do one next weekend and just putting the recipe together. I have based it on the GH recipe but due to the unavailability of Aromatic malt and the need to use up some hops I have made some adjustments:

Aiming for a 15l batch at around 6.5% abv

Pale malt 3kg / 62%
Vienna malt 1.2kg / 25%
Munich malt 325g / 6.5%
Melanoidin 325g / 6.5%

Sladek 25g @60 (24ibu)
Saaz 15g @5 (2.3ibu)
Saaz 15g @switch off (0.6ibu)

Few questions:
- will the Munich work as a sub for the Aromatic?
- Do I need as much Melanoidin as that? I use it often but am always wary of going much over 4%, as it can be very overpowering both in flavour and in colour! I'm thinking of upping the Munich to 600g and dropping the Melanoidin to 200g?
- Yeast?? I have no idea. I only use dry yeast and typically Fermentis due to ease of availability over here. I am looking at T-58 or S-33 right now but open to suggestions. Actually just open to any advice on the yeast since I really have no idea which way to go.

Thanks for any and all comments!

 

[alsch890]

Ah I see a similar thread from a few days back too suggesting S-33 and also some cararye. I do have that in stock and some carawheat.... could add a bit of either...

 

[MrRook]

The melanoiden malt is closer to aromatic than munich is.
I'd go with the T-58, S-33 is not a Belgian yeast. S-33 is the old Edme British yeast.

 

[YeastFace]

Bière de Garde does not typically have much by way of yeast character, it is a malt-forward beer. Belgian yeasts aren't really appropriate.

I would recommend one of the dry kölsch yeasts - Lallemand Köln or Safale K97.

 

[alsch890]

@An Ankoù apologies for the tag but I am wondering if you could help me out here at all? I'm planning a BdG next weekend and got my yeast choice down to T-58, S-33 or K-97 and getting various feedback for each. I'm not overly keen on using K-97 (if only because I used it in my last brew and I've never used either of the other two so good to be able to test something new. However I don't want to use a yeast that is totally inappropriate for the style..... Any advice?

@MrRook yeah I do appreciate that but I use Melanoidin a lot and whenever I go over 5 or 6% I find it really overwhelming....

 

[An Ankoù]

@An Ankoù apologies for the tag but I am wondering if you could help me out here at all? I'm planning a BdG next weekend and got my yeast choice down to T-58, S-33 or K-97 and getting various feedback for each. I'm not overly keen on using K-97 (if only because I used it in my last brew and I've never used either of the other two so good to be able to test something new. However I don't want to use a yeast that is totally inappropriate for the style..... Any advice?

@MrRook yeah I do appreciate that but I use Melanoidin a lot and whenever I go over 5 or 6% I find it really overwhelming....

@alsch890 I have never made a bière de garde and I got interested in it because of the OP's questions in the thread relating to a recipe for La Goudale, which isn't really a BdG at all. I did a bit of research and found that some sources were confusing this style with the French Bières de Garde. I do think the yeast should be interechangeable, though. Certainly BdG is not a saison, and I think it would be wrong to use a diastaticus variant yeast. All that said, when I do make either a La Goudale clone or a BdG, I shall be using S-33 in my first attempt. I've looked at other threads in other forums and those who have used it are happy with the results even though it can be difficult to get it to reach its claimed attenuation. So there we are, for what it's worth, and I think that until I've tried it, I'm not the best person to ask.

 

[alsch890]

Cool, thanks for the advice. I appreciate it!

 

[YeastFace]

I've brewed a few but with the White Labs strain. I think S-33 or K-97 will be fine. Was your last brew with K-97 unsuccessful? If it hit its numbers and fermented as described I'm not sure why you're writing it off. I've found T58 fairly restrained compared to other Belgian strains, but still I think the esters would be too much for what is a malt-forward beer. But that said, if you're brewing for something tasty for yourself and not a BJCP competition to style - why not go for it!

 

[alsch890]

I've brewed a few but with the White Labs strain. I think S-33 or K-97 will be fine. Was your last brew with K-97 unsuccessful? If it hit its numbers and fermented as described I'm not sure why you're writing it off. I've found T58 fairly restrained compared to other Belgian strains, but still I think the esters would be too much for what is a malt-forward beer. But that said, if you're brewing for something tasty for yourself and not a BJCP competition to style - why not go for it!

Oh, I'm not writing it off. It was very successful but it was a very different type of beer (a raspberry wheat ale) where a clean yeast was required. and I'd also read on my homebrew supply site that it is good for lower alcohol beers up to 5.5%, but looking on the fermentis website it doesn't mention that at all. It was more that there are only two Fermentis yeasts I think Ihave never used and they are T-58 and S-33 so thought this might be a chance to learn something about those but not at the cost of a decent brew!
actually it was a couple of brews ago now as it was summer, time is flying this year!

I might order the K-97 and S-33 so that I don't have to make an instant decision! thanks for the advice.

 

[YeastFace]

Oh, I'm not writing it off. It was very successful but it was a very different type of beer (a raspberry wheat ale) where a clean yeast was required. and I'd also read on my homebrew supply site that it is good for lower alcohol beers up to 5.5%, but looking on the fermentis website it doesn't mention that at all. It was more that there are only two Fermentis yeasts I think Ihave never used and they are T-58 and S-33 so thought this might be a chance to learn something about those but not at the cost of a decent brew!
actually it was a couple of brews ago now as it was summer, time is flying this year!

I might order the K-97 and S-33 so that I don't have to make an instant decision! thanks for the advice.

Sorry for the misunderstanding, Fermentis say 9-11% alcohol tolerance so you should be ok.

From memory the Markowski book opined that the original BdG brewers got their yeast from Germany. That's why some historically used (and possibly still do) lager yeast, and others used ale yeasts.

I plan on brewing another one (and a Bière de Mars) early next year and will use either the Lallemand Köln or Safale K97, as the Whitelabs isn't released until later in the year (and neither is the Wyeast, which I've not used before). I would try to harvest from a bottled commercial example, but finding any decent examples is now more challenging and I imagine they are primed with bottling yeast.

Edit - I should be at the parent-in-law's (where my brewing books are) on Saturday morning, so depending on when you're brewing I can have a look on his recommended dry yeast and let you know?

 

[alsch890]

thanks for the extra info, really useful. I am now leaning heavily towards using K-97 again. and I never heard of a Biere de Mars so might have to add that to my schedule next year too! that would be great if you have time to, would really appreciate it!