Help me with this Biere de Garde

So I went to NB MKE today and decided to try out their Biere de Garde (BdG) as I have been wanting to brew/try this style I have only had Flying Dog's Garde Dog before. I also scaled it to 6 gal so I could bottle a gal of it I did the scaling on the fly so it was not dead on but close.


BeerSmith Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Biere de Garde JM
Brewer: Joe Milton
Asst Brewer: Mike Sagan
Style: Biere de Garde
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (35.0)

Recipe Specifications
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Batch Size: 6.00 gal
Boil Size: 7.23 gal
Estimated OG: 1.073 SG
Estimated Color: 8.2 SRM
Estimated IBU: 16.0 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
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Amount Item Type % or IBU
12.00 lb Pilsner (2 Row) Bel (2.0 SRM) Grain 74.91 %
2.50 lb Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) Grain 15.61 %
0.76 lb Aromatic Malt (26.0 SRM) Grain 4.74 %
0.76 lb Honey Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 4.74 %
2.00 oz Strisslespalt [2.60 %] (90 min) (First WoHops 16.0 IBU
6.00 gal Milwaukee, WI Water
1 Pkgs Kolsch Yeast (Wyeast Labs #2565) Yeast-Ale


Mash Schedule: My Mash
Total Grain Weight: 16.02 lb
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My Mash
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
60 min Dough In Add 20.03 qt of water at 164.8 F 153.0 F
10 min Mash Out Add 10.00 qt of water at 209.0 F 170.0 F


Notes:
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I switched the hops that they suggested from Styrian Goldings to Strisslespalt to be more French and close to the style also I am unsure of best technique for the mash I will be using my 48qt cooler with a ss braid in it, as i do for all of my AG brews. I was planing on following what I have up there but suggestions are appreciated also I will be batch sparging to get the desired volume out. Any one have suggestions on FWH as this will be my first time too and I am doing it to get the IBU closer to the style in beersmith but if 2oz at 90 would be fine with the lower IBU that is more in my comfort zone. Thanks again.

It looks good. Obviously is personal opinion but the lighter BdGs are usually a little more hoppy so I might add some Sazz at 20 or 15 for some hop aroma and earthiness.

Concerning yeast, I used 2565 for my BdG as well because I have it in my bank but I've heard 3787 is the best for the style. I've haven't tried it though. Would love to hear from someone who has if they notice this post.

Obviously is personal opinion but the lighter BdGs are usually a little more hoppy so I might add some Sazz at 20 or 15 for some hop aroma and earthiness.

Click to expand...

by lighter do you mean in color? taste? abv? the estimated OG is 1.073 which is pretty high for abv. also the color will be on the copper side if I got it correct. Also if Saazz are the way to go to finish I might need to go the the lhbs again.

Light as in color. The range for BdGs is 6.0-19.0 and you are coming in at 8.2 which is a copper color but lighter as far as the style is concerned. Maybe I shouldn't use marshmallowy adjective like "lighter" without attaching nouns. Sorry...

And the hops are just preference. Coming in at 16 IBU is low for the style but I would love it. The Flying Dog BdG comes in at 27 so if that's what you are shooting for you might bump the hops up a bit. If you have Brewer's Gold or Northern Brewer hops around you could add those at 60 to bump things up and move your Strisselspalt to 20.

Strisselspalt is the correct aroma hop for BdG and a good FWH addition. I like the choice and I would even brew it like that, its just a little "out of style" with the low IBUs.

Thanks for the info yeah I did not mean to be in your face with the list of lights I just wanted clarification. Well I will see if I can squeeze some free time in to make it to the lhbs tomorrow or on thurs before I brew. Would using Haullertauer hops work? I know one of my neighbors had a few pounds of those from this summer which he grew. if not I might just be going as is and try FWH. Also any suggestions on good BdG's that I could find at the liquor store? I want to pick up a few before to sample while I help my bud (hbt:Sagan) brew BM's Black Pearl Porter tomorrow.

I like Lost Abbey's Avant Garde but it looks like the closest place to you that sells Lost Abbey is Everett's Liquor in Beliot. Try this list from Beer Advocate, you are bound to find something:

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/style/127/?start=0

I am sure I can get Biere de Mars from omegang so I will look for it tomorrow. Also the Avant Garde is what the guy at NB told me to look for too and I bet it is sold closer if he said I would be able to find it otherwise he has one heck of a commute

any last minute suggestions as I plan on doughing in around 2 PM tomorrow. Also this will be brewed out doors even though we just got 4" today so wish me luck with weather.

So I just brewed it and had a few issues I made a hop bag from the big strainer bag and a pvc coupler with a hose clamp. turns out I did not tighten the clamp enough and the whole bag fell in mid boil. b/c of this i got my outlet port clogged so no using the cfc which meant snow/bathtub cooling. Then turns out I had a much bigger boil off than beer smith predicted (my bad I am new to beer smith and I did not have correct preboil volume) I ended with 5.5 gal instead of 6 but the OG was 1.065 apposed to the 1.079 if it was at 5.5 or 1.073 @ 6 gal. I pitched at 82* b/c I was getting fed up and hope it will go well. Time to clean the keggle in the house/tub and do a lab report for design of machine elements. Happy brewing all.