Brewery Vivant Verdun Clone

[Victor Edward Ames]

I'm a huge fan of Brewery Vivant in Grand Rapids, MI. Great beer, great food, great ambiance, etc.... I recently tried their Biere de Garde, known as Verdun, and loved it. As a Biere de Garde is not an easy style to find in stores, I decided to give it a run as a homebrew. I've found loads of good resources for the style in general (I'm partial to the amber-ish ones), but then found what's ostensibly a direct clone from Vivant's brewer Jacob Derylo, http://blog.wyeastlab.com/recipes/brewery-vivant-verdun/.

RECIPE: VERDUN BIÈRE DE GARDE
5 Gallon batch (19 L)

Original gravity: 17.0 °P

Final gravity: 3.0 °P

ABV: 7.5%

Fermentables:

10.68 lbs (4.84 kg) Weyerman Barke Vienna
0.89 lbs (0.40 kg) Weyerman Barke Munich
0.89 lbs (0.40 kg) Best Malz Red
0.89 lbs (0.40 kg) Best Malz Acidulated
Hops:

0.23 oz (6.42 g) Michigan Centennial (8.9% AA) 30 minutes into boil
0.19 oz (5.50 g) French Strisselspalt (2.0% AA) 75 minutes into boil
Yeast:

Wyeast 3725-PC Bière de Garde

I know I should probably just trust the brewer, but I have two questions for the group at large about this recipe:

1. It seems really low on IBU (BeerSmith says 9 IBUSs!). I know this isn't a hoppy style, but 9 IBU for a 1.068 beer? Does this seem problematically low to you? I was debating with myself whether I should up both hops to 0.5 to get to about 18 IBU. Or maybe just up the bittering? Thoughts?
2. I can't seem to find the 3725 Yeast (Wyeast Biere de Garde). Any lines on where to find this? Or, if as I suspect it's out of production, what would you recommend as a sub? I've used 3724 (Belgian Saison) with great success before, but that was in a super high temp (80°F) saison which I wouldn't do for this beer. 3711? (French Saison, I've never used this one...) 1762? (maybe for a cleaner fermentation?) I'm leaning towards just trying 3711, but curious for your input.

Thanks for responding, I'm excited to try making this style/beer!

 

[Sigbard]

Hello! Nice recipe for BdG.

My guesses (a homebrewer about to brew a historic BdG and vacuumed the internet for information) is:

1. Maybe because of the aciditic malt. It will give the carachter you miss from the hops. Be brave. Leave it at 9 IBU.

2. "These strains are only available for homebrewing now through June 2019." This line was at the bottom of the page you linked in the OP. Me, i would stay away from yeast varieties that made my beer too much of a belgian beer and remember that beer production of northern france leaned heavily on german influences. Think Koelsch or German ale.

 

[Victor Edward Ames]

Thanks for the response!

In re: 1) I will follow your advice and be brave. I was just shocked at what the IBU calculated out to. I'm no hophead (it's the most frustrating thing to me about the current scene, and why I gravitate toward beers like Verdun), so I'll give it a chance!

In re: 2) Further research since the OP has pretty much confirmed what you said; nearly everyone recommends Koelsch yeasts. I find this fascinating as when I think of that area of France I think "West Belgium" (I have Wallonian friends) more than "Germany" but I guess that German influence spreads wide and far. I suppose it makes sense that in a beer that is primarily malt-forward you'd have very low hop and neutral yeast.

Thanks again for the feedback. I'll let you know if I end up brewing this.

 

[Sigbard]

Nice. I'm eager to follow. Today I am brewing my first take on what we can call historical BdG. Total mash time 2h 30m and will boil for over 3 h. It has more resemblance with lambic than the modern strong ale that we both like very much. One of my go to beers.

But in april a brewed a modern BdG as test of what yeast i ought to use with my recipe. I split a 20 l batch on bavarian lager, Koelsch and Kveik Voss. So in my cellar i know have 3 variationswaiting for a test. Sometime in June.