Found Dry Yeast for Biere de Garde

[Franktalk]

Lalbrew Farmhouse makes an awesome French farmhouse ale, a biere de garde! I exclusively use dry yeast. And I love the beire de garde style, maybe because I am of French heritage and maybe because I drank and enjoyed it in France with all the ambiance that goes along with it.


In the past, I have brewed it with Safale 04 and 05, nuh-uh! both are too clean. I have used k-97 and, though European, it doesn't have the right character either. None of the dry saisons, Belle or be-134 do it either, too much clove, too dry, and too fruity. Finally, I am not sure what wb-06 or t-58 are; I just know that I don't like them.

So along comes Lalbrew Farmhouse, and I brew my usual blonde biere de garde, ala 3 Monts, ferment it with Farmhouse at 72F, age it for 5 weeks and voila! I seem to have made my best dry yeast fermented biere de garde. It is a touch hazy, (BJCP says that's okay) mildly clovy and minutely fruity on the nose with a hint of ripe red apple and maybe lemon. The taste is sweet honey clean malt all the way with barely any clove in the background and a vinous hint of lemon. All this is underpinned with only the slightest whiff of clove, it is almost there and then it's not. Then, the sweetness the the palate dries out just enough to give it a semi-dry finish. I'm psyched!

 

[VikeMan]

Interesting. Lalbrew Farmhouse is a non-diastatic strain, so my first thought is "will this make a dry enough farmhouse ale without using sugar?"

What were your grain bill and mash schedule and what was your apparent attenuation?

 

[Franktalk]

Interesting. Lalbrew Farmhouse is a non-diastatic strain, so my first thought is "will this make a dry enough farmhouse ale without using sugar?"

What were your grain bill and mash schedule and what was your apparent attenuation?

Well it did finish on the high side at 1.016, with an attenuation of 74%, but that may have been due to the 10 lbs. of Chevalier malt. That's within the specs and it is supposed to be malty but finish dry, which it does. Here's the grist bill:

10 lbs 5.2 oz Chevallier Heritage Malt (Crisp)
2 lbs 1.1 oz Munich I (Weyermann) (7.1 SRM)
8.3 oz Aromatic Malt (Briess) (20.0 SRM)
8.3 oz Honey Malt (25.0 SRM)
8.3 oz Acidulated (Weyermann) (1.8 SRM)
30.71 g East Kent Goldings (EKG) [5.40 %]
1.0 pkg Lalbrew Farrmhouse (Lallemand #)

I did a Hockhurz mash: 30 minutes at 144 F and 45 minutes at 158 F Chevalier is deliciously malty but you have to play with it to get conversion and attenuation.

 

[Bill Tong]

Lallemand Farmhouse yeast is great! I love saison but not a big fan of diastaticus.

My recipe was german pilsner malt, some vienna malt, pinch of wheat. OG 1.04 FG 1.01 ABV 4% . IBU 20, saaz and some tettnang. Mashed low, fermented high at 24C for 5 days then i kegged and force carbed and it was ready immediately.

Im drinking this beer right now and it is superb IMO. Im considering adding some glucoamylase to the mash next time to get it drier, but that is purely to experiment, because this beer is amazing!!

 

[Protos]

Very interesting option. I used to make all my Biere de Gardes with Fermentis S-189 (Zurich Lager) yeast. I didn't want to use Diastatic strains to avoid adding just another Saison to the many I have brewed.
I have a pack of Lalbrew Farmhouse but I'm still thinking of what to brew with it. Maybe, I should try it in a Biere de Garde.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

I used Farmhouse for the first time on a Trois Monts clone, yet to taste it. Been away and it’s carbonating.

 

[Franktalk]

I used Farmhouse for the first time on a Trois Monts clone, yet to taste it. Been away and it’s carbonating.

Please let us know how it comes out, add another data point to my observations. Thanks!

 

[Cheshire Cat]

It tastes good not a Saisony as some other yeasts I’ve tried. I will use it again for sure.

 

[Franktalk]

Very interesting option. I used to make all my Biere de Gardes with Fermentis S-189 (Zurich Lager) yeast. I didn't want to use Diastatic strains to avoid adding just another Saison to the many I have brewed.
I have a pack of Lalbrew Farmhouse but I'm still thinking of what to brew with it. Maybe, I should try it in a Biere de Garde.

If you do, please let us know how it turns out.

 

[Protos]

Will do!
Gotta check the Farmhouse Ales book to see whether did they really use Saison-like yeasts in classic traditional Bieres de Garde.

I doubt that a bit, because the style apparently stems from the Germanic Lagering tradition (just like the close Biere de Mars, a French take on Märzenbier), where Pastorianus strains are the obvious choise. If they did use Saison strains however, that would be an interesting brewing experiment to try the new yeast in a rare-brewed beer style .

 

[Albionwood]

I accidentally made a superb BdG with Mangrove Jack's French Saison yeast (formerly M37 now M29). It started out Saisony but after a few weeks in the keg, all that lemon and spice disappeared, leaving behind a wonderfully malty but very dry beer. I think it started at 1070 and finished around 1008. I pulled off 1.5 gallons of wort and boiled it down to a syrup before adding it back to the boil kettle.
The knock on M29 (which is diastatic) is that it doesn't contribute enough Saison character - which in this case was a surprise bonus.

 

[Sipina]

I accidentally made a superb BdG with Mangrove Jack's French Saison yeast (formerly M37 now M29). It started out Saisony but after a few weeks in the keg, all that lemon and spice disappeared, leaving behind a wonderfully malty but very dry beer. I think it started at 1070 and finished around 1008. I pulled off 1.5 gallons of wort and boiled it down to a syrup before adding it back to the boil kettle.
The knock on M29 (which is diastatic) is that it doesn't contribute enough Saison character - which in this case was a surprise bonus.

I seem to be experiencing something similar with my try at saison with mangrove's jack's M31 yeast. It started out with noticable yeast character that started declining after 3rd of 4th week in the bottles, leaving me with mostly malt forward beer now. The munich and special B malt I used seems to be more and more up-front.

Are these saisons prone to loosing much of yeast charater with aging? Is there a problem with oxidation maybe?
Are low OG beers (1.040 for example) ready to bottle and drink much faster and thus also decline much faster?

 

[Franktalk]

I seem to be experiencing something similar with my try at saison with mangrove's jack's M31 yeast. It started out with noticable yeast character that started declining after 3rd of 4th week in the bottles, leaving me with mostly malt forward beer now. The munich and special B malt I used seems to be more and more up-front.

Are these saisons prone to loosing much of yeast charater with aging? Is there a problem with oxidation maybe?
Are low OG beers (1.040 for example) ready to bottle and drink much faster and thus also decline much faster?

Saisons were historically brewed in early spring and consumed in the summer by the farm workers. So, yes, aging will soften the flavors and aromas. As homebrewers we are impatient, so we are used to drinking beers super fresh as soon as they are ready. IMHO that's all that is happening.

It also seems to me that the fact that M31ages into something less yeast forward and more malty makes it another good dry yeast option for a Biere de Garde, though I haven't tried it.

Lalbrew Farmhouse's yeast character is mild to begin with, so after Garde-ing (ageing) It is also more malty and less fruity and clovey leaving you with a really nice Beire de Garde.

 

[Sipina]

Saisons were historically brewed in early spring and consumed in the summer by the farm workers. So, yes, aging will soften the flavors and aromas. As homebrewers we are impatient, so we are used to drinking beers super fresh as soon as they are ready. IMHO that's all that is happening.

It also seems to me that the fact that M31ages into something less yeast forward and more malty makes it another good dry yeast option for a Biere de Garde, though I haven't tried it.

Lalbrew Farmhouse's yeast character is mild to begin with, so after Garde-ing (ageing) It is also more malty and less fruity and clovey leaving you with a really nice Beire de Garde.

M31 yeast is a diastaticus and it finished quite dry at fg 1.004, the og was about 1.045. Maybe it is to dry for BdeG however my knowledge about the style is non-existent. I do think that the flavor profile of M31 might be appropriate since it expresses nice fruity and spicy notes.

 

[Albionwood]

M31 yeast is a diastaticus and it finished quite dry at fg 1.004, the og was about 1.045. Maybe it is to dry for BdeG however my knowledge about the style is non-existent. I do think that the flavor profile of M31 might be appropriate since it expresses nice fruity and spicy notes.

No, BdG is supposed to be dry, so a diastaticus is very much appropriate for style. That's the key aspect of BdG, it is malty without being sweet.