Biere De Guarde: Suggestions and comments, please.

[MikeICR]

I've decided to try a Biere de Garde and would like to keep it as traditional as possible. My ancestors came to Quebec, Canada, from northern France in the 17th century and I'd like to imitate a brew they may have enjoyed.

In the interest of keeping things authentic, I'd like to use Strisslespalt leaf hops. I know they're considered an aroma hop. What should I use for bittering? Also, I'm finding a lot of conflicting info for what yeast to use and how to age it. Some suggest cold conditioning with ale yeast. Some say lager yeast at room temperature. Any suggestions?

Here's the recipe for 5.5 gallons without hops and yeast:

7.5 lbs pale malt 48.39%
3.5 lbs Wheat malt 22.58%
3 lbs Munich malt 10L 19.35%
1 lbs Flaked Oats 6.45%
.5 lbs Crystal 120L 3.23%

OG: 1.072 FG: 1.019 ABV: 7.02% SRM: 11.9

 

[jonmohno]

Usually it seems alot of Belgian yeast are used which ferment in the 70's. I used s-33 in a french ale in high 60's , it didnt get too estery. I also wasnt real impressed with it. Im thinking of tyring so liquid sometime. Are you going to use dry or liquid?

 

[MikeICR]

Have you ever tried to cold condition T58?

 

[bjohnson29]

You could bitter with Hallertau.

 

[TrueNorth]

Second the Hallertau or perhaps Brewers Gold (Euro)...or perhaps Fuggles?

And maybe go with Wyeast Euro Ale (1338) in the upper 60s then stored really cool for a few months (low 40s?).

Note: I have yet to try this but something similar is in the works...

I would shoot for something you enjoy, in the spirit of a traditional biere de garde, rather than a strict adherence to what I see as a highly variable and hard to define (and really, really interesting and fascinating) genre.

Let us know what direction you go.

 

[MikeICR]

After a lot of reading and research, I've made some significant changes to the recipe. After primary, fermented for probably 2 weeks around 60-65F, I'll cold condition for a few months around 40F with oak chips. After that, I'll rack and bottle half of it. The other half will stay in the carboy and I'll add the orange/raisin recipe and age for a week, then bottle. what do you think?

Recipe:

5.5 gallon final volume
OG 1.071
FG 1.018
ABV 6.89
IBUs 22.8
SRM 10.8

10lbs 2 row (66.53%)
3lbs Munich 10L (19.96%)
1lbs Aromatic (6.65%)
8oz Biscuit (3.33%)
0.5oz Chocolate (0.20%)
1.25oz Strisslespalt hops (60 mins)
1.25oz Strisslespalt hops (20 mins)
8oz Cane Sugar (5 mins)

Wyeast 3711 - french Saison




Orange/raisin recipe (a 1672 recipe for "Very Rare Ale" from the France/Belgium area)

6oz raisins - chopped
1/2 large orange - thinly sliced
the zest of 1/2 lemon
2 whole cloves
0.5oz coriander seeds

Everything goes in a spice bag which gets suspended in the beer.

 

[hawgwild81]

Sorry to dig up an old thread, but I'm in the process of trying to come up with a Biere de Garde recipe and I was thinking of doing a lot of the same things. I was thinking of aging it on oak chips and had thought about adding some spices in the secondary as well. How did yours turn out? Anything you would do differently?