Mon Oncle Brewday 4/12/11

The day after I got back from the conference we brewed the Mon Oncle, a biere de garde. The final recipe is simpler than it started out being, with pale chocolate being the only specialty malt. I have little to no idea what the yeast character is going to be in this beer. Even though it's labeled biere de garde yest, rumor is that the yeast is from Fantome, which is known for its saisons. Saison and biere de garde have been lumped together for historical reasons, but in terms of taste they are worlds apart.

I tried a biere de garde for the first time two days before brewing this one. It was Jenlain's biere de printemps. I enjoyed it, but was underwhelmed. As a result of this I decided to increase the hopping somewhat, from 1.5 oz to 2 oz total hops. I think that the beer I tried isn't generally considered to be one of the better biere de gardes, though. Anyway, Jack has doubts about this beer, but I think it's going to turn out pretty good.

This should be a deep amber to light brown ale, with a moderate earthy hop aroma (slightly out of style), moderate bitterness, a dry finish, and a malty, breadcrust type flavor. Yeast character could be anywhere from clean to wild.

Batch size: 5 gallons

Boil Volume: 3 gallons

Calculated OG: 1.070

Measured FG: 1.010

Estimated ABV: 7.9

Calculated IBUs (Tinseth): 35

Yeast: Wyeast 3725 (Biere de Garde)

Fermentation vessel: AHB Bucket

8 lbs extra light DME

0.75 lbs Pale Chocolate

1 oz Northern Brewer 9.4% AA at 60 minutes

1 oz Northern Brewer 9.4 AA at 15 minutes

Bottled 4/26/11 with 5.5 oz of priming sugar: More bitter and estery than the style, but from what I could taste through my congestion, it's quite good and very interesting. This beer is very attenuated (86% apparent attenuation!).