Aeacus - Bière de Garde

This week I have chosen to brew a Bière de Garde.  In french it literally means "beer for keeping" or guarding.  It is traditionally a farmhouse ale (similar to Saisons) brewed in the Nord-Plas-de-Calais region of France.  It is brewed during winter or spring and then lagered in a cold cellar to be consumed in Summer.  I got some 6 month old German ale yeast cheap, so I've spent the last week building up the cell count and will use that for this ale.  As for the name, Aeacus is greek god who I thought fits this beer well.

Aeacus is the son of the Zeus.  He lived on the island Aegina, named after his mother, as a extremely just and fair king.  For being so just as a king during his mortal life, he became one of three judges of the underworld, Hades, after his death.  Aeacus holds the keys to Hades and is said to be responsible for judging all the men from Europe.

So hopefully Aeacus will guard this European beer well.  Below is my recipe.

Grain Bill

Briess - Pilsen Malt 11 lb

Briess - Vienna Malt 2 lb

Briess - Special Roast Malt 1.5 lb

Briess - Caramel Malt 80L 0.5 lb

Hop Schedule (100% Dry Whole Leaf)

Golding  1 oz (60 min)

Kent Goldings  1 oz (60 min)

Yeast (liquid)

Wyeast German Ale 1007  (two build ups, approx 270 billion cells)

Mash Schedule

Conversion 4.7 gallons at 148F for 60 min

Batch Sparge 3.25 gallons at 165 for 15 min

First, a quick picture of Blaze's new home brew system.  It is a HERMS system, which stands for Heat Exchange Recirculating Mash System.  It's a really cool set up and it will allow for a lot higher gravity beers, bigger batches, and better efficiency.  Here is a link if anyone is interested in seeing how they work.

http://byo.com/brown-ale/item/1325-rims-and-herms-brewing-advanced-homebrewing

Well, I only got a total of 5.9 gallons at 1.055, a much much lower SG than I wanted.  My efficiency was terrible, 62%.  It should be 70 at a minimum.  Which means the beer will be less alcoholic than I intended.  I am going to have to look up same ways which will make my mash tun more efficient.

Only one hop addition at the beginning of the hour long boil.

Boil done and time to chill the wort and pitch the yeast.  Started brewing at 8:30 in the morning and finished all my clean up a bit after 2.  So under a 6 hour brew day from start to finish.  At least I am making better time.

The best I can hope for is a beer at 6.4% ABV with all the characteristics of a Bière de Garde.  BeerSmith says the beer will have 30 IBUs, making the beer more balanced than malty.  I'll find out when I bottle it, after coming back from India.