Bieres 23 - Biere de Mars.

Despite my tagline of 'why buy it when you can make yourself', I do buy a fair amount of commercially produced beers. I tend toward Belgians or that style anyway, and tend to buy beers that I can't make (don't think I could age for three years+), don't want five gallons of, or am interested to try for inspiration.
Today I am drinking a bottle of Biere de Mars, produced by Bieres 23 in St. Etienne de Fursac, France. Biere de Mars (March beer) is a style of French ale that is an offshoot of Biere de Garde. There are no real characteristics that define the style, though generally speaking it is brewed in December with the last crop of malted barley and hops, and aged for two months or more under cooler conditions in the winter. It would be bottled and drunk during the month of March, hence the name.
One trait that many Biere de Mars' share is that the brewer chooses to emphasize either the malt or the hops when compared to it's normal products. Expect to see a generous amount of wheat malt added, with a lager like smoothness. Some producers actually ferment this beer with lager yeast instead of ale yeast, albeit at higher temperatures than are normally used for lagers. Unfortunately I can't find much info about this beer specifically as the brewers website seems to be down.
And on to the beer....
This would be a good bottle to culture yeast from since right away I smell Brettanomyces. I also get a whiff of apple in the nose, maybe some stone fruit. There is very little to no carbonation. I wonder if that is how it is supposed to be? No bubbles streaming in the glass, no head. Color is a deep gold, almost orange.
As for the taste I can definitely get the light funk and tartness from the Brett. Reminds me a fair amount of Orval. Still holding with the apple and possibly other stone fruits. I can feel the bitterness from the hops, but I wouldn't say the hop character is emphasized. In fact, I would say it is the yeast that is emphasized. Very smooth, with a dry finish.
Despite no carbonation, I find this to be a pretty good beer. Very drinkable, and with a lower than average ABV than most of this style, I could see it being a very refreshing beer in the summer months as well. Nothing earth shattering, but if you happen to see it somewhere, pick up a bottle.
My rating: if you see it somewhere, try it (if it was carbonated, I think that could be higher).
Abv: 5%.
Volume: 750 mL or 1 PT 9.4 Fl oz.
Website: www.bieres-23.com (doesn't seem to be working currently).
Price paid: around 12$ at Harvest Wine and Spirits.
Number of cans of Bud Light you could buy for the same price: 19.

Saison.

I recently started a batch of Saison. My goal with this one was not to clone Dupont or something else commercially available (though they are delicious!), but to make something that might be historically accurate as to what this beer once tasted like.
From Yvan De Baets/Farmhouse Ales:
-amber color
-dominate sourness (primarily lactic) or bitterness with a sour side
-wine like character
-marked by brettanomyces, notes of 'old barrel' present
-well attenuated
-subtle spicy nuances, citrusy hop aroma
-subtle fruity aspect
-dry and astringent mouthfeel
-well rounded character
-4.5 to 6.5% abv
-fermented at least partially by wild yeasts as well as cultured
With this in mind, I wrote the following recipe:
9 lb 1 oz Belgian pale malt
15 oz white wheat malt
6 oz German vienna
1.25 oz East Kent Goldings pellet @ 60 min
.25 oz Challenger pellet @ 60 min
.75 oz Hersbrucker pellet @ 60 min
.5 oz East Kent Goldings pellet @ 15 min
1 oz Willamette pellet @ 1 min
.25 tsp Irish moss @ 15 min
3711 French Saison
5526 Brettanomyces Lambicus
3763 Roeselare Blend
Estimated og - 1.057 (broke my hydro, so no actual reading)
Estimated fg - 1.010
Currently at - 1.008
The varied hops are based on what I had as well as what was available at my local homebrew supply store. They seemed a bit low on many things that day.
3/17/10- Used a decoction mash for this one. In this method, a part of the main mash is brought out and boiled and then added back to the main mash to create the temperature gains. In the formula used to determine how much to pull out, I used 212 as boiling, which is not what water boils at here! Well, I learned a lesson.
Mash in at 124 for 30 min, 144 for 30 min, 154 for 15 min, 165 mash off. Sparged with around 6 gal of 170 deg water. Boiled with hops, cooled, and added to yeast cake from my Grisette. Vigorous fermentation by morning. One day at room temp (65 or so) then into a water bath at 82 degrees for a week.
3/25/10- Gravity at 1.008. Racked into secondary onto yeast from my wild ale (b. lambicus). Added Roeselare blend yeast plus 1 oz heavy toast French oak cubes boiled in 5 changes of water and soaked in port for several days.

Saison on right, Grisette on left.
4/1/10- I was going to let this go a bit longer before having a taste, but after sampling my Grisette, decided to head in tonight. Brett character is already apparent, no sourness as of yet though. Still tastes fine as far as oak level is concerned. Quite an active fermentation is still going on. I can see tons of bubbles streaming up near the top of the carboy.
4/11/10- Had a little taste today. The Brett character seems to have lessened, but is still there. Definitely developing some sourness at this point. Still very actively fermenting, with streaming bubbles visible inside the carboy. Definitely going to be something special when it is done.
5/7/10- Tasted a few days ago. It is interesting to see the character of this beer change as it ages. It is now at nearly two months in the fermenter. The brett is lessening, there is a nice bitterness, and it is developing an aged flavor. The only negative I see at this point is a definite alcohol taste on the end, though that will change between now and whenever it goes in a bottle. And when will that be? I was planning on the end of this month, but at this point it could still be several months. This may be a beer for next summer.
5/18/10- I have been adding the dregs of some commercial sours/wild beers to help create a more diverse fermentation environment. Here is what it looks like today. You can't see it in this, but it looks like there is a small pellicle starting to form.
6/4/10- Fermentation seems to have slowed down, but there are still many bubbles coming up through the beer. I mentioned I have added the dregs of several commercial beers. Those would be Petrus Aged Pale, Etienne Dupont Cider, New Belgium la Folie (though I have read it is filtered, there was a sediment in the bottle), and Drie Fonteinen Oude Gueuze. By my count there are around 20+ different organisms now fermenting this beer. A definite pellicle has formed and it has a sour aroma. May be able to bottle in another month or two?
4/16/11- Finally bottled with 3 oz corn sugar. According to my initial estimate and end measurement, this beer is 7.6% abv (or so). Tastes good, amber color, light sourness, bitterness, apply aroma. We'll see how it tastes when it has carbonated!

Grisette.

Summer is coming and will be here before we know it. With this in mind, I wanted to move to brewing some paler and more refreshing beers.
Amazingly, I only had my first bottle of Saison Dupont a few months ago, but loved it. I read Farmhouse Ales, and in it a beer similar to a modern Saison but of lower alcohol was discussed. This beer is a Grisette. There seems to be little idea of how it came to be called that (gris meaning grey in French), but it was brewed specifically to quench the thirst of the miners working in that region of Belgium.
Expect to see many of the fruity and peppery flavors found in a Saison, but an alcohol content of 3.5-5%. Light bitterness, light hop aroma. Sounds perfect for a hot day. I wanted to get it started now since I will age it for a month or so before I bottle.
5 lb Pilsner malt
2 lb white wheat malt
3 oz acidulated malt
3 oz light crystal
4 oz biscuit
1 oz Hallertauer pellet @ 60 min
.25 oz Kent Goldings @ 60 min
16g Kent Goldings @ 15 min
12g Kent Goldings @ 2 min
.25 tsp Irish moss @ 15 min
3711 Wyeast French Saison
Target og- 1.042
Actual og- 1.028???? Not sure how this happened...
Currently- 1.001
Actual fg- 1.001
3.6% abv
96% apparent attenuation!!!
79% actual attenuation
3/10/10- Rest at 123 for 30 min, rest at 138 for 15 min (didn't have enough water to reach 145 yay for maf!), rest at 145 for 45 min. Sparge with 4 gal 170 deg water. Boil for 90 min. First hop addition after 30 min, second and irish moss at 15 min left, 3rd at 2 min left. Chill, add to fermenter, top off with water to get over 5 gal volume (maybe too much water here changed the gravity), pitch yeast. Happily and rapidly bubbling away the next morning. In a 78 degree water bath.

My mash tun.

Adding yeast.

Og.
3/17/10- To secondary and .5 oz heavy toast French oak cubes and .5 oz light toast French oak chips boiled in 5 changes of water. Very clear at this point. Broke my hydrometer today so no gravity reading. At room temperature 66-68 degrees.
3/24/10- Noting some bubbles on the surface.
3/25/10- New hydro, gravity at 1.001. This yeast is a beast! Tastes good, fruity, peppery, hops come through.
4/1/10- Tasted tonight. The oak is definitely coming through, getting close to too much. I will probably bottle this next week. Hopefully I can collect a ton of bottles before then. Added .5 oz Willamette Goldings leaf hops for a dry hop finish.

Dry hops.
4/7/10- Bottled today with 3.8 oz corn sugar, aiming for 2.5+ volumes of co2. Got around 4.25 gallons, so I will get a higher carbonation than that even, hopefully not into the range of bottles bursting. At 3.6% abv with a light hoppiness and some oaky character, this should be a nice summer beer once it carbonates.
4/16/10- The yeast dropped out pretty quickly and it was clear within 2-3 days after bottling. Had my first tasting tonight.

In the beginning...

This week I bottled one of my firsts - my first all grain batch of beer as well as my first beer brewed solely with Brettanomyces. The recipe came from Wild Brews, and other than using a different yeast strain that he suggests, it is pretty much right out of the book.
10 lb Pilsner malt
11 oz white wheat malt
5 oz acidulated malt
2 oz crystal pellet @ 90 min
.5 oz crystal pellet @ 2 min
Wyeast 5526- Brettanomyces Lambicus
Target og- 1.060
Actual og- 1.063
fg- 1.005
7.85% abv
91% apparent attenuation
75% actual attenuation
2/17/10- Mash at 148 for 90 min - temperature actually rose into the low 150's near the end. Sparge and boil for 90 min. Chilled and added to fermenter with yeast.
2/19/10- No visible fermentation activity.
2/20/10- Late in the evening, finally visible fermentation. Bought a second yeast strain just in case this didn't happen. In a water bath at 78 degrees.
2/26/10- To secondary. Gravity at 1.006. Tastes yeasty, slightly sour. Moved to garage to cold age.
3/20/10- Tasted twice since moving to secondary. Very fruity upfront, with a long, lingering finish similar to red wines - leather, hay, tobacco. Flavors developing. Temps in the garage have varied, but I would say the average is in the low 40's with lows in the 30's and highs in the 50's.

Cold aging in the garage.
3/25/10- Bottled with 3.75 oz corn sugar. Got 4.25 gallons or 44/12 oz bottles. Can't wait for it to carbonate!

In bottles.

Clearing and carbonating.
4/11/10- First tasting.