Oh, dear blog, how I have neglected thee.

I've brewed some since this blog died (and I'm apparently trying to revive it.) I've created two bieres with the Wyeast 3725 Bier de Garde. (I won't discuss that they should've added an 'e' at the end of 'Bier'... uh, no.) I find it way different than any of the other Saison strains that have been offered by the wonderful folks at Wyeast. =) Way different, and I haven't even made a Biere de Garde with it yet. I have, however, tasted a homebrewed Biere de Garde made with this strain and it was very good. After I tasted my own first 3725 biere it took me awhile to put a finger on the fact that it does put more emphasis on malt (or malt and hop) in a more basic way like, for example, 1056 American Ale does. It lets the ingredients shine a bit more than other Saison strains.

So, I've made 2 Saisons with 3725. Here they are:

The Lesser

13# 11 oz Gambrinus Pale Malt
3 1/2# Wheat (Wagner Wheat)
1.75 oz US Northern Brewer 8.1% AA (90 min)
2 oz German Hallertau 4% AA (K.O.)
Wyeast 3725 Bier de Garde (24 oz starters)

Mash Schedule: 124:30min 148:60min 169:15+min

OG: 1.045 TG: 1.004 91% Apparent Attenuation, 5.5% abv.
Apparently you can be malty and attenuative at the same time.

The Bigger (Les Bon Temps)

18# 6 oz Gambrinus Pale Malt
1# Wheat
2 oz US Northern Brewer 8.1% AA (90 min)
2 oz German Hallertau 4% AA (K.O.)
Wyeast 3725 Slurry from previous beer.

Mash Schedule: 148:50+min 168:15+min

OG: 1.054 TG: 1.003 94%AA, 6.8% abv

With this biere, I also decided to dry hop the kegged portion. One ounce of Hallertau in secondary for seven days before I transferred it to keg. It seemed to add a lot more hop flavor. More than aroma, I think. I have yet to bottle this beer (and the Lesser). The Bigger is still on draft and it has changed a lot. Since all protein and yeast have dropped out and it's become bright, the head has become extra dense (but quickly fades), it has become a little spicier and less earthy. It has also become rounder and more complex.

With the Bigger biere I decided to skip the lower temperature rest because it only had 5% wheat. The smaller biere had 20%. I wanted to see if 5% of unmalted wheat without a protein rest would aid in adding head retention. I don't think it worked for me. You see, I've had a head retention problem almost all year long. The last biere to have a reasonable amount of head retention was bottled on January 9th. I feel like each successive biere has had less and less head retention. I'm bummed. I have some sort of anti-heading bug in the system, I guess. Maybe I need to tear everything apart and clean, rinse, and sanatize as needed.

Any ideas?