Changes

As the brewery matures, production and sales should converge to approximately 1,300-1,400 bbls per year <ref name="thesourhour2">[http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com/the-sour-hour-episode-21/ The Sour Hour Episode 21 - De Garde Brewing.]</ref>(~7 min in).

90 to -95% of of the grist used in de Garde's beer is Northwest grown and/or malted <ref name="thesourhour2"></ref> (~33 min in) and only some recipes use raw grain, such as unmalted wheat in Saison Premiere <ref name="craftbeertemple"></ref> (~22 min in). Oats are sometimes used to reduce dryness <ref name="bierversuche"></ref>.

Tillamook water is mineral deficient much like distilled water. Rogers does not treat the water for the vast majority of recipes because he wants the beer to be an authentic representation of the environment . Exceptions include hop-forward andsaison-inspired recipes where gypsum and calcium chloride is added in nominal amounts <ref name="thesourhour2"></ref>(~32 min in).

Rogers experimented with traditional [[Turbid_Mash | turbid mash]] regimens but switched to a modern approach instead <ref name="beervana">[http://beervana.blogspot.com/2016/11/the-spontaneous-files-de-garde-brewing.html The Spontaneous Files: De Garde Brewing. Retrieved 3/3/2018.]</ref>. He uses a typical mash procedure, featuring a higher-than-normal mash temperature <ref name="thesourhour1"></ref> (~24 min in), bordering on the edge of denaturing conversion enzymes, for most beers <ref name="talkbeer"></ref> (post 163644). In general, de Garde produces wort that "could be found at any brewery" with the exception of more adjuncts, such as wheat. Mash pH is adjusted on occasion, specifically for the Berliner Weisse/[[Gose | gose]]-inspired recipes since brewers intentionally avoid the enteric bacteria phase of spontaneous fermentation to shorten fermentation duration and produce less funky character. It is important to note, however that no pH adjustments are made after the mash <ref name="thesourhour1"></ref> (~26 min in). The Berliner Weisse/gose-inspired beers are mashed at 150°F for a longer duration for a more fermentable wort <ref name="thesourhour2"></ref>. The Lambic-inspired beers are an entirely different recipe designed to be slightly less fermentable <ref name="thesourhour2"></ref>(~25 min in). A hot sparge is used to rinse the grain <ref name="thesourhour1"></ref> (~52 min in).

For the Berliner Weisse/gose-inspired beers, the coolship inoculated wort is transferred back into the kettle and held between 100-120°F (with 110°F as a target) for approximately 48-72 hours to encourage acidification from ambient lactic acid bacteria. This contributes to a relatively clean, yet still slightly funky character in the beer. After the warm temperature hold is complete, the wort is transferred to oak barrels and allowed to cool naturally <ref name="thesourhour2"></ref>(~22 min in) <ref name="talkbeer"></ref> (post 194702).

The inoculated wort is transferred directly into various sized oak vessels including standard wine (~60 gal) and spirit barrels (~53 gal), puncheons (~120 gal), or foeders (~1,800 gal) <ref name="thesourhour1"></ref> (~25 min in) <ref name="craftbeertemple"></ref> (~3 min in) <ref name="talkbeer"></ref> (post 164564). Consistency between beers aged in barrels and foeders is very high <ref name="craftbeertemple"></ref> (~28 min in). The brewery nearly exclusively uses Northwest-sourced barrels <ref name="thesourhour2"></ref>(~33 min in). Some non-neutral barrel types used include cognac <ref name="thesourhour1"></ref> (~45 min in), gin <ref name="thesourhour2"></ref>(~28 min in), rum <ref name="talkbeer"></ref> (post 161740), and bourbon <ref name="beerandbrewing"></ref>. De Garde especially enjoys the synergy between gin and hops which is why they age most of their hop-forward beers in gin barrels <ref name="talkbeer"></ref> (post 164378). All oak vessels go through a full sanitization regimen before first use and between subsequent uses. A high pressure wash of 180°F is applied to inverted barrels for 20-30 minutes. Despite this process, Rogers has noticed ''[[Brettanomyces]]'' character expresses itself earlier in subsequent barrel uses <ref name="craftbeertemple"></ref> (~15 min in). Barrels are stacked to a maximum of three levels high to help maintain consistent temperature throughout <ref name="craftbeertemple"></ref> (~30 min in). Most of de Garde's beers go through a ropy period in the barrel, indicating the presence of ''[[Pediococcus]]'' <ref name="talkbeer"></ref> (post 160189).

De Garde often fills empty foeders with multiple batches over as long as a week. Often by the third batch, vigorous fermentation is already occurring inside the foeder <ref name="craftbeertemple"></ref> (~26 min in). The foeders typically contain Bu Weisse and Petit Desay to take advantage of economies of scale to offer better pricing to customers <ref name="talkbeer"></ref> (post 361517), <ref name="thesourhour2"></ref> (~6 min in).

Brewers prefers cool fermentation and aging temperatures to discourage [[Acetic_Acid | acetic acid]] production, but peak fermentation temperature can creep up to 84°F in the foeders <ref name="craftbeertemple"></ref> (~29 min in). Ambient warehouse temperature is consistently 55-60°F, allowing de Grade to skip climate control <ref name="beervana"></ref>. Beers are fermented and aged on the lees <ref name="thesourhour1"></ref> (~25 min in) and the ambient microflora is never repitched into subsequent beers <ref name="thesourhour1"></ref> (~28 min in). The Berliner Weisse/gose-inspired beers complete fermentation in as little as three months <ref name="thesourhour2"></ref>(~23 min in).

Approximately 15% of production is set-aside for off-flavor rectification <ref name="thesourhour2"></ref>(~14 min in), and a bare minimum of 5% of production will be dumped <ref name="beerandbrewing"></ref>. Brewers see intense [[Butyric_Acid | butyric acid]] and [[Isovaleric_Acid | isovaleric acid]] character early in fermentation but expect flavor resolution around the one-year mark. However sometimes these off-flavors are persistent and the beer is dumped. Any beers demonstrating acetic acid are immediately discarded <ref name="thesourhour2"></ref>(~14 min in), including the barrel <ref name="craftbeertemple"></ref> (~15 min in).

De Garde commonly adds fruit to their spontaneous beers, using ratios inspired from Belgian lambic producers. Their default fruit-to-beer ratio is 2.0 lb/gal with exceptions for aggressive fruits (cranberry and currant) at 1.0 lb/gal and delicate fruits (peach) as high as 4.0 lb/gal. Brewers use a variety of fruit formats but prefer fresh or frozen. Purees are occasionally used for beers due to seasonal limitations <ref name="thesourhour2"></ref>(~30 min in). Rogers prefers frozen fruit for its enhanced color and flavor <ref name="talkbeer"></ref> (post 737875). He is particularly fond of wine grapes (due to his love of wine), especially grapes that express a strong sense of terroir <ref name="talkbeer"></ref> (post 158205). Beer is conditioned on fruit until the desired character is obtained, ranging from one week to three months <ref name="talkbeer"></ref> (post 194702).

Rogers' greatest goal is to produce drinkable beer with character <ref name="thesourhour1"></ref> (~50 min in). He craves depth of flavor, funk, and nuance - not just aggressive acidity or fruit <ref name="thesourhour2"></ref>(~24 min in). Blending is a collaborative process at de Garde <ref name="thesourhour1"></ref> (~44 min). Rogers tries to utilize everyone in the brewery for input and admits to being occasionally "outvoted" on blend compositions. He has a deep respect for the nuanced palate of his wife, Linsey <ref name="thesourhour2"></ref>(~45 min in). Beers are blended just before packaging and are neither filtered nor pasteurized. For beers spending less than one year in oak, wine yeast is added to the blending tank just before bottling. This helps supplement the ambient yeast to out compete the high ambient bacteria population <ref name="thesourhour1"></ref> (~28, 34 min in) <ref name="talkbeer"></ref> (post 733541).

Rogers believes that the bottle conditioning process is one of the most fragile states of spontaneous beer production <ref name="thesourhour2"></ref>(~15 min in). De Garde originally packaged beers in 750 ml Belgian-style amber bottles with a crown but have since moved to amber champagne bottles with a cork and crown. The brewery would eventually like to package beers in cans to allow for greater portability and lower cost, further emphasizing Rogers' goal to produce the least expensive beer he can <ref name="thesourhour2"></ref>(~1, 4 min in). Ideally, Rogers would like to target a $10 4-pack of 16 oz cans <ref name="talkbeer"></ref> (post 361517). He aims to price de Garde beers so that it does not require a special occasion to enjoy but rather creates one <ref name="talkbeer"></ref> (post 190063). Bottles are gravity filled, capped individually using a pneumatic capper, hand-labeled and stamped <ref name="wweek"></ref>.

Brewers target a carbonation level of 3.0 volumes but given the variability of spontaneous fermentation they realize that beers could end up between 2.0-4.0 volumes <ref name="thesourhour1"></ref> (~35 min in). They experienced some early issues with over-carbonation for this reason <ref name="talkbeer"></ref> (post 185909). A large percentage of bottles undergo a second ropy phase, once again hinting at the presence of ''Pediococcus'' in de Garde beers <ref name="thesourhour2talkbeer"></ref>(post 160189). The Berliner Weisse/gose-inspired beers spend between 2-8 weeks in bottles before being released <ref name="thesourhour2"></ref>(~23 min in). Rogers recognizes there is going to be a natural blend-to-blend and bottle-to-bottle variation with spontaneous beers and that it's not a flaw rather just part of the process. He believes you lose the greatness of spontaneous beer if you try to produce the same thing every time <ref name="bierversuche"></ref>.

(In progress)<br>

Recipes are categorized into three general styles; Berliner Weisse/gose-inspired, saison-inspired, and lambic-inspired. The Berliner Weisse/gose-inspired beers are designed to be highly fermentation to encourage lactic acid production. The lambic-inspired beers are the opposite; less fermentables encourage a greater depth of ''Brettanomyces'' character <ref name="thesourhour1"></ref> (~48 min in). As the brewery grows and matures, Rogers plans to phase-down or phase-out the Berliner Weisse/gose-inspired beers, giving more focus and attention to saison- and lambic-inspired beers. The former were produced out of necessity for quick turnaround production but it is not where de Garde's heart is<ref name="thesourhour2"></ref> (~24 min in). The brewery recognizes the Berliner Weisse/gose-inspired beer popularity with customers, therefore still plan to produce several batches per year<ref name="thesourhour2"></ref> (~26 min in). The end goal is to have the lambic-inspired beers represent a significant majority of the production <ref name="thesourhour1"></ref> (~46 min in).