Holiday Festbier

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I have always stereotyped lagers–especially those that are lighter in color–as beers best suited for warm weather. Lawnmower beer. That kind of thing. As my palate has expanded, though, I’ve decided that lighter lagers aren’t just for the summer. A festbier–with its slightly more complex flavor profile–seems like a good option for cooler months. And who says it’s just for Oktoberfest?

My recipe was inspired by a festbier recipe I saw on Brulosophy, with pilsner and Vienna malts carrying the bulk of the grist alongside a splash of Munich malt. In the end, it worked out pretty well!

Holiday Festbier

  • 6 lb. Vienna malt (Weyermann)
  • 5.5 lb. Superior pilsen malt (Great Western)
  • 0.75 lb. Munich Malt (Best; 7.6 SRM)
  • 0.35 oz. Magnum hops (13.2% alpha), 60 minute boil
  • 2 oz. Saaz whole hops (3.0% alpha), 10 minute boil
  • 1 Whirlfloc tablet, 10 minute boil
  • 1 tsp. Fermax yeast nutrient, 10 minute boil
  • 2 pkg. Saflager lager yeast (W34/70)

Target Parameters

  • 60 minute infusion mash, 149°, batch sparge.
  • 1.056 o.g., 1.011 f.g., 5.9% abv, 21 IBU, 5 SRM
  • Water built from RO, for target of 35 Ca, 3 Mg, 29 Na, 41 SO4, 40 Cl, 77 HCO3, 37 RA

Procedure

  • I built up 4.25 gallons of mash water by adding 1.7 g baking soda, 1.3 g CaCl, 0.8 g gypsum, and 0.5 g epsom salts. I aimed for a mash-in temperature of 160.5°, to hit 149.1° for the mash. Immediately after mashing in the grains, I added 9.5 mL of 88% lactic acid, to adjust the pH appropriately.
  • I built up the sparge water with 4.6 gallons of RO water supplemented with 1.9 g baking soda, 1.5 g CaCl, 0.9 g gypsum, and 0.6 g epsom salts.
  • I started the batch sparge with 1 gallon of water at 180°, let it sit for 10 minutes, vorlaufed, and collected first runnings. I then added the remainder of the sparge water, vorlaufed, and collected the rest of the runnings.
  • In total, I collected 7 gallons of runnings with a gravity of 1.045, for 70% efficiency.
  • I brought the kettle to a boil, adding hops and finings per the recipe. After 60 minutes, I turned off the flame and chilled down to 75° or so. After transferring to the fermenter, I chilled down to 50° in the fermentation chamber before oxygenating the wort and pitching the yeast.
  • I brewed this beer on 7 December 2019. Starting gravity was 1.053, a touch below my target (1.056), but not too awfully low.
  • I started fermentation at 52°, and raised it to 56° after two weeks (21 December 2019). I raised the beer to 60° on 23 December 2019, before crashing to 33° on 26 December 2019.
  • I kegged the beer on 28 December 2019, by semi-closed transfer into a CO2 purged keg. Final gravity was 1.009, which works out to 5.9% abv.
  • After kegging, I lagered the beer at 33°. From the start, flavor was really nice. When I sampled the beer on 12 January 2020, after two weeks of lagering, flavor was still amazing, but the beer was still fairly hazy. By February 6, the beer had only a slight haze, and could be rated as relatively clear (but not yet bright). I expect it should be up to snuff within a week or two.

Tasting

  • Appearance
    • Gold, nearly clear (only a slight haze at the time of this tasting), with a nice and persistent white head.
  • Aroma
    • Malt, malt, malt. Aroma is a slightly sweet malty quality, and I don’t pick up much for hops.
  • Flavor
    • Smooth maltiness, with the malt character being a combination of pure maltiness and a bit of breadiness. (I’m using various forms of “malt” in my descriptions, but that’s really the best descriptor for this beer!) Hop level is moderate and has a beautiful smoothness, with the balance of the beer definitely tilted towards malt.
  • Mouthfeel
    • This beer is sooooo drinkable! Medium body, moderate carbonation, just a pure thing of beauty.
  • Would I brew this again?
    • Absolutely! This is a wonderful recipe. My only mild knock-down is for the slight haze in the beer, but if I were to lager this for months as a proper festbier I think it would be fine. The malt character and hopping level are perfect. On top of all of this, it really nails the high drinkability that a good festbier should have.
  • Overall
    • 9/10

Kitchen Sink Pale Ale

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To ring in 2020, I did some “kitchen sink” brews to finish out some of my grain and hop stash. One of these was a mixed English/American pale ale, brewed using Brulosophy’s “Short and Shoddy” technique–essentially, using a 30 minute full-volume mash and 30 minute boil to reduce the brew time. It was a quick-turnaround, and has been a pretty good (even if not perfect) batch.

Kitchen Sink Pale Ale

  • 10.25 Maris Otter malt (Crisp)
  • 0.5 lb. Caramel Munich 60°L malt (Briess)
  • 0.25 lb. Caramel 20°L malt (Briess)
  • 0.80 oz. Warrior hop pellets (15.8% alpha), 30 minute boil
  • 1 Whirlfloc tablet, 5 minute boil
  • 2 oz. Cascade whole hops (est. 5.5% alpha), 5 minute boil
  • 1 pkg. Safale American Ale yeast (US-05)
  • 2.25 oz. East Kent Goldings hop pellets, 4 day dry hop in fermenter

Target Parameters

  • 30 minute full volume infusion mash, 154°
  • 1.050 o.g., 1.012 f.g., 5.0% abv, 39 IBU, 9 SRM
  • Claremont tap water, with 1 tsp. of gypsum added to boil

Procedure

  • I mashed in with 7.75 gallons of water at 160°, and hit my target temperature of 154° pretty closely. I added a scant 1 tbs. of 88% lactic acid to the mash, to bring the pH down to acceptable levels.
  • After 30 minutes, I vorlaufed and collected the runnings. I ended up with 6.6 gallons of runnings at a gravity of 1.049, for 77% mash efficiency. That’s a bit better than I usually expect for this kind of mash, more typically around 70 to 72%.
  • I added the gypsum to the kettle, brought everything to a boil, and added hops as required by the recipe. After 30 minutes, I turned off the heat and chilled down to 72°.
  • I transferred to my fermenter, noting a fair bit of trub loss due to the whole hops. I’ll want to remember to adjust accordingly for future recipes that use lots of whole hops!
  • Starting gravity was 1.050, right where I wanted it.
  • I started the fermentation on 2 January 2020, fermenting at ambient temperatures of around 56° to 60°. On January 6, ambient was down to 58°, so I moved the beer into the fermentation chamber and set the temperature for 66°.
  • On 12 January 2020, I added the dry hops.
  • On 13 January 2020, I cold crashed the beer.
  • I kegged on 16 January 2020, using a partial closed transfer into a CO2-purged keg.
  • Final gravity was 1.010, for 5.3% abv.

Tasting

Gold colored beer in glass
  • Appearance
    • Gold, slight haze, with persistent off-white head.
  • Aroma
    • Slightly spicy hop aroma, with light caramel aroma alongside that.
  • Flavor
    • Moderately bitter, with hop qualities in the realm of slightly woody and herbal. The malt character is somewhat bready, with a bit of caramel (likely from the CaraMunich).
  • Mouthfeel
    • Medium-light body, only slightly dry; really nice on this count, actually! Moderate carbonation.
  • Would I Brew This Again?
    • This is a pretty decent beer, and is quite drinkable, but there’s nothing that really jumps out at me. As a pale ale, it’s very much in the realm of qualities that I like–not overly bitter, some malt character, some interesting hops in there too. But, there’s nothing that wows me, either. So, I can say this was a good way to use up some ingredients, but nothing to put on the “must brew” list. On the plus side, the short-and-shoddy technique worked just fine on this batch!
  • Overall
    • 7.5/10

What’s Brewing? January 2020 Edition

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Awhile back, I changed my blogging habits to condense each batch into a single post, rather than split across multiple updates. Some of this was to save time, and some of this was to make it easier to find the full story on a particular batch later on. I’ve (personally) liked this switch overall, but feel that it also can lead to a drought in posting.

So, I’m introducing a new, occasional series–“What’s Brewing?” These will be quick, informal posts to highlight planned batches, currently fermenting batches, and other bits that don’t quite warrant a full write-up.

What’s Brewing? January 2020 Edition

Over the holidays, I brewed up a storm! I’ve been doing a ton of lagers, and hope to have enough backlog that I can let some of them condition for a good stretch of time.

Decoction mashing for my German-style pils

December kicked off with a festbier, which is now lagering in the keg. I brewed it as a fairly traditional version of the style. I followed that up with a German pils, but made with American pilsner malt (from Great Western) and Crystal hops. This one got the double decoction treatment, as I work on perfecting that technique. Finally, I did a rebrew of my Red Rye Lager, an American-style amber lager made with California common yeast (in this case, Imperial Yeasts Cablecar version). The nice thing on the latter is that it’s cool enough that I can just ferment it at ambient, without having to tie up fermentation chamber space!

With so many lagers in production, I was a bit worried about taps sitting vacant while I waited for beers to ferment and condition. So, I kicked off 2020 with two quick-and-dirty kitchen sink brews. One was an English-style porter, the other an American(ish) pale ale. I took some shortcuts with ingredients, using up odds-and-ends that were on hand. I also adopted the “Short & Shoddy” format of Brulosophy, with abbreviated, 30 minute full-volume mashes and 30 minute boils. Those batches should be ready to keg in a few days.

Over the break, I did a full cleaning of my keezer lines. On tap, I currently have my ESB, the smoked Scottish ale, and a cider. The Scottish ale has cleared up and conditioned beautifully, and has been absolutely enjoyable. My cider was made with Treetop brand Honeycrisp apple juice from the shelf and Mangrove Jack cider yeast. It’s dry, hazy, and perfect for winter evenings. Both the Scottish ale and cider are in 2.5 gallon kegs, and will probably get kicked pretty soon. I’m aiming to have the Short & Shoddy porter and pale ale ready to go in their place.

Farke’s ESB 1.1

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Early in 2019, I made an English bitter that turned out exceptionally. Hoping to capitalize on that success, I did a second iteration at the end of November. The overall recipe is pretty similar, although the base malt brand was Crisp instead of Bairds. Also, I dropped the crystal 90 and used just crystal 80. Finally, I fermented a very slight touch warmer, at 67° instead of 66°.

The beer, a few days after adding gelatin

Farke’s ESB 1.1

  • 8.5 lb. Maris Otter malt (Crisp)
  • 0.75 lb. 80°L 6-row caramel malt (Briess)
  • 0.25 lb. 80°L caramel malt (Briess)
  • 1 oz. East Kent Goldings hop pellets (6.0% alpha), 60 minute boil
  • 1 Whirlfloc tablet, 10 minute boil
  • 1 oz. East Kent Goldings hop pellets (6.0% alpha), 5 minute boil
  • 1 pkg. London ESB English Style Ale Yeast

Target Parameters

  • 60 minute full volume infusion mash, 152°
  • 1.043 o.g., 1.012 f.g., 4.2% abv, 28 IBU, 11 SRM
  • Claremont tap water

Procedure

  • I mashed in with 7.5 gallons of water at 168°, to hit a mash temperature of 153°.
  • After 1 hour, I vorlaufed and collected the runnings.
  • In total, I collected 6.5 gallons of wort at 1.040 s.g., for 73% mash efficiency. This was a bit better than expected for a full-volume mash, so I adjusted the boil accordingly to try and hit my target starting gravity.
  • I boiled for 60 minutes, adding hops and whirlfloc as scheduled. Then, I chilled down to ~75°, pitched the yeast, and put it in the fermentation chamber. The temperature was set at 67°.
  • Starting gravity was 1.045, with the batch brewed on 25 November 2019.
  • I kegged the beer on 23 December 2019. Final gravity was 1.008, a bit lower than I expected. This works out to 82% attenuation and 5.0% abv.
  • This yeast is described as poorly flocculent–and it was. For the first week or so, the beer poured as a hazy, yeasty mess. It wasn’t terribly pleasant to drink, although it got a bit better as the yeast started to settle somewhat. On January 3, I decided to speed things along and add gelatin, with 1 tsp. in 1 cup of water. Within two days, the beer was pouring (and tasting) much better. It wasn’t perfectly brilliant, but it was much clearer.

Tasting

  • Appearance
    • Light amber color, somewhat hazy, with thin off-white head.
  • Aroma
    • Slight caramel aroma, bready, with light fruity ester. Not much for noticeable hop aroma.
  • Flavor
    • Light caramel and toffee notes on the flavor, with modest (but not over-the-top) bitterness.
  • Mouthfeel
    • Off-dry, light bodied, moderate carbonation.
  • Would I brew this again?
    • Although I really liked this recipe last time I brewed it, I am less of a fan this time around. I’m not sure why it ended up so dry (1.008 final gravity); maybe the mash temperature dropped too quickly, maybe it’s the brand of malt, or maybe I got some contamination that took off on fermenting the sugars? I don’t really taste any off flavors, but the beer is indeed a bit drier than I might like. I think the overall malt character is pretty good, and the ester character is a bit more where I want it on this batch. However, the ESB yeast is a horrible flocculator. I noticed this last time I brewed it, too, and it’s a bit on the ridiculous side, especially for a beer that I think should be drunk more fresh than not. For any future use, I would definitely cold crash and throw in gelatin right at the start, or else try a different yeast strain. I do think the overall package would be better, too, with going back to the original malt bill.
  • Overall
    • 5/10

Brew Year’s Resolutions 2020

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I missed doing this last year, but might as well try again for 2020.

  • Patience.
    • I often bring my lagers on-line before they are as conditioned as well as they could be. That means that the keg is okay when I start, pretty good for the middle part, and might reach fantastic only during the last third. This is often a planning issue, and sometimes a space issue. For 2020, I will try to better plan my brew cycles so that I can hold off on tapping lager kegs until they are better conditioned. A month (minimum) of lagering would be great…and if I can get to 6 or 8 weeks, even better!
  • Practice.
    • I want to rebrew a few recipes, such as my Raspberry Belgian and my Alta California Lager. I never did my oatmeal stout last year, and will try that, too.
    • 2020 will be a year to explore the world of North American “noble hops”, for purposes of pilsners and such: Crystal, Liberty, Mt. Hood, Sterling, Vanguard, and U.S. versions of Hallertau and Tettnang. In the last week of 2019, I made a German-style pils with Crystal and a red rye lager with Mt. Hood, so I’ve got a head start!
  • Prose.
    • I want to do something, either large or small, for beer communication this year. Maybe pitch a new article. Maybe just submit a small note. 2019 was fairly dormant on this front, so I want to do better in 2020. I enjoy talking and writing about beer, and would like to do more.
  • Prost!
    • I want to keep brewing fun! This means sharing more beer with friends (both at my home and by sending growlers out into the world), taking some quiet moments to truly savor a beer, and experimenting with new recipes and new-to-me styles. Small-batch (3 gallon) brews have been a good strategy in the past, and I might keep that up as a way to continue experimentation on styles and recipes of uncertain drinkability. No resolution should get in the way of my enjoyment of beer, and I’m usually pretty good at holding to this. On to 2020!