With the end of the year, I did a rebrew of Tremonia Lager, one of my favorite recipes from the past 12 months. This round uses an identical malt bill, although I switched out the bittering hops (Sterling instead of Magnum), and used Diamond lager yeast from Lallemand instead of W34/70. The water is slightly modified too, to accommodate our seasonal water changes and reduce the magnesium load.

Tremonia Lager 1.1
- 9.5 lb. pilsner malt (Weyermann)
- 1.5 lb. Munich I malt (Weyermann)
- 1.5 lb. Vienna malt (Weyermann)
- 0.85 oz. Sterling hop pellets (7.4% alpha), 60 minute boil
- 0.5 oz. Mt. Hood hop pellets (4.6% alpha), 10 minute boil
- 1 Whirlfloc tablet, 5 minute boil
- 0.5 oz. Mt. Hood hop pellets (4.6% alpha), 5 minute boil
- 2 pkg. Diamond Lager yeast (Lallemand)
Target Parameters
- 1.057 o.g., 1.014 f.g., 5.6% abv, 26 IBU, 5 SRM
- Infusion mash, 152° for 60 minutes, full volume
- Claremont tap water adjusted with lactic acid and mineral additions, to achieve calculated water profile of 102 Ca, 45 Mg, 74 Na, 66 SO4, 89 Cl, 25 HCO3, -79 ppm RA, 20 ppm Alkalinity, 99 ppm effective hardness.
Procedure
- I tested my water the night before brewing, and added 6.75 mL of 88% lactic acid to neutralize carbonates. Then, I added 2 g of gypsum and 0.5 g of calcium chloride, to achieve the target water profile listed above. Unlike my first batch of this beer, I used no Epsom salts.
- I mashed in with 7.5 gallons of water at 159°, to hit a target mash temperature of 152°. After sitting for 10 minutes, I began recirculation, for a 60 minute mash rest at 152°. Then, I heated the mash to 168°, holding it here for 10 minutes.
- After removing the grain basket, I had 6.6 gallons of runnings with a gravity of 1.049, for 69% mash efficiency.
- I brought the kettle to a boil, adding hops and finings per the schedule. I also added 1 tsp. of BrewTan B at the end of the boil, to help maintain freshness of the beer.
- I chilled the beer down to 75° or so, and then transferred to the fermenter for the final chill down to 50°. Then, I pitched the yeast.
- Starting gravity was 1.055. I brewed this beer on 21 November 2020.
- On 30 November 2020, I raised the temperature in the fermenter to 60°, and then cold crashed to 33° on 4 December 2020.
- I kegged the beer on 10 December 2020, with a semi-closed transfer into the purged keg. It lagered for a few weeks at this temperature before going on-tap.
Tasting
- Appearance
- Very clear, nearly brilliant gold beer, with a persistent fine white head. Beautiful!
- Aroma
- Malt-forward, with a light sweet maltiness and low hop level.
- Flavor
- Malty, delicious, with cracker-like character. There is a firm, moderately high bitterness, but not much hop character beyond that.
- Mouthfeel
- Medium body, moderate carbonation, with off-dry finish and lingering bitterness.
- Would I brew this again?
- This is a nice beer! I like the previous version a touch better, but this one is still pretty good. The hop character was a touch better previously, and I think the mineral balance is slightly out of whack, giving a slight harshness to the bittering. I might adjust the minerals to be just a touch closer to the “old” version next time around.
- Overall
- 9/10