Tag Archives: lager

Old Franconia Lager

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“Farmhouse beers” are a huge and fuzzy category, in my mind including everything from saison to many kveik-based concoctions to some kellerbiers. Although a character-rich and slightly wild yeast is most common, I would also think some “rustic” lagers should also qualify. Farmhouse, like so many things in homebrewing and craft beer, is a moderately mythological concept, and one built more around feelings than strict history. I suppose that’s why it’s fun to play in the space! It can stir a different set of emotions from by-the-books or paint-by-numbers brewing; it allows creativity (and I suppose role-playing) in a way that many other styles don’t, or at least in ways that differ from other styles.

I recently ran across a supplier for Isaria 1924 malt by Weyermann (William’s Brewing). I am often interested in trying base malts outside my norm, and this was a fun opportunity to experiment. The descriptions / marketing material from Weyermann state that the malt is “made from the oldest German malting barley variety Isaria, which was officially approved for the beer production in 1924. Brewers used Isaria to brew traditional, unfiltered and flavorful traditional German Lagers.”

Colorwise, Isaria 1924 weighs in at 3.5 SRM and is thus closest to most Vienna malts (3-5 SRM, depending on supplier; the Weyermann version is 3 SRM). Relative to the Weyermann flavor wheel, Isaria 1924 reads as a subdued Vienna, with similar locations of flavor/aroma peaks, but different magnitudes (e.g., a peak at “sweet” taste but an arbitrary value of 2.5 versus 4.5).

Among the recommended styles from Weyermann, Franconian landbier was near the top. This intrigued me, because I had recently read about the “style” in the Spring 2025 issue of Craft Beer and Brewing (including recipe). Why not try something in that vein?

My version is not really based on anything in particular, other than crafting a general story–something to emphasize malt and lean into a story of a rustic beer that plausibly would originate in Franconia (which primarily overlaps with northern Bavaria). I wanted to use 100 percent Isaria 1924 malt, particularly because this was my main point of the brew session. I only had 10 pounds, which might be a bit lower on gravity than I wanted for my usual 5.25 gallon batch, so I scaled down to 4.5 gallons. Spalt Spalter hops were my hop selection, because they provide a nice earthy and spicy quality that fit well with my intended “rustic” results. Finally, I wanted to give WLP860 Munich lager dry yeast another spin; as a strain that would emphasize the malt character, and that also would be consistent with my Franconian/Bavarian theme (although Munich itself is to the south of historical Franconia–we’re going for “vibes” and not authenticity here!). During my last brew with it, I learned that a bit of patience was key–WLP860 is a slow starter, and so I shouldn’t fear if signs of fermentation are delayed.

Old Franconia Lager

  • 10 lb. Isaria 1924 malt (Weyermann)
  • 0.5 tsp. BrewTanB, added to mash
  • 1.25 oz. Spalt Spalter hop pellets (4.3% alpha), 60 minute boil
  • 0.5 tsp. BrewTanB, 10 minute boil
  • 1 Whirlfloc tablet, 5 minute boil
  • 1.75 oz. Spalt Spalter hop pellets (4.3% alpha), 5 minute boil
  • 2 pkg. Munich Lager dry yeast (White Labs WLP860)

Target Parameters

  • 60 minute infusion mash, 154°, full volume mash
  • 1.051 o.g., 1.016 f.g., 4.7% abv, 29 IBU, 6 SRM
  • Claremont tapwater, neutralized to remove bicarbonates. Roughly 40 ppm Ca, 18 ppm Mg, 102 ppm Na, 50 ppm SO4, 130 ppm Cl, RA=-31
  • 4.5 gallon batch

Procedure

  • I treated 6.75 gallons of water with a Campden tablet and 6.9 mL of 88% lactic acid, in order to drop out the bicarbonates.
  • Next, I heated the strike water to 159°, added the grains, and held at 154° with recirculation for 60 minutes. After that, I raised the mash temperature to 168°, held it there for 10 minutes, and then pulled the grains.
  • In total, I collected 6 gallons of runnings with a gravity of 1.038, for 64% mash efficiency.
  • I brought the runnings to a boil, adding hops and finings per the recipe. Because my gravity was a bit lower than intended, I boiled a bit harder to bring the gravity up. After 60 minutes, I turned off the heat and chilled the wort to 69° before transferring to the fermenter.
  • I chilled the wort down to 50° in the fermentation chamber, pitching the yeast when the beer was at 60° (night of the brew day).
  • This beer was brewed on 21 September 2025; it had a starting gravity of 1.049.
  • I fermented the beer at 50 degrees; small bubbles were visible on the surface by 22 September 2025, 24 hours after pitching. By 29 September, there was a good layer of krausen on the surface. Given the slow start the last time I used this yeast, I wanted to confirm that things were moving along. I noted an aroma of sulfur in the fermentation chamber on 30 September 2025.
  • I raised the temperature of the beer to 56° on 2 October 2025, and moved the beer to ambient on 7 October 2025.
  • Using a closed transfer, I kegged the beer on 18 October 2025. At the time, it had an amazing malt flavor!
  • Final gravity was 1.013, for 4.7% abv.

Tasting

  • Appearance
    • A deep gold beer, with a very slight haze, which pours with a thick, white, and persistent head. Beautiful!
  • Aroma
    • Medium malty-rich aroma, with moderate spicy hop character. Delicate hoppiness.
  • Flavor
    • Moderate malty rich character, against a medium level of hop bitterness. Clean yeast character.
  • Mouthfeel
    • Medium-light body, moderately high carbonation, off-dry finish. There’s may be a tiny bit of astringency.
  • Would I Brew This Again?
    • This is super nice as something a little different from the “usual” lagers. Isaria 1924 stands well as a solo malt, making an interesting and highly drinkable beer. I might dial the bitterness back a touch, or else increase the gravity slightly; the aroma is amazing, but I feel that the malt character is slightly obscured. I would also do a 90 minute mash or a decoction mash in order to improve efficiency, given the lower mash yield for this particular malt.
  • Overall
    • 8/10

Munich Helles BYO Edition

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As a delicate yet flavorful lager, Munich helles has a reputation as a style that is difficult to brew well. My previous three versions have all been pretty decent, and after a few years’ hiatus I wanted to give the style another try. A recipe from the May-June 2018 BYO magazine presented a different take from my previous batches, and was worth an attempt in order to explore my taste preferences. The main difference is that it cut out Munich malt, leaning on pilsner malt with just a touch of character malt to accent things. I modified the BYO version slightly, taking out acidulated malt and using lactic acid instead, replaced Tradition hops with Perle, and moved all late addition hops to the 5 minute mark at the end of the boil. The latter was because I wanted to emphasize aroma and not boil off the volatiles. I also reduced the calculated bitterness a touch (20 IBU vs. 17 IBU). For yeast, I had two packets of White Labs’ dry Munich Lager (WLP860); I had picked them up at White Labs last year, and this was a perfect chance to use them.

Recipe Name

  • 9 lb. Viking Pilsner Zero malt
  • 5 oz. Carahell malt (Weyermann)
  • 3 oz. Carafoam malt (Weyermann)
  • 0.5 tsp. BrewTanB, added to mash
  • 0.65 oz. Perle hop pellets (6.3% alpha), 60 minute boil
  • 0.5 tsp. BrewTanB, 10 minute boil
  • 1 Whirlfloc tablet, 5 minute boil
  • 1 oz. Hallertauer Mittelfrueh hop pellets (2.5% alpha), 5 minute boil
  • 2 pkg. Munich Lager WLP830 dry yeast (White Labs)
  • 1 pkg. Diamond Lager dry yeast (Lallemand)
  • 1 oz. Biofine Clear, added to keg

Target Parameters

  • Infusion mash, 45 minutes at 144°, 45 minutes at 160°, 10 minutes at 168°, full volume mash
  • 1.045 o.g., 1.008 f.g., 4.9% abv, 17 IBU, 4 SRM
  • Water built from scratch with RO water, to hit 55 ppm Ca, 61 ppm SO4, 53 ppm Cl, RA=-39

Procedure

  • I built my water up from scratch, starting with 7.25 gallons of RO water, to which I added 3 g of calcium chloride and 3 g of gypsum. I heated this to 148°, before adding the BrewTanB, grains, and 0.2 mL of 88% lactic acid.
  • I held the mash at 144° for 45 minutes, with recirculation, before increasing the temperature to 160° and holding it there for another 45 minutes. Finally, I had a 10 minute mash-out at 168°, before pulling the grains.
  • In total, I had 6.5 gallons of runnings with a gravity of 1.039, for 71% mash efficiency.
  • I brought the runnings to a boil, adding hops and finings per the recipe. After a 60 minute boil, I turned off the heat and then chilled to 75° before transferring to the fermenter. I chilled the wort the rest of the way down to 48° before pitching the yeast.
  • I brewed the beer on 19 June 2025. Starting gravity was 1.039 – right on the numbers!
  • Fermentation was held at 50°. There was no sign of fermentation, neither krausen nor bubbles in the airlock, by 21 June 2025. So, I pitched a packet of Diamond Lager yeast just to be safe. Later reading shows this strain tends to be a slow starter and quiet fermenter, so I perhaps was a bit too hasty. Next time, I might take a sample and see if the gravity had changed. In this case, it was better to be safe than sorry.
  • I cold crashed the beer on 17 July 2025, and kegged it on 4 August 2025 using a closed transfer. At this point, the beer was pretty hazy but had an amazing flavor.
  • I added Biofine Clear on 25 August 2025.
  • Final gravity was 1.010, down from 1.045, which equates to 4.7% abv.

Tasting

  • Appearance
    • Light yellow and brilliantly clear, with a persistent fine white head.
  • Aroma
    • Clean fermentation profile, medium-low malt with a sweet malty character. Hops very faint.
  • Flavor
    • Medium level of malty sweet flavor, with a low level of spicy hops behind that. It tastes good, but inoffensive.
  • Mouthfeel
    • Medium-light body, moderate carbonation, smooth and slightly dry finish.
  • Would I Brew This Again?
    • This beer is technically great, but it just doesn’t grab my attention in any particularly way. It’s clean, clear, and decently flavorful, but needs a touch more malt character. Versus previous recipes, I skipped Munich malt on this one, and that set things back a bit. I might try a different pilsner malt, too, but either way the malt needs a bit more of “something.”
      • Note added later: I tried this beer again, in a big mug, and it hit a bit differently. The malt character was more prominent, and it goes down easily. I’m not going to adjust my ranking based on this, other than to say that it’s a very drinkable beer, and would be a crowd pleaser, even if not the most interesting beer for me. I guess not every beer needs to be interesting!
  • Overall
    • 7/10

No. 11 Bohemian Pilsner

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I’ve been chasing the Bohemian pilsner style for awhile, with variable success. My most recent version, No. 11 Bohemian Pilsner, got pretty close to what I was looking for. It needed just a touch more malt character, so I increased the melanoidin contribution from 4 oz. to 5 oz. for my 2025 version. I was also a bit low on Carafoam, so I reduced that from 8 oz. to 5 oz.; I figured that would have a minimal effect. Finally, I’m using Viking pilsner zero malt as the base, versus Rahr.

Recipe Name

  • 10 lb. Viking Pilsner Zero malt
  • 5 oz. Carafoam malt (Weyermann)
  • 5 oz. melanoidin malt (Weyermann)
  • 0.5 tsp. BrewTanB, added to mash
  • 3.5 oz. Saaz hop pellets (2.4% alpha), 60 minute boil
  • 1.5 oz. Saaz hop pellets (2.4% alpha), 10 minute boil
  • 0.5 tsp. BrewTanB, 10 minute boil
  • 1 Whirlfloc tablet, 5 minute boil
  • 1 oz. Saaz hop pellets (2.4% alpha), 5 minute boil
  • 0.5 tsp. yeast nutrient (WLN1000), 5 minute boil
  • 2 pkg. Diamond lager yeast (Lallemand)
  • 1 oz. Biofine Clear, added to keg

Target Parameters

  • 60 minute infusion mash, 154°, full volume mash
  • 1.049 o.g., 1.010 f.g., 5.1% abv, 37 IBU, 5 SRM
  • Water built from RO, to hit target profile of 6 ppm Ca, 5 ppm Na, 6 ppm SO4, 6 ppm Cl, 14 ppm HCO3, RA=7 ppm

Procedure

  • I started with 7.4 gallons of RO water, to which I added 0.3 g gypsum, 0.3 g calcium chloride, 0.5 g baking soda, to hit target profile of 6 ppm Ca, 5 ppm Na, 6 ppm SO4, 6 ppm Cl, 14 ppm HCO3, RA=7 ppm.
  • I heated the strike water to 159°, before adding the grains, BrewTanB, and 4.1 mL of 88% lactic acid to hit my ideal pH.
  • I held the mash at 154°, with recirculation, for 60 minutes, before raising the temperature to 168° for a 10 minute mashout.
  • At the end of the mash, I pulled the grains and heated the runnings to a boil. In total, I started with 6.6 gallons of runnings at a gravity of 1.041, for 69% mash efficiency.
  • Once the kettle was at a boil, I added hops and finings per the recipe. After the full 60 minutes, I chilled the beer to 80°, transferred to the fermenter, and chilled the rest of the way to 50° before pitching the yeast. I set the fermentation chamber at 52°, and observed signs of fermentation within 12 hours.
  • I brewed this beer on 14 June 2025; it had a starting gravity of 1.049.
  • On 19 June 2025, I pulled the fermenter to ambient for about 4 hours, so that I could chill a second lager (Munich helles) down to 50°. During this time, the fermenter temperature rose to 60° and fermentation really kicked off. I chilled the beer back to 50° after this and completed fermentation at that temperature.
  • I cold crashed the beer on 17 July 2025, and kegged it on 4 August 2025 using a closed transfer. The beer had some haze to it still.
  • Final gravity was 1.011, for 5.0% abv. I hit my numbers really well on this batch!
  • To speed up the clarification process, I added 1 oz. of Biofine Clear on 25 August 2025.

Tasting

  • Appearance
    • Brilliantly clear gold beer with a thick and persistent white head, which has a tall and creamy appearance when well poured.
  • Aroma
    • Medium-high malty aroma, medium low spicy/herbal hops as the beer warms.
  • Flavor
    • Bready maltiness at a medium level, against a bitter yet rounded hop character, with an herbal and slightly spicy quality.
  • Mouthfeel
    • Medium body, medium carbonation, smooth finish.
  • Would I Brew This Again?
    • This might be my best Bohemian pilsner yet. It is incredibly drinkable, and the balance between malt and hops is spot-on. Soft water definitely pays off, with the subtle bitterness that plays well against the malt.
  • Overall
    • 10/10

AquiloPils

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Concept beers are fun–building a recipe around a story has a mix of constraint and creativity that scratches the brewer’s itch for me. A new opportunity for such a beer popped up recently, when a little dinosaur with which I am very familiar unexpectedly wandered into the spotlight. Aquilops (pronounced “uh-QUILL-ops), a raven-sized cousin of Triceratops that lived in Montana around 106 million years ago, is somehow going to make an appearance in the upcoming Jurassic World movie! As lead author on the original Aquilops publication (along with colleagues Rich Cifelli, Des Maxwell, and Matt Wedel), this was quite a surprise. The 12 year old me who watched Jurassic Park in the theater is pretty geeked out that one of “my” dinosaurs is joining the cast of a Hollywood blockbuster franchise. This dino is in Lego kits, FunkoPops, action figures, Dr. Pepper cans, and even a Scarlett Johansson ASMR video. That’s cool, but what about a beer? I can only guess that the cute dinosaur aimed selling merchandise to kids is not going to be showing up on beer cans anytime soon, so I had to take matters into my own hands.

Aquilops is no stranger to beer recipes–back when we named it, I brewed “Eagle Face Oatmeal Stout” (referencing the translation of the name from its Greek and Latin roots). The beer was served in our club booth at AHA, and even graced the pages of Zymurgy magazine. The oatmeal stout is pretty tasty, but we’re not really in oatmeal stout weather at the moment. I wanted a crisp and quaffable lager to put on tap, and thus AquiloPils was born.

The original fossil skull of Aquilops was found in Montana, and its closest known relative lived in Japan, so a pilsner with nods to classic American lagers and Japanese lagers evolved naturally. Plus, these kinds of beers are a fun technical challenge and always a crowd pleaser. I sourced Montana-grown barley malt, and Sorachi Ace hops were a perfect fit for the recipe (the ones I got from my LHBS were American-grown, which followed the theme nicely). This kind of beer needed an adjunct, so I used 10% flaked rice in the grist. I wanted a perfectly crisp and dry beer, and thus incorporated a long and low mash rest. Finally, because this is supposed to have a very clean yeast profile, I chose Novalager. The brewing process went smoothly, and after some time cold conditioning as well as a dose of Biofine Clear, the beer was brilliantly clear and incredibly tasty.

Matt–one of my co-authors on the paper, a good friend, Aquilops enthusiast, and the person who brought me on to the project in the first place–celebrated a milestone birthday recently, so I was proud to provide a keg for his party. What better way to enjoy AquiloPils than with good friends, co-authors, and a whole ton of paleontologists? It was a crowd pleaser! To celebrate, I also drafted a logo for this beer, of a little Aquilops clutching a glass of the beer. This project was fun from start to finish!

Me (left) and the birthday boy, with our cups of AquiloPils (photo courtesy Matt Wedel). Check out Matt’s musings on our critter in the movies over at the SV-POW! blog.

AquiloPils

  • 9 lb. pilsner malt (Montana Craft Malting Co.)
  • 1 lb. flaked rice (Briess)
  • 2 oz. rice hulls
  • 0.5 tsp. BrewTanB, added to mash
  • 0.4 oz. Sorachi Ace hop pellets (9.7% alpha), 60 minute boil
  • 0.5 tsp. BrewTanB, 10 minute boil
  • 1 Whirlfloc tablet, 5 minute boil
  • 2 pkg. Novalager yeast (Lallemand)
  • 1 pkg. Biofine Clear

Target Parameters

  • 90 minute infusion mash at 146°, full volume mash, with 10 minute mash-out at 168°
  • 1.044 o.g., 1.004 f.g., 5.3% abv, 15 IBU, 3.5 SRM
  • Water profile built with RO water to hit 59 ppm Ca and 105 ppm Cl.

Procedure

  • I built the water up from scratch, using 7.25 gallons of RO water and 6 g of calcium chloride to hit my target water parameters.
  • I heated the strike water to 151°, added the grains, and also added 20 mL of 10% phosphoric acid, holding the mash at 146° for 90 minutes. Then, I raised the temperature to 168° for 10 minutes, before pulling the grains.
  • In total, I collected 6.5 gallons of runnings with a gravity of 1.040, for 72% mash efficiency.
  • I brought the kettle to a boil, adding hops and finings per the recipe.
  • After a 60 minute boil, I turned off the heat and chilled the wort to 70°, before transferring it to the fermenter. I chilled the beer the rest of the way to 50° in the fermentation chamber.
  • I brewed this beer on 15 March 2025, with a starting gravity of 1.049 – well above my target!
  • Fermentation started at 52°; I increased the temperature to 54° on 17 March, and 60° on 20 March. I cold crashed the beer to 33° on 26 March and held it there until I kegged the beer using a closed transfer on 19 April.
  • Final gravity was 1.004, for 5.9% abv.
  • On 15 May 2025, the beer was still fairly hazy, so I added a package of Biofine Clear. Within a day or two, haze had almost entirely dropped out, and within three weeks the beer was brilliantly clear.

Tasting

  • Appearance
    • Brilliantly clear, straw colored beer with thin white head of low persistence.
  • Aroma
    • Medium-light sweet malty aroma, no hop or yeast character to speak of.
  • Flavor
    • Medium malty character, low bitterness, a bit of that light red apple yeast character.
  • Mouthfeel
    • Medium-high carbonation, light body, dry and crisp finish.
  • Would I Brew This Again?
    • This is pretty close to what I envisioned! It hits the gimmick well and is also super drinkable. The batch yielded a little too high on starting gravity (I was just too efficient in the mash!), so it would be good to notch that back a touch. Otherwise, it’s a perfect beer. I might also try W34/70 for a future iteration, to get more of that apple-like American lager flavor. Finally, I could up the rice percentage some to around 20%, if I wanted a better match with “typical” American lager recipes.
  • Overall
    • 9/10

Let There Be Rauch!

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Smoked beers can be nice as an occasional treat (especially in the winter), and I have made a few over the years. One classic style that has escaped my brew log to date, however, is rauchbier. I remember trying one years ago, from a fellow homebrewing paleontologist, and it is still one of the most memorable beers I have ever sampled! The combination of smoke and maltiness was unlike anything I had tried previously, and the beer lives on in my memory, well over a decade later (and probably closer to 15 or 20 years now).

After years of thinking about rauchbier but never making one, I was spurred into action by Dan Jablow’s article (“Making Friends With Smoked Beer”) in the November/December 2024 issue of Zymurgy. He included a 1 gallon recipe called “Let There Be Rauch!”, and the approach seemed simple enough. So, I scaled it up to 5.5 gallons and adjusted the hops slightly to move the bitterness level into the higher end of the style’s range in the BJCP guidelines.

Let There Be Rauch!

  • 5 lb. beechwood smoked malt (Weyermann)
  • 3 lb. Munich light malt (BESTMALZ)
  • 3 lb. pilsner malt (Rahr)
  • 1 lb. Caramunich II malt (Weyermann)
  • 0.5 tsp. BrewTanB, added to mash
  • 1 oz. Hallertauer Mittelfrueh (5.5% alpha), 60 minute boil
  • 1 oz. Hallertauer Mittelfrueh (5.5% alpha), 15 minute boil
  • 0.5 tsp. BrewTanB, 10 minute boil
  • 1 WhirlFloc tablet, 5 minute boil
  • 3 pkg. SafLager West European Lager dry yeast (Fermentis S-23)

Target Parameters

  • 1.054 s.g., 1.015 f.g., 29 IBU, 11 SRM, 5.2% abv
  • Full volume mash with 60 minutes at 154° and 10 minutes at 168°; 60 minute boil
  • Water built from RO and tap water to hit target water parameters of 59 ppm Ca, 4 ppm Mg, 29 ppm Na, 56 ppm SO4, 88 ppm Cl, 52 ppm CaCO3, RA=-2

Procedure

  • I collected 2.5 gallons of tap water (with Campden tablet) and 5 gallons of RO water, with 3 g CaCl and 2 g gypsum, to hit the target water parameters.
  • I heated the strike water to 161° and added the grains to hit a mash temperature of 154°. I added 2 mL of 88% lactic acid, to adjust the pH. I held the mash at 154° for 60 minutes, with recirculation, before I raised the temperature to 168° for 10 minutes.
  • Upon removing the grains, I had a total of 6.6 gallons at a gravity of 1.045, for 68% mash efficiency.
  • I brought the runnings to a boil and added finings and hops per the schedule.
  • After 60 minute boil, I turned off the heat, did an initial chill to ~70°, and then transferred the beer to the fermenter. I chilled it further to 52° before pitching the yeast.
  • I brewed the beer on 24 November 2024, with a starting gravity of 1.055. I fermented the beer at 54°, and let it free rise to 60° on 3 December 2024.
  • I cold crashed to 35° on 5 December 2024, and kegged the beer with a closed transfer on 8 December 2024. The beer had a very nice and subtle smoke flavor/aroma.
  • Final gravity was 1.018; this works out to 4.9% abv.

Tasting

  • Appearance
    • Beautiful! It is a brilliantly clear light amber beer, with a creamy and persistent off-white head
  • Aroma
    • Bready malt with a touch of toastiness at a moderate level, a medium level of smoke–almost lightly bacony, Very pleasant balance.
  • Flavor
    • Bread crust and malty flavor at a moderate level; smoky flavor, somewhat bacon-like, at a medium level. Moderate hop bitterness with a slightly spicy quality. The smoke balance is perfect against the malt; not overwhelming at all, but pleasantly alongside each other!
  • Mouthfeel
    • Medium carbonation, medium body, only slightly dry finish.
  • Would I Brew This Again?
    • It’s not often I nail something on the first batch, but this is just a great recipe! It dodges the peaty phenolics of some versions, and is both interesting and drinkable. I am pleased!
  • Overall
    • 10/10