Tag Archives: lager

Historical(ish) Vienna Lager

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I’ve been working my way through the excellent Vienna Lager book by Andreas Krennmair, which presents a fresh, historically grounded account of the development of this classic style. It’s a relatively short, highly readable piece of work, and of course it has some recipes in the back. Although we can’t directly reproduce historical beers–so much has changed with ingredients and procedures–we can create an approximate copy fairly readily.

My recipe is pretty similar to that presented by Krennmair, although I made some modifications for ingredients and process. The original recipe (p. 144 in his book) uses a double decoction and 90 minute boil, along with WLP820 (Oktoberfest/Marzen yeast). I converted to a batch sparge, to streamline the brew day, and also raised the mash temperature a fair bit. The original recipe claimed a final gravity of 1.018, and I really have no idea how one could reach such a high final gravity, even with the hotter decoction rests. The main mash sat around 149° in Krennmair’s version, and the math (and enzyme chemistry) don’t work out for me. So, I raised the mash temperature in my batch to target 156°.

The recipe from Krennmair has many parallels with “Nothing But Vienna” by Gordon Strong, which I brewed some time ago (as “Decoction Envy Vienna Lager“, and it turned out pretty well!). Strong’s recipe is also just Vienna malt, with Sterling instead of Saaz. I did that last batch as a decoction, but decided to be a bit lazy this time around. I’ve tried decoction mashes, and they’re fun every once in awhile, but too much bother sometimes. Batch sparge all the way for this brew!

Historical(ish) Vienna Lager

  • 11 lb. Vienna malt (Weyermann)
  • 1.5 oz. Saaz hop pellets (5.3% alpha), first wort hop, 60 minute boil
  • 1 tsp. Fermax yeast nutrient, 10 minute boil
  • 1 Whirlfloc tablet, 5 minute boil
  • 2 pkg. W34/70 lager yeast (Saflager)

Target Parameters

  • 1.051 s.g., 1.014 f.g., 4.8% abv, 5 SRM, 28 IBU
  • Infusion mash, 156°, batch sparge; 60 minute boil
  • Claremont water, with Campden tablet to remove chloramines, lactic acid to neutralize carbonates, adjusted to target water profile of 50 Ca, 30 Mg, 81 Na, 68 SO4, 90 Cl, 30 HCO3, 25 ppm alkalinity, 53 ppm effective hardness, -29 RA.

Procedure

  • The night before brewing, I took 9 gallons of hot tap water and added 7.5 mL of 88% lactic acid, to neutralize the carbonate load.
  • On brew day, I mashed in with 3.75 gallons of water at 166°, to aim for 156° mash temperature. I added 7 mL of 88% lactic acid to adjust the mash pH. I hit 157°, which was down to ~153° after 45 minutes.
  • After 50 minutes, I added 1.5 gallons of water at 200°, to raise the mash temperature to 168°. I let it sit for 10 minutes, vorlaufed, and collected the first runnings. I added the hops to the kettle at this point.
  • Next, I added 3.75 gallons of water at 185°, let it sit for 10 minutes, vorlaufed, and collected the second runnings.
  • In total, I collected 7.6 gallons of runnings with a gravity of 1.042, for 77% mash efficiency.
  • I brought the kettle to a boil, adding 2 g of gypsum at this time. During the 60 minute boil, I added finings per the recipe.
  • Next, I chilled to ~84°, let it settle for 45 minutes, and transferred to the fermenter. I moved this into the fermentation chamber, and let it chill down to 54° before pitching the yeast. This was about 8 hours after flameout.
  • I brewed this beer on 22 August 2020. Starting gravity was 1.050, pretty darned close to my target.
  • I started fermentation at 54°, and raised the temperature to 56° on 31 August, 58° on 2 September, and hit 60° on 4 September 2020. I held at this temperature for 12 hours, before starting the trend back down. It was at 57° on 5 September, 50° on 6 September, 45° on 7 September, 40° on 8 September, and 35° on 9 September. The final step was down to 32° on 10 September, and I held it there until kegging on 27 September 2020.
  • At the time of kegging, the beer had a really nice flavor but still a fair bit of haze. I did a semi-closed transfer, straight out of the fermenter into a CO2-purged keg.
  • Final gravity was 1.015, for 4.6% abv. I lagered in the keg for about a month at 33°, before it went on tap.

Tasting

  • Appearance
    • Brilliantly clear, gold colored beer, with persistent white head. It looks really nice in the glass!
  • Aroma
    • Malty, fresh bread aroma, with no hop character.
  • Flavor
    • Malt forward flavor, with a bready quality to it. Bitterness is fairly strong too, maybe a little more than I would really like for this beer. There is not a lot of character to the bitterness, beyond a slight spicy quality.
  • Mouthfeel
    • Medium body, off-dry finish, with moderate carbonation.
  • Would I brew this again?
    • This is a pretty decent recipe, but nothing exceptional. For whatever reason, the hop level comes across as a bit more than I really care for, and is almost a bit harsh at times. I blame the gypsum addition for that. I think trying to increase the sulfate level was a bit of a mistake, even if it brought the water closer to what it “should” be for Vienna water. I feel like a yeast that accentuates malt character a bit more would be do some good here, and perhaps a slight reduction in the hop level, too, as well as a minor amount of melanoidin malt. As far as lager character, it’s clear and cleanly fermented, and the reduced oxygen transfer has paid off with a super fresh taste even after nearly two months in the keg. Minor flaws aside, this is still a pretty easy drinking beer!
  • Overall
    • 6/10

Dog Days Pilsner

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As the summer reached its peak of heat near the end of August, pilsners were always on my mind. There’s nothing more refreshing than sitting out on the patio at the end of an afternoon, with a Willi Becher of freshly poured pilsner. I find that a good pilsner with some character can also work as a fall beer…basically, a classic German pils is the year-round beer in my world!

So, during the Dog Days of Summer, I crafted this Dog Days Pilsner recipe. I kept the malt bill super simple, with pilsner malt and a touch of CaraPils to round out the mouthfeel. Although I often go for a SMaSH-type strategy for hopping, this time I wanted to build up some layers of hop character. Finally, I wanted a little more yeast character, so went with the White Labs’ Oktoberfest/Marzen recipe, instead of my usual W34/70. Those strategies paid off nicely in the end!

Dog Days Pilsner

  • 9.5 lb. Pilsner malt (Weyermann)
  • 6 oz. Carapils malt (Weyermann)
  • 4 oz. acidulated malt (BestMalz)
  • 1 oz. Sterling hop pellets (7.4% alpha), 60 minute boil
  • 1 oz. Saaz hop pellets (5.3% alpha), 20 minute boil
  • 0.55 oz. Hallertauer Mittelfrueh hop pellets (3.2% alpha), 5 minute boil
  • 1 tsp. Fermax yeast nutrient, 10 minute boil
  • 1 WhirlFloc tablet, 5 minute boil
  • 1 pkg. Octoberfest/Marzen lager yeast (WLP 820), in 1.75L vitality starter

Target Parameters

  • 1.046 s.g., 1.015 f.g., 4.1% abv, 3 SRM, 37 IBU
  • Infusion mash, 155°, batch sparge; 60 minute boil
  • Claremont water, adjusted with lactic acid and gypsum to achieve 66 ppm Ca, 30 ppm Mg, 81 ppm Na, 107 ppm SO4, 90 ppm Cl, est. 30 ppm HCO3; alkalinity 25 ppm, effective hardness 65 ppm, RA -40 ppm

Procedure

  • The morning of my brew day, I spooled up a 1.75L vitality starter for the yeast, and ran it on my stir plate.
  • To prepare my water, I added 9 mL 88% lactic acid to 8.25 gallons of tap water along with a Campden tablet, and then 4g gypsum. This was done to knock out the carbonates and approximate a target of 66 ppm Ca, 30 ppm Mg, 81 ppm Na, 107 ppm SO4, 90 ppm Cl, est. 30 ppm HCO3; alkalinity 25 ppm, effective hardness 65 ppm, RA -40 ppm.
  • I mashed in with 3.5 gallons of water at 162°. Mash temp was a bit low at 151.5°, so I added 3 quarts of water at 178°, to hit 155.5°. I added 0.75 mL of 88% lactic acid to the mash, to lower pH to an estimated target of ~5.45.
  • After 60 minutes, I added 0.75 gallons of water at 185°, let it sit for 10 minutes, vorlaufed and then collected the first runnings. I added the remainder of the sparge water, and collected second runnings.
  • In total, I collected 6.8 gallons of runnings at 1.043, for ~77% efficiency.
  • I brought the runnings to a boil, adding hops and kettle finings per the schedule. After a 60 minute boil, I turned off the heat and chilled down to 85° with my cooling coil. I transferred to the fermenter and cooled the rest of the way (~52°) in the fermentation chamber. This final chill took around six hours.
  • I gave the wort a 30 second blast of pure oxygen, and then pitched the yeast.
  • I brewed the beer on 15 August 2020, and started fermentation at 54°.
  • I raised the temperature to 56° on 31 August, 58° on 2 September, and then 60° on 4 September. I held it at 60° for 12 hours, and then started the downward trend. It was at 57° on 5 September, 50° on 6 September, 45° on 7 September, 40° on 8 September, and 35° on 9 September. The final step was down to 32° on 10 September, and I held it there until kegging on 26 September 2020.
  • The final gravity was 1.011, down from 1.049, for 5.0% abv.

Tasting

  • Appearance
    • Clear, just shy of brilliant. Light gold color, with a fine and persistent white head.
  • Aroma
    • Moderate level of malt aroma comes through, with a grainy sweet character. The hops come across amazingly, with a moderately prominent floral quality.
  • Flavor
    • Moderate grainy-sweet malt character–just gorgeous! The bitterness is moderately high, with a clean and slightly herbal character.
  • Mouthfeel
    • Moderately light body, with a crisp and slightly dry finish and moderate carbonation.
  • Would I brew this again?
    • This is a really nice pilsner. The aroma and malt character are perfect. I can’t think of much I would change with this one, other than letting it lager a touch more before it goes on tap. In the last part of the keg that I’m on right now, it’s looking really nice!
    • My typical German pils recipes are on the upper end of bitterness for the style (37 IBU here, versus 40 max in the BJCP guidelines). At some point, I should probably play around with recipes at the lower end of the IBU spectrum…
  • Overall
    • 9.5 / 10 (slight ding for initial clarity)

Summer Helles

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I’ve been trying to get out ahead of my lagering schedule, by having a few lagers in the pipeline at a time. A minor, but consistent, flaw in my lagers has been that they have a slight haze when first put on tap. I primarily suspect that’s because I just don’t give them enough lagering time. Typically, they might be only 4 or 5 weeks post-brewing, with perhaps only two weeks at most of cold conditioning (<35°) prior to tapping. That’s just not enough time. I’m also not (usually) inclined to rush things with gelatin, because it’s another potential point of oxidation on what are often fairly delicate beers. If I’m going to all the work of making a lager, I want it to taste just as great at the start of the keg as at the finish of the keg!

So, this summer I’ve been working to build up a backlog of beer to allow a bit more time for full conditioning. It’s not always successful–“Mow the Damn Lawn, Farke” was on tap only two weeks after kegging–but I’ve certainly gotten better.

For a recent lager brew, I decided to chase after the elusive Munich helles style. They have notoriously delicate malt character, and are seemingly the cause of endless jousting on brewing forums (particularly when the low oxygen brewers get involved). I made my first attempt three years back, and it was alright, but nothing to write home about. The malt character needed some work.

For this round, my base recipe followed Gordon Strong’s helles in Modern Homebrew Recipes, with some modifications for ingredients on-hand as well as process. I did a shorter step mash schedule, skipping the 131° rest in the original recipe and going straight to 148° for the first rest. I also used W34/70 instead of a bock yeast, with a repitch of the yeast cake from my Tremonia Lager. I didn’t have Belgian aromatic malt on hand, so I used Carahell instead. Also, I used Hallertauer Mittelfrueh hop pellets instead of US Vanguard, a rare case as of late in which I am using the German variety instead of American hop equivalents!

Summer Helles

  • 8.75 lb. Pilsner malt (Weyermann)
  • 1 lb. Munich light malt (Chateau)
  • 0.25 lb. Carahell malt (Weyermann)
  • 2 oz. Carapils malt (Briess)
  • 1.55 oz. Hallertauer Mittelfrueh hop pellets (3.2% alpha), 60 minute boil
  • 1 tsp. Fermax yeast nutrient, 10 minute boil
  • 1 Whirlfloc tablet, 5 minute boil
  • Saflager W34/70, repitch of yeast from previous batch

Target Parameters

  • 1.046 o.g., 1.008 f.g., 17 IBU, 4 SRM, 5.0% abv
  • Full-volume infusion step mash, 40 minute rest at 148°, 15 minute rest at 158°, 15 minute rest at 168°
  • Claremont tap water, alkalinity neutralized by 88% lactic acid

Procedure

  • For my 4 gallons of initial strike water, I added 3.6 mL of 88% lactic acid to neutralize alkalinity, along with a Campden tablet.
  • I mashed in at 155°, to hit a 147.8° mash temperature. I added 2.5 mL of 88% lactic acid to adjust pH. The mash was down to 145° after 25 minutes.
  • 45 minutes after the initial infusion, I added 6.25 quarts of near-boiling water to raise the mash temperature to 157°. The water was added over a 5 minute period. After 15 minutes, the temperature was down to 154° or so.
  • At this point (~60 minutes into the mash), I added the rest of my hot water (~3 gallons) to hit a final mash rest of 167°.
  • After 10 minutes, I vorlaufed and collected the full volume of runnings in the kettle. I got 7.1 gallons at a gravity of 1.041, for 77% mash efficiency.
  • I brought the kettle to a boil, adding hops and finings per the schedule.
  • After a 90 minute boil, I turned off the heat and chilled down to ~75°, before transferring to the fermenter.
  • I let the fermenter chill the rest of the way down to 50°, and gave it a 30 second burst of pure oxygen before pitching the yeast.
  • I brewed the beer on 24 June 2020, with a starting gravity of 1.047.
  • The first week of fermentation was at 50°, and I let the fermenter free-rise to 54° on July 1. I let it further rise to 58° (July 3) and 60° (July 4), before chilling to 55° (July 5), 50° (July 6), and then 45° and 40° over an 8 hour period (July 7). I chilled further to 35° (July 8) and 33° (July 9), and let it lager on the yeast at that temperature until kegging.
  • I kegged the beer on July 24, using a closed transfer followed by force carbonation. The beer was pretty clear, but not perfectly clear at this point.
  • Final gravity was 1.008, down from 1.047, for 5.2% abv.

Tasting

  • Appearance
    • Pours with a beautiful, full white head, that is quite persistent. Pale gold in color and very clear, but just a touch off of brilliant. It’s a gorgeous beer!
  • Aroma
    • Malty and ever-so-slightly sweet, with a touch of hop spice.
  • Flavor
    • Full maltiness, with a really pleasant and rounded character. A clean but firm bitterness; I would say the bitterness tilts towards medium/medium-low, with a slight spice character. The bitterness could be notched back very slightly, but not by much.
  • Mouthfeel
    • Moderate carbonation, with a smooth and slightly dry finish.
  • Would I brew this again?
    • Yes! This is a really enjoyable recipe, and I feel like it nails the malt character quite well. It’s a much better version of a Munich helles than my last one, and it definitely benefited from a longer lagering time than I often get. I might edge the bitterness back a tiny bit. Also, I will probably play around with malt brands and hop varieties in future version, but the proportions and balance are pretty much right where I want them. This is a refreshing late summer lager!
  • Overall
    • 9/10

Mow the Damn Lawn, Farke

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golden beer with frothy white head in clear glass, held by hand

This is probably one of the most memorable homebrew recipe names out there, at least for me. “Mow the Damn Lawn,” by Annie Johnson, took the gold medal at the 2013 National Homebrew Competition, and helped propel Johnson to 2013 Homebrewer of the Year. It’s intended to be a flavorful but highly drinkable “lawnmower beer,” and I’ve wanted to brew it for some time now! And what better time to do so than a SoCal summer?

The original recipe is posted at the Homebrewers Association website, and I made a few minor modifications for ingredients on-hand. I left the basic malt bill unchanged, with ~80% 2-row and ~20% flaked rice. I subbed in Mt. Hood as an American version of Hallertauer, and used a re-pitch of Que Bueno Imperial Yeast L09 instead of an American lager yeast (WLP840). So, it’s not exactly the same beer, but I think it’s certainly close to the spirit of the recipe. I’ve thus augmented the recipe name slightly, to emphasize that any flaws are mine and not the original recipe designer’s.

Mow The Damn Lawn, Farke

  • 8.5 lb. 2-row premium malt (Great Western)
  • 2 lb. flaked rice
  • 2 oz. rice hulls
  • 1 oz. Mt. Hood hop pellets (4.6% alpha), 60 minute boil
  • 1 tsp. Fermax yeast nutrient, 10 minute boil
  • 1 Whirlfloc tablet, 5 minute boil
  • 1 repitch of Que Bueno yeast (Imperial Yeast #L09)

Target Parameters

  • 1.046 o.g., 1.008 f.g., 15 IBU, 3 SRM, 5.0% abv
  • 148° infusion mash, 60 minutes, batch sparge
  • Claremont tap water, alkalinity neutralized by 88% lactic acid, with CaCl added to the boil, to produce final profile of 54 Ca, 17 Mg, 7 Na, 50 SO4, 118 Cl, 25 HCO3, 49 hardness, -49 RA

Procedure

  • To 9 gallons of local tap water, I added 8 mL of 88% lactic acid and 1/2 Campden tablet. This knocked total alkalinity down to 25 ppm, based upon a quick water test.
  • I heated 3.75 gallons of water to 157°, and mashed into hit a target temperature of 149°. I added 2.5 mL of 88% lactic acid, to adjust pH.
  • After 60 minutes, I added 1.4 gallons of water at 185°, let it sit for 10 minutes, vorlaufed, and collected the first runnings.
  • Next, I added 3.75 gallons of water at ~185°, let sit for 10 minutes, vorlaufed, and collected the rest of the runnings.
  • In total, I collected 7.65 gallons of runnings with a gravity of 1.039, for 79% efficiency.
  • I brought the runnings to a boil, adding hops and finings per the schedule.
  • After 60 minutes, I turned off the heat, chilled, transferred to the fermenter, and chilled the rest of the way, down to ~48°.
  • Once the beer was chilled, I oxygenated with pure O2 for 30 seconds and pitched the yeast.
  • I brewed this beer on 20 June 2020, and fermented at 49° for the first 5 days. There was fermentation activity visible within 12 hours, and really vigorous activity during the first few days.
  • I notched the fermentation chamber up to 50° on 25 June 2020, and let it free rise to 54° on July 1. I let it rise to 58° on July 3, and then 60° on July 4. Over several days, I dropped to 55° (July 5), 50° (July 6), 45° and then 40° (July 7), 35° (July 8), and 33° on July 9.
  • I kegged the beer on 17 July 2020; it was still pretty hazy at this point. Final gravity was 1.010, for 4.7% abv. I conditioned at 33° for a few weeks, before putting the beer on tap.

Tasting

  • Appearance
    • Nearly brilliantly clear, medium yellow in color, with a tall, creamy, and persistent white head. The head on this is seriously amazing–almost too amazing, because it takes a bit to pour a full glass of this stuff.
  • Aroma
    • Fresh, grainy aroma, with just a little bit of spicy hop note behind that. Very clean yeast character.
  • Flavor
    • Malty sweet flavor at the forefront, with a wonderfully rounded malt profile. The hop level is fairly even against the malt, and the hop level is just bitter enough to keep the beer from being overly sweet. The finish has a subtle bitterness to it, without being too much.
  • Mouthfeel
    • Medium-light body, moderate carbonation. Crisp finish without being too dry. Carbonation could be a bit higher for the style, but it does lose a little bit when poured .
  • Would I brew this again?
    • Yes! This is a very flavorful light lager, that is incredibly easy to drink. This accolades for this recipe are indeed deserved. The only thing I might change, and this is a bit of a personal preference, would be to dial back the 2-row to both lighten the flavor a touch more and also reduce the alcohol level. I really would like this as a sub-4.5% beer. It would be interesting to try this with W34/70 or the American lager yeast in the original recipe, which I suspect would dial back the malt character a touch versus the Mexican lager yeast that I used here.
  • Overall
    • 9/10

Tremonia Lager

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Despite their sometimes bland reputation, pale lagers have a surprising breadth of variation. One type I’ve not yet explored is the Dortmunder Export, lumped into the German Helles Exportbier category under the BJCP 2015 guidelines. As described there, it’s a style that packs a fair bit of malt character (especially for a pale lager) and noticeable but not overwhelming hopping, against a relatively mineralized water profile. The latter aspect was particularly appealing for me, given the nature of our local tap water. Let’s just say I’m not going to be making a Bohemian pilsner straight out of the water faucet, but with a bit of tweaking I can get right into the appropriate water zone for a Dortmunder Export.

I did a fair bit of research for this brew, checking out the recipes available already (including this nice article) and trying to approximate something of my own. Compared with other lagers, there are surprisingly few example recipes. My first recipe draft was about 90% pilsner malt and 10% Vienna. After posting this to the Homebrewers Association Forum, common feedback was that some Munich would also be in character and even desirable. So, I adjusted the recipe to include approximately 70% pilsner, 15% Vienna, and 15% light Munich malt. In practice, my percentages were slightly off of this just because I was using up some of my malt stock (for instance, I had 2 ounces of extra Vienna malt, and it seemed silly to leave that behind). I also had a blend of two pilsner malts, because I used up one bag and opened another. Finally, I chose Magnum as the backbone for my bittering, with Mt. Hood as the flavor/aroma addition.

For this recipe, I decided to use my new Lamott water testing kit and some chemistry to adjust my tap water prior to the mash. My goal was to use acid to neutralize much of the carbonate load, and then adjust from there. Excluding the carbonate, my water is actually pretty good most of the time, and can be built up for many styles. It just takes some time and careful adjustment.

The name for this references a supposed archaic Latin name for the city of Dortmund. It sounded cool, so it stuck.

Tremonia Lager

  • 4 lb. 5 oz. Superior Pilsen Malt (Great Western)
  • 4 lb. Pilsner Malt (Weyermann)
  • 1 lb. 10 oz. Vienna Malt (Great Western)
  • 1 lb. 8 oz. Munich I Malt (Weyermann)
  • 0.5 oz. Magnum hop pellets (13.2% alpha), 60 minute boil
  • 0.5 oz. Mt. Hood hop pellets (4.6% alpha), 10 minute boil
  • 0.5 oz. Mt. Hood hop pellets (4.6% alpha), 5 minute boil
  • 1 tsp. Fermax yeast nutrient, 10 minute boil
  • 1 Whirlfloc tablet, 5 minute boil
  • 2 pkg. Saflager W34/70 dry yeast

Target Parameters

  • 1.052 o.g., 1.012 f.g., 5.3% abv, 27 IBU, 5 SRM
  • Infusion mash, 152° for 60 minutes, batch sparge
  • Claremont tap water adjusted with lactic acid and mineral additions, to achieve calculated water profile of 64 Ca, 8 Mg, 26 Na, 97 SO4, 91 Cl, 24 HCO3. RA=-31 ppm, alkalinity=20 ppm, effective hardness 51 ppm.

Procedure

  • The night before brewing, I started the water adjustment process. With 9 gallons of Claremont tap water, I added 7.5 mL of 88% lactic acid to bring down the alkalinity. I stirred the hot tap water sporadically over a 4 hour period, to let the CO2 get kicked out. This amount of lactic acid should be well below the flavor threshold. I tested the water chemistry after this, and confirmed that much of the bicarbonate was dropped out. To this water, I then added 2 g gypsum, 2 g epsom salt, and 0.8 g calcium chloride, along with half a Campden tablet (for chloramine removal), to hit the water properties listed above.
  • I mashed in with 4 gallons of water at 163°, to hit a mash temperature of 152.5°. I added 2.5 mL of 88% lactic acid to drop the pH slightly. The mash had dropped to 149.5° after 25 minutes.
  • After 60 minutes, I added 1.3 gallons of water at ~185°, let it sit for 10 minutes, vorlaufed, and collected first runnings.
  • Next, I added 3.75 gallons of water at ~185°, let it sit for 10 minutes, vorlaufed, and collected the remainder of the runnings.
  • In total, I collected 7.5 gallons of runnings with a gravity of 1.044, for 78% efficiency. I’m happy with that!
  • I boiled the wort for 60 minutes, adding hops and finings per the recipe above.
  • Once the boil was done, I chilled down to 52°, and sprinkled the dry yeast directly into the wort. I did not oxygenate this batch, beyond simple aeration when going into the kettle.
  • I brewed the beer on 16 May 2020, reaching a starting gravity of 1.050. Final gravity was 1.013, for 4.9% abv.
  • I kegged the beer into a CO2-purged keg on 6 June 2020. After a few days of carbonation at 33°, I added 0.75 tsp. of gelatin dissolved and pasteurized in 1/2 cup of water on 12 June 2020, in order to speed up the clarification processs. I noticed nice clarity within 48 hours, and nearly brilliant clarity within a week. Thank you, gelatin! I realize I risked adding some oxygen at this point, but want to see if there are any noticeable effects as I finish the keg.

Tasting

  • Appearance
    • It has the color of burnished gold and is wonderfully clear, with a persistent and creamy white head that leaves slight lacing on the side of the glass.
  • Aroma
    • Moderate bready and slightly sweet malt aroma, with a hint of hop spice against that; very clean yeast character
  • Flavor
    • Moderately bitter, with a grainy/bready malt character that finishes with just a hint of malty sweetness and lingering bitterness; really nice!
  • Mouthfeel
    • Medium body, medium carbonation, very slightly dry on the finish but not overly so
  • Would I brew this again?
    • Absolutely! I really love this recipe, and love this style as a result. It’s a nice notch up from pilsner in terms of maltiness, without getting too heavy or too high in alcohol. I find the beer to drink really easily, too…maybe too easily. I see this as a recipe that I can play around with hop varieties and malt brands, but I really see no reason to make any substantial adjustments. The Pilsner/Vienna/Munich balance is pretty much spot-on!
  • Overall
    • 10/10