Tag Archives: lager

Clonal Common 2021

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I like a good steam beer (a.k.a. California common) every once in awhile, and I last made a batch back in 2015. I hadn’t thought it was that long ago, but my notes don’t lie! This year’s version was largely the same recipe, but made with the base malts and caramel malts I had on hand. As before, this batch parallels recipes from BYO and Zymurgy, with only the most minor modifications.

Clonal Common 2021

  • 9.5 lb. Viking 2-row Xtra pale malt
  • 1 lb. Viking caramel 100 (crystal 40 equivalent)
  • 0.5 lb. special roast malt (Briess)
  • 1.15 oz. Northern Brewer hop pellets (7.3% alpha), 60 minute boil
  • 1 Whirlfloc tablet, 5 minute boil
  • 0.85 oz. Northern Brewer hop pellets (7.3% alpha), 10 minute whirlpool
  • 1 pkg. San Francisco Lager yeast (WLP810), prepared in 1L vitality starter

Target Parameters

  • 1.049 s.g., 1.015 f.g., 4.5% abv, 34 IBU, 9 SRM
  • Claremont tap water, treated with Campden tablet to remove chlorine
  • Full volume infusion mash at 152°, 60 minutes

Procedure

  • On the morning of my brew session, I made a 1L vitality starter to kick-start the yeast.
  • I heated 7.25 gallons of water up to 158°, to hit a 152° mash temperature target. I held it here for 60 minutes, before raising to and holding at 168° for 10 minutes. I added a bit of 88% lactic acid to the mash, to adjust pH.
  • I removed the grain basket, and noted 6.5 gallons of wort with a gravity of 1.045, for 72% mash efficiency.
  • Next, I brought the runnings to a boil, boiling for 60 minutes and adding the hops and kettle finings per the recipe. At the end of this, I turned off the heat and whirlpooled (with circulation) for 10 minutes with the whirlpool hop addition.
  • I chilled the wort, transferred it to the fermenter, and then chilled it down to 60° in the fermentation chamber before pitching the yeast.
  • I brewed this beer on 24 April 2021, and fermented at 60° for the first week. I pulled it out to finish up at ambient on 1 May 2021, and it looked like fermentation was pretty much done by this point.
  • I kegged the beer on 9 May 2021. It had a final gravity of 1.015, for 4.6% abv. I hit my numbers pretty well for this batch!

Tasting

  • Appearance
    • Deep gold/light amber color, and very clear, approaching brilliant. The beer pours with a creamy ivory head that is quite persistent. Overall, though, this batch is just a touch lighter in coor than is appropriate by the BJCP style guide.
  • Aroma
    • The beer has a light caramel aroma, with a slight “woody” hop character as appropriate for this style.
  • Flavor
    • This has a moderately high level of bitterness and a nice woody character to the hop flavor. This one tastes moderately malty with a light caramel note and a slight bit of toastiness. Yeast character is very clean. Overall, this one tilts towards bitterness rather than maltiness.
  • Mouthfeel
    • Medium-light body and moderate level of carbonation, with a clean, off-dry finish.
  • Would I brew this again?
    • Overall, this is a pretty nice California Common! There’s not much to say otherwise; I think the overall recipe is pretty well locked in. If I wanted to be a stickler for BJCP guidelines, I should adjust the color slightly with a bit of Carafa Special III or something like that. I also wouldn’t mind a tiny hint of fruitiness in the yeast character, and thus might try fermenting at a slightly higher temperature next time. All that aside, I’m pleased with this one!
  • Overall
    • 8.5/10

Twisted Schwarzbier

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I have brewed schwarzbier once before, and it came out pretty good. I wanted to revisit the style as a warmer-weather dark beer, and so picked out a second recipe from Brewing Classic Styles. This version differed from the last in that it emphasizes pilsner malt more than Munich.

I am contractually obligated to use Space Balls references in any schwarzbier name, with zero apologies from doing so. Thank you.

Twisted Schwarzbier

  • 9 lb. Viking Pilsner Zero malt
  • 1 lb. Munich I malt (Weyermann)
  • 11 oz. Carafa Special II malt (Weyermann)
  • 1 oz. Vanguard hop pellets (6.5% alpha), 60 minute boil
  • 0.5 oz. Mt. Hood hop pellets (4.6% alpha), 15 minute boil
  • 0.5 oz. Mt. Hood hop pellets (4.6% alpha), 5 minute boil
  • 1 tsp. Fermax, 10 minute boil
  • 1 Whirlfloc tablet, 5 minute boil
  • Repitch of Harvest lager yeast (Imperial L17)

Target Parameters

  • 1.049 o.g., 1.013 f.g., 4.7% abv, 30 IBU, 24 SRM
  • 60 minute infusion mash at 152°, full volume
  • Claremont tap water, treated with Campden tablet

Procedure

  • I mashed in with 7.5 gallons of water at 158°, to hit my mash target of 152°. After adding 5 mL of 88% lactic acid, I held the mash at 152°, with recirculation, for 60 minutes. I then raised the mash to 168°.
  • After the mash, I removed the grain basket and collected 6.75 gallons of wort with a gravity of 1.041, for 69% mash efficiency.
  • I brought the wort to a boil, adding hops and finings per the recipe. After 60 minutes, I turned off the heat and chilled it down to 70°, before transferring to the fermenter and chilling down to 52° in the fermentation chamber.
  • After the wort hit fermentation temperature, I oxygenated with 30 seconds of pure O2, and then pitched the yeast.
  • I brewed this beer on 6 February 2021. It had a starting gravity of 1.048.
  • I started fermentation at 52°, held it here for three days, raised to 54° for three days, and then finished at 56° for three days, before cold crashing.
  • I kegged the beer on 27 February 2021. Final gravity was 1.014, for 4.5% abv.

Tasting

  • Appearance
    • Brilliantly clear, deep brown beer, pouring with a persistent tan head.
  • Aroma
    • Roasty and coffee aroma, at a moderately high level.
  • Flavor
    • Roasty malt and coffee flavor, with a bready malt character in the background. Moderately high level of bitterness. Clean yeast character. Extended bitterness on the finish.
  • Mouthfeel
    • Medium-light body, moderate carbonation, off-dry finish.
  • Would I brew this again?
    • Perhaps? It’s a good, clean beer, but if feels like I could dial back the roast/coffee character a touch and move the base malts (especially the Munich) more to the forefront. I think if I were to rebrew this, I would add a bit more Munich, or maybe add in some Vienna, and reduce the percentage of pilsner malt. That said, this beer is very drinkable, so I wouldn’t make it too heavy for the base malts. Based on the BJCP written descriptions, it seems to be a great example of the schwarzbier style, but just isn’t to my taste.
  • Overall
    • 9/10

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