I brewed another lager this weekend. This time I'm trying a dunkel which I've named for a good friend of mine who is currently in South Korea. I have to admit, I don't know a lot about these German brews and I'm really enjoying brewing something new. I transfered my pils and used the yeast sediment with a bit of beer left over to pour into this new batch. The Mystery Pils tastes great: like a field of flowers. I hope it keeps that character through the fermentation. Here is the recipe for my current batch:
This is basically "Jump be Nimble... dunkel" recipe from Papazian's Home Brewer's Companion with a few modifications.
This was suppose to be a protein step mash beginning at 122 deg, however I was at 127 which is where I let it rest for 30 min. I achieved this by adding the grain to 2.5 G of 130 deg H2O. I then added 1.25 G Boiling H2O to bring the temp up to 155 deg I needed to add a little heat to achieve this. After 30 minutes the mash pasted the iodine test (see below) and I mashed out at 170 deg, transfered to the lauter tun and sparged with 4 G of 170 deg H2O.
- 5.5 lbs Vienna malt
- 2 lbs dark Munich malt
- 0.5 lbs Belgian aromatic malt
- 0.5 lbs crystal malt (lvb 49-69)
- 0.33 lbs chocolate malt
- 0.125 lbs black patent malt
- .75 oz Norther Brewer
- 1 oz Willemette
This was suppose to be a protein step mash beginning at 122 deg, however I was at 127 which is where I let it rest for 30 min. I achieved this by adding the grain to 2.5 G of 130 deg H2O. I then added 1.25 G Boiling H2O to bring the temp up to 155 deg I needed to add a little heat to achieve this. After 30 minutes the mash pasted the iodine test (see below) and I mashed out at 170 deg, transfered to the lauter tun and sparged with 4 G of 170 deg H2O.
THE BOIL
When the worth was boiling I added 0.5 oz of Northern Brewer hops. After 15 minutes I added anther .25 oz of NB. At 45 minutes I added .75 oz of Willemette and 1 tsp of Irish Moss. At 60 minutes I shut off the heat and added .25 oz of Willemette, let it rest for 2 minutes and began chilling with my immersion chiller. When it was below 85 deg I transfered to a clean primary and poured in the sludge form my Mystery pils primary. Brix = 12.2. It was bubbling by midnight. In the morning I moved the primary to the basement where the temperature is about 60 degrees. After 4 or 5 days I'll transfer to the secondary and move the fermentation to my lagering cellar which is currently at 42 degrees.
6 comments:
Awesome update. Really sounds like you know what you are doing :). The mystery pils sounds good.
I see you mention reusing sludge...is this recommended or something you are trying? How long is the sludge usable after it is first created?
OT: My compliments! This is great stuff. Keep up the good blog.
Thanks
- Papa
Congrats on going all grain. Frank is a good friend of mine from our NMU days. I have been homebrewing, not to the degree that I would like, since '98. I am still an extract guy, but play around with hops, grains, fruit, etc.
I just brewed my first lager--a psuedo "California style." The first six-seven bottles have been steadly getting better. I have the luxery of lagering in three enviroments: basement (low 60's), an insulated crawl space (temp in the high 30's low 40's) and the fridg.
Good luck with your conversion to all grain.
Keith
Ben, thanks. I often reuse the yeast from a previous batch. The most important aspect of "repitching" the yeast is sanitation. Generally I'll make a second batch of beer 4-5 days after the first, which is right after the primary fermenation has peaked and I transfer into my secondary. So, what I do is sanitize my secondary while I'm boiling my wort and transfer the first batch while I'm chilling the wort and cover the the empty primary until I'm ready to dump in the new batch. This makes for a vigorous fermentation due to the high population of happy yeast. Some yeast can be tricky, but I've used this method successfully several times. I'll post more about my yeast culturing at a later date.
Papa, thanks for visiting. I didn't know about your blog, but now I've suscribed so I can catch up on my reading :)
Keith, from the sounds of it we will be seeing Frank this side of the Pacific again soon. Extract and all grain have there own distinct advantages. The biggest disadvantage to all grain is the time, but on the flip side I've definitely noticed improved flavor in the two ales that I brewed. It seem like you have a perfect set up for lagering. I have a lot to learn about this style of brewing (I've been an IPA / Porter guy for too long!) and the winter it the perfect time to learn!
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