Helles

[Whorst]

Fabulous brew day with all the excitement one would expect in the art of brewing lagers.

10lbs. Weyermann Pilsner Malt
1lbs. Weyermann Munich(light)
.50oz. Magnum @ 60
.20oz Magnum @ 15
Yeast: WLP-838 Southern German Lager

Mash went well. Took half a gallon of 1.084 first runnings and boiled down to syrup.



Wort cooling nicely.



Siphoning off wort, leaving trub in kettle.



Really nice looking wort. Refractometer read 12.5, so just about 1.050.



Pitched yeast slurry at 60F. Once it really gets going, I'll knock the fermentation temp to 50F.

Fermenting nicely now at 12C

[bosium]

Looks great, I've always wanted to try the kettle caramelisation trick. What sort of flavour does it lend to the brew? Is it similar to doing a decoction in effect?

[6470zzy]

Great looking brewday. Have you tried the Bohemian Pilsner malt from Weyermann? I think it has a fine flavour, I like it now better than the regular pilsner.

Cheers

[Whorst]

Looks great, I've always wanted to try the kettle caramelisation trick. What sort of flavour does it lend to the brew? Is it similar to doing a decoction in effect?

Yes, very similar to a decoction. Produces really nice, round, malt profile.



I have not seen Bohemian Pilsner Malt. Locally, I only have access to Weyermann Pilsner and a Pilsner from Franco-Belges.
I would definitely like to try it. Next up is a Czech Lager with all Saaz.

[Barley Water]

I notice that you are starting your fermentation hot then running the temperature down. Are you getting pretty clean ferments doing that? I am currently trying to get my wort as close as possible to 50F then running the whole thing at that temperature until the end when I let it get to around 65F to clean up any diacetyl. Of course, I do a very large starter or use a ton of yeast from a previous batch to make sure I get decent attenuation. I recently did a double bock with an O.G. of 1.083 and altough it is still lagering, it tastes like it attenuated pretty well. I figured if I was going to have problems, a high gravity style would certainly bring them out.

[Whorst]

I've always pitched in the 60's Fahrenheit and just watch it until fermentation starts, then knock it down. Very clean fermentation with no ale like qualities. I think the problem would be pitching warm and letting the temperature get away from you.