sam adams style lager 15-10-09

[delboy]

Hopefully going to get this on tonight

4.5 Kg lager
0.5 Kg Munich
0.15 Kg crystal

approx 30 IBUs from the cleanest tasting hop i have in the freezer

25g of hersbrucker with 15 mins to go
25g of herbrucker (dry hop)

This will be pitched onto a W34/70 yeast pack from my last lager which i kegged last night.

[fivetide]

I'm very interested in this brewday.

[edit] -- asked about yeast before reading properly, oops

It's generally accepted that Boston uses Hallertau and Tettnang - I guess you knew that though and didn't have any handy.

[delboy]

I'm very interested in this brewday.

[edit] -- asked about yeast before reading properly, oops

It's generally accepted that Boston uses Hallertau and Tettnang - I guess you knew that though and didn't have any handy.

Yeah, im using what i have to hand, green bullet (great high alpha lager style hop from NZ) and herbrucker for taste and ry hop which is from hallertau, granted sam adams use hallertau mittlefruh, but i don't think there is a huge difference really.

Its mashing at the moment, i'll be starting the sparge about 8pm

[196osh]

I hope that turns out great. Sam Adams is a great Lager.

[mysterio]

Nice! What ferment temp are you planning. That yeast can cope with 9C no problem if you're repitching.

[delboy]

Nice! What ferment temp are you planning. That yeast can cope with 9C no problem if you're repitching.

I suppose it really depends on the temp of the ground water, ill be chilling as low as i can with an immersion chiller then its getting pitched onto the previous cake, i imagine a lot of the fermentation could happen before the fridge even gets a chance to cool the beer done to 9-10C.
What do you reckon?

[adm]

Sounds nice. Have fun with it Del!

I just fermented a batch of very strong lager(ish) on a 34/70 yeast cake and it went great at 10C (1080 - 1015 in about 10 days). Like mysti says, I'm sure it could go to 9C, just might take a little longer

[6470zzy]

Looks like a nice brew...if you are ever in the States and you make it to Boston, definitely make certain that you take some time out to do the tour of the Boston Beer Company (aka Samuel Adams) Its a nice little tour and they treat you to some good samples as well. Lucky for me its on my way home from work

Cheers

[delboy]

Looks like a nice brew...if you are ever in the States and you make it to Boston, definitely make certain that you take some time out to do the tour of the Boston Beer Company (aka Samuel Adams) Its a nice little tour and they treat you to some good samples as well. Lucky for me its on my way home from work

Cheers

If i am ever in that part of the world it'll definitely be on the to do list

[bosium]

I'll be watching this one with interest too, I plan to get my own version on pretty soon.
Be sure to post your results.

good luck!

[mysterio]

Nice! What ferment temp are you planning. That yeast can cope with 9C no problem if you're repitching.

I suppose it really depends on the temp of the ground water, ill be chilling as low as i can with an immersion chiller then its getting pitched onto the previous cake, i imagine a lot of the fermentation could happen before the fridge even gets a chance to cool the beer done to 9-10C.
What do you reckon?

Not too sure, I chill the wort down to 9C before I pitch. Have you already re-pitched this yeast? Did you find it was cleaner tasting (i.e. less fruity) on the repitch?

[delboy]

Nice! What ferment temp are you planning. That yeast can cope with 9C no problem if you're repitching.

I suppose it really depends on the temp of the ground water, ill be chilling as low as i can with an immersion chiller then its getting pitched onto the previous cake, i imagine a lot of the fermentation could happen before the fridge even gets a chance to cool the beer done to 9-10C.
What do you reckon?

Not too sure, I chill the wort down to 9C before I pitch. Have you already re-pitched this yeast? Did you find it was cleaner tasting (i.e. less fruity) on the repitch?

I normally chill to whatever temp i can with ground water (this time of year its going to be 14-15 C) then pour off from the boiler into the fermenter which goes into the fridge overnight to chill it down, then the yeast normally gets added.

This time its a repitch so its chilled with the IC and then straight into fermenter on top of the existing yeast cake and then put into the fridge to chill to the required temp (9C). I suppose i could have put it into a settling vessel and chilled that before running of onto the yeast cake this morning but i didn’t have any spare that would fit in the fridge.

Ideally i’d like to wash the yeast cake and pitch it just like i would if it was a rehydrated yeast (ie the next morning). Despite there being some good info on the forum about washing ale yeast i’ve yet to see a good ‘how to’ on washing lager yeast, what layer to you try to purify for instance? Answers on a S.A.E

[bosium]

Any updates on this brew? I'm dying to find out how its coming along

[delboy]

Yeah i had a taste out of the fermenter, its probably not too far off reaching terminal gravity, tastes much cleaner than the lager made with the first pitch of this yeast (despite 3 packets being added) which still has a little appley/acetaledyde going on in it.
I haven't added the dryhops yet (they are a big component of the beer IMO) and it still has the grainy taste but that just needs time to drop out. I would also recommned that anyone wanting to recreate a more authenitic sam adams might want to up the crystal (light crystal and not normal stuff) to 400g.

I'll report back more when its been dryhopped and lagered for a while.

[Barley Water]

Delboy, if you want to get the wort really cold so you can pitch right away, I have a solution for you (and it will work with either an immersion chiller or a counterflow chiller). Go to your local hardware store and purchase a pond pump. They are used for those little ponds folks put in their backyards and they are pretty cheap, I think I paid maybe $25 or so. Cool your wort down first with ground water. You should be able to get the wort down to around 100F or so pretty quickly. Then get some ice and a decent sized container (I have a Gott cooler mashtun so I just use that) and use the pump to push the ice water from the container through your chiller and back into the container. If you are doing lagers, you should be able to get the wort to around 50-60F pretty fast after that. You guys have it made since your temperatures don't get nearly as hot as they do here in Texas so I know this would work great for you.

If you go to Mr. Malty's website, there is an article there about an immersion chiller with a recirculation feature that looks real neat. I built one last week but have not yet used it because I installed the wrong sized connections for the water (because I'm an idiot and relied on the clerk's recommendation rather than test fitting everything before purchase). Although the copper cost me a fortune, I expect my new toy will actually help me make better beer since I can cool down the entire batch so quickly. You really should check out Mr. Malty who explains the advantage of the system better than I could (plus, he has pictures). Anyhow, once I get it working, I will report back.