Brewday 29/10/10 - 'Spooky' Munich Hell

[mysterio]

Gearing up to brew this today. I'm not set up to brew in my new flat in Edinburgh - it's too small - so i've got to drive back over to the west coast to brew. Still, you've got to suffer for your art. I'm seriously going to look into this new Aussie invention of 'BIAB'

One logistical problem is going to be getting my gallon starter back. It's a wine making demijohn and it's virtually filled to the brim with foaming starter wort. What do I do, strap it in the passenger seat?

Also, I'm tempted to leave the munich malt out altogether and let the pilsner malt do the talking. Thoughts? Should I throw in an extra handful of Magnum at the end?

Helles Bells

Type: All Grain
Date: 29/10/2010
Batch Size: 12.00 gal
Boil Size: 13.74 gal
Boil Time: 60 min
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00

Ingredients

Amount Item Type % or IBU
8.70 kg Weyermann Bohemian Pilsner Malt (2.0 SRM) Grain 93.55 %
0.60 kg Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 6.45 %
28.30 gm Magnum [14.00 %] (60 min) Hops 19.3 IBU
1 Pkgs German Bock Lager (White Labs #WLP833) Yeast-Lager (4 L starter, stir plate)
2 Pkgs White Labs 'Clarity Ferm'

Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.048 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.010 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 4.95%
Bitterness: 19.3 IBU
Est Color: 4.1 SRM

Mash Profile

Mash Name: Double Infusion, Medium Body Total Grain Weight: 9.30 kg
Sparge Water: 7.48 gal Grain Temperature: 22.2 C
Sparge Temperature: 75.6 C TunTemperature: 22.2 C
Adjust Temp for Equipment: FALSE Mash PH: 5.4 PH

Double Infusion, Medium Body Step Time Name Description Step Temp
30 min Protein Rest Add 17.48 L of water at 55.6 C 50.0 C
30 min Saccrification Add 15.52 L of water at 91.8 C 67.8 C

Mash Notes: Double step infusion - for medium body beers requiring a protein rest. Used primarily in beers high in unmodified grains or adjuncts.

[adm]

Have fun with that!

I'd personally leave out the Munich - but only because I've never used proper Pilsner malt and would be interested to see how it comes out alone.

The "Clarity Ferm" stuff sounds interesting as well....

[mysterio]

Cheers ADM. Too late I went in with some Munich, only 500g though.

Protein Rest:

[leedsbrew]

like the look of it matey! good luck! hope you don't have a bitch of a day like me yesterday!

[WishboneBrewery]

like the look of it matey! good luck! hope you don't have a bitch of a day like me yesterday! X

Blowing kisses now eh...!!!

[leedsbrew]

don't know where the hell that came from ! think I was talking to the Mrs (who I usually put an X on the end of a text msg) probably types it instead of an ! Must have had a brain fart! I'm sure your a top bloke M but sorry about that!

[Barley Water]

Well, it's too late but I also would have told you to leave out the Munich malt but you know what else I would have said so I won't even bother. Anyhow, it's a great brew, enjoy.

[WishboneBrewery]

don't know where the hell that came from ! think I was talking to the Mrs (who I usually put an X on the end of a text msg) probably types it instead of an ! Must have had a brain fart! I'm sure your a top bloke M but sorry about that!

I once got told that my mate loved me in a text message, and I've added xx to other peoples messages before Easy done!

[mysterio]

Leeds > Gutted, thought I was in with a chance there

Barley Water, pull a decoction right? Maybe next time. I just don't have enough lager making experience enough yet. I'm focussing on fermentation and yeast at the moment, once I feel I've nailed that I'll start messing around with the mash. Even doing a protein rest was pretty 'out there' for me.

I have the bock yeast starter in the fridge now, I will oxygenate and pitch tomorrow morning. I am excited about trying out this Ayinger yeast, I'll tell you now that the starter smells like a pub urinal.

[mysterio]

For my own notes by the way (I actually refer back to these threads which is why I post them):

Protein rest was 15 minutes at 50C, spent about 5 minutes infusing up to 67C. The wort was still very cloudy, like a wheat beer.

I just noticed Malt Miller now has FLOOR MALTED Weyermann Bohemian Pils malt. I would love to do a side by side with all of the different pilsner malts.

[196osh]

Yum Yum. Brewday go smoothly? I think you could brew in the flat if you found somewhere to store all your stuff.

I justed bottled the last IPA I made so should be carbonated by next week. Nice and fresh. Sitting at 23C in the "god I hope it carbs up" fridge. Making a 600g/24L IIPA split between tomorrow and monday.

What are you bringing along?

[bosium]

Well I would have told you to put the munich in, I like the nutty / toasted flavour it gives and I think you need it in a helles with not that much in the way of hops - although I've found the bohemian pils malt to have quite a rich flavour to it actually, my czech pils came out a treat with it. Totally different to the premium pils malt which has a clean, candy sweetness to it. Got myself 6kg of the floor malted stuff to try in my next bo pils

[RdeV]

The floor- malted Bohemian Pilsner malt from Weyermann is superb, a real depth of character that pneumatically- malted pilsner malts seem not to touch. Using Munich is up to the individual, I'm indifferent, won't make or break it IMO but I would have dropped it out.

I know this thread is about a Munich Helles recipe, but the OP mentions BIAB, so FWIW here's what I do along those lines: Usually the Munich Helles (occasionally a Dortmunder in the same vein) which I make with this malt is step mashed by decoction, occasionally I use 5% Carapils but 100% pils is fine. Just a brief protein rest around 50C, pull out a thick decoction, use that to bring it up to about 64C for an hour and a half sacc rest, tweak temperature with a hot/cold infusion if need be and there's space. With this malt, BIAB first runnings are almost milky, but it all gets dealt with in the boil so fear not. I'll dunk sparge which comes up to about 75C, so effects a mashout step, but it would be skipped for full- volume BIAB. The step mash is probably unnecessary, I just happen to like decocted flavours. Long boil, about 10- 12 IBU of low- %AA Saaz for bittering, 6- 8 IBU noble hops flavour. Wyeast 2042 Danish is good, I've been using their 2247 European Lager of late but it is a PC strain and may be hard to source just now. As far as clearing agents go, most often we use Whirlfloc (cargeenan) in the kettle, I also use Polyclar (PVPP) in the FV, lager for a fortnight and it comes out a real treat, clear as day without any need to filter etc.

BTW, dunno if its taking the piss but BIAB isn't an Australian invention, it is just growing in popularity there and web resources for most of the variants, techniques etc have been developed by Australians. For the recipe above, I use the MaxiBIAB method in a 19L stockpot, a BIAB bag (or a square of Swiss Voile or Sheer Curtain fabric) and a 15L plastic bucket, you can usually use your domestic stovetop, but a gas camping stove should suffice (we can get excellent single- burner stoves very cheaply, saw them last week for just A$15 with 4 gas refills). So all in all, there's not much equipment needed. A 6" sieve is handy for pouring cooled wort through if you don't siphon, I'll use a small stockpot (11L) for the decoction, but a big saucepan would suffice and needs to hold 4-5L. That's just one way you could BIAB this recipe if you're light on for equipment or space and won't cost an arm and a leg to set up, while one batch I did like this placed 3rd in the state comp so there's no need to be concerned over quality either.

My A$0.02, a thousand pardons for the essay, I hope it helps!

[mysterio]

196osh, yeah a very smooth brewday, however I didn't give my starter a long enough lead time. It was at high krausen the morning of the brewday, so I left it in the garage to attempt to floc it out of suspension overnight, but it was still slowly bubbling and refusing to floc. I stuck it in the freezer for a couple of hours and it started to clear, but I basically ended up pitching about 3L of starter fermented at room temperature which is far from ideal. A bit more forward thinking next time.

RdeV, thanks for the post, I think a BIAB brew is definitely on the cards this year. Agreed the runnings were like milk, even doing a varlauf in the mash tun doesn't clear it. I used whirlfloc too but I've only had luck using polyclar in the keg and shaking it around to get good contact with the beer. You reckon it works OK in the FV? My stove is useless and I don't think I could fire up a burner on a 4th floor flat, so a plastic boiler with a kettle element and camping mats will probably be the way I will go. It will be fun to go back to basics after brewing with stainless & pumps etc. Not taking the piss, poking fun at Chrisx1 more than anything :p

[RdeV]

No worries mysterio, hope the bag solves a few problems for you!

Yeah, rushing a lager starter is only asking for strife, they can be a bit fiddly. I much prefer yeast cake reuse for lagers, makes life so much easier.

With PVPP, in my experience yes it works fine in the FV, I add it after fermentation has more or less ceased in primary, leave it for a week then transfer to secondary and lager for a while. Just dry, sprinkle it straight in on top, it will rehydrate and get to work with ease, just takes a while to do its job. It is a BIT easier like that, I probably wouldn't use PVPP by the boiling & stirring method as I'm not that desperate for clear beer (except for competitions maybe), but tipping a tablespoonful in dry I think I can manage.