Yesterday was the beginning of lager madness at my brewery. I did the first in a series of three lagers in a row beginning with a Munich Helles. Everything went almost perfectly. I did a double decoction and did not scorch any grain which is a good thing. Got the original gravity I was looking for (1.050) and exactly the volume I wanted so I am very happy. Did all my usual "lager tricks", pulled the fresh wort off the trub, pumped ice water through my counterflow chiller to cool the hot wort down supper fast and pitched a massive amount of yeast. I must say it is a beautiful thing when a plan comes together.
My master plan is to next brew a Munich dunkel using the large yeast cake left over from the Helles brewed yesterday. I will probably aim for a starting gravity of about 1.055 or so for that one. After that, my final project will be a double bock in the neighorhood of about 1.075. I am hoping that my yeast will be in supper shape for the last brew and I should also have a very large amount to pitch. Once I am finished, I figure I will be sick and tired of stiring grain boiling on the stove and will want to get back to good old single infusion mashing.
Helles 9/9/07
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Barley Water
- Under the Table
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- Joined: Tue May 22, 2007 8:35 pm
- Location: Dallas, Texas
Helles 9/9/07
Drinking:Saison (in bottles), Belgian Dubbel (in bottles), Oud Bruin (in bottles), Olde Ale (in bottles),
Abbey Triple (in bottles), Munich Helles, Best Bitter (TT Landlord clone), English IPA
Conditioning: Traditional bock bier, CAP
Fermenting: Munich Dunkel
Next up: Bitter (London Pride like), ESB
So many beers to make, so little time (and cold storage space)
Abbey Triple (in bottles), Munich Helles, Best Bitter (TT Landlord clone), English IPA
Conditioning: Traditional bock bier, CAP
Fermenting: Munich Dunkel
Next up: Bitter (London Pride like), ESB
So many beers to make, so little time (and cold storage space)
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Frothy
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BigEd
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Barley Water
- Under the Table
- Posts: 1429
- Joined: Tue May 22, 2007 8:35 pm
- Location: Dallas, Texas
Oh no Frothy, I will do three separate brewdays three to four weeks apart so the yeast to grow up with each sucessive batch. Actually, I may run into a capacity problem since my refrigerated space is already full. Fortunately, I have two parties and a sailboat race coming up which should help me drain a couple of kegs anyway.
Drinking:Saison (in bottles), Belgian Dubbel (in bottles), Oud Bruin (in bottles), Olde Ale (in bottles),
Abbey Triple (in bottles), Munich Helles, Best Bitter (TT Landlord clone), English IPA
Conditioning: Traditional bock bier, CAP
Fermenting: Munich Dunkel
Next up: Bitter (London Pride like), ESB
So many beers to make, so little time (and cold storage space)
Abbey Triple (in bottles), Munich Helles, Best Bitter (TT Landlord clone), English IPA
Conditioning: Traditional bock bier, CAP
Fermenting: Munich Dunkel
Next up: Bitter (London Pride like), ESB
So many beers to make, so little time (and cold storage space)
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Jimberbob
I have toyed with the idea of doing a lager as most of my friends drink it, but I have to admit, the decoction mash bit frightens me. Barley water, have you ever made any with a single temperature mash? How long will it take you from mashing to drinking? Is the process a lot trickier than the 'English style ales' that I tend to brew? Sorry for all the questions. I hope it all goes smoothly for you. 
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Barley Water
- Under the Table
- Posts: 1429
- Joined: Tue May 22, 2007 8:35 pm
- Location: Dallas, Texas
You do not need to do decoction mashing to make a lager. The reason I do it is because in my opinion, it makes the beer have a certain fullness and roundness which I can't duplicate using infusion mashes. This is a very subjective opinion though and there is at least one experienced brewer on this forum who I suspect would contest my assertion. Also, I am brewing for competitions and it is very hard to win so every little bit helps.
When you say you want to make lagers, I am assuming you mean the light bodied, little hopped "pils" type beers that are so popular. If so, the trick to making them is not so much the mash schedule. What makes these beers hard to make is that there is nothing to hide mistakes behind. I have found that temperature control is crucial. A high fermentation temperature will lead to fermentation by products that you will be able to taste in the beer (and you will not like). Perfect sanitation is a given here, if you get sloppy, you will taste it. Also, pitch a massive amount of yeast (at least compared to making ales) as this also keeps the nasty phenols and esters down. Rack the fresh wort off the trub after you cool it down and make sure to cool it down as quickly as possible to get the maximum amount of cold break out of the beer. Finally, water makes a difference (Coors has a point here). The best solution is probably to use RO filtered water and adjust water chemistry to match the style you want, this is likely my next purchase.
Lagering does tend to tie up your equipment but the time required somewhat depends on original gravity. I would say that a light lager, like Helles would probably need about four weeks although I will probably condition mine longer since I have so much beer on hand. I actually have an Octoberfest that I did in March which I just tasted this last weekend (and man is it nice, no rough edges at all) What I tend to do is brew a bunch of quickly maturing ales so that I have a backlog then start doing lagers (because God knows it is verboten to not have all taps running at all times).
If your buddies are not really beer savy, you might want to consider doing light ales rather than lagers. Wort preparation will take the same amount of care but the turnover will be a lot faster. I bet you will find that after doing the extra work to make a really fine lager, you will not be real keen on letting some Bozo swill it down who doesn't appreciate the work that went into the beer. A friend of mine makes excellent Kolsh which you really need to know your beer to tell the difference between it and a lager. Anyway, I hope that answers your questions.
When you say you want to make lagers, I am assuming you mean the light bodied, little hopped "pils" type beers that are so popular. If so, the trick to making them is not so much the mash schedule. What makes these beers hard to make is that there is nothing to hide mistakes behind. I have found that temperature control is crucial. A high fermentation temperature will lead to fermentation by products that you will be able to taste in the beer (and you will not like). Perfect sanitation is a given here, if you get sloppy, you will taste it. Also, pitch a massive amount of yeast (at least compared to making ales) as this also keeps the nasty phenols and esters down. Rack the fresh wort off the trub after you cool it down and make sure to cool it down as quickly as possible to get the maximum amount of cold break out of the beer. Finally, water makes a difference (Coors has a point here). The best solution is probably to use RO filtered water and adjust water chemistry to match the style you want, this is likely my next purchase.
Lagering does tend to tie up your equipment but the time required somewhat depends on original gravity. I would say that a light lager, like Helles would probably need about four weeks although I will probably condition mine longer since I have so much beer on hand. I actually have an Octoberfest that I did in March which I just tasted this last weekend (and man is it nice, no rough edges at all) What I tend to do is brew a bunch of quickly maturing ales so that I have a backlog then start doing lagers (because God knows it is verboten to not have all taps running at all times).
If your buddies are not really beer savy, you might want to consider doing light ales rather than lagers. Wort preparation will take the same amount of care but the turnover will be a lot faster. I bet you will find that after doing the extra work to make a really fine lager, you will not be real keen on letting some Bozo swill it down who doesn't appreciate the work that went into the beer. A friend of mine makes excellent Kolsh which you really need to know your beer to tell the difference between it and a lager. Anyway, I hope that answers your questions.
Drinking:Saison (in bottles), Belgian Dubbel (in bottles), Oud Bruin (in bottles), Olde Ale (in bottles),
Abbey Triple (in bottles), Munich Helles, Best Bitter (TT Landlord clone), English IPA
Conditioning: Traditional bock bier, CAP
Fermenting: Munich Dunkel
Next up: Bitter (London Pride like), ESB
So many beers to make, so little time (and cold storage space)
Abbey Triple (in bottles), Munich Helles, Best Bitter (TT Landlord clone), English IPA
Conditioning: Traditional bock bier, CAP
Fermenting: Munich Dunkel
Next up: Bitter (London Pride like), ESB
So many beers to make, so little time (and cold storage space)