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Beer Recipes / Re: German Pils - hop and malt questions
« on: June 05, 2013, 11:37:51 am »FYIGreat information, Martin. We used to drink Jever when we lived in Wiesbaden Germany, and it always had a dry finish with some mineral bite at the end. That was in '98-99, and the last time back in Germany 2012, Jever had lost a bunch of that. IBUs are in the 35 range now from what I have read. Makes me sad.
Jever, Germany water profile:
Ca: 60
Mg: 5
Na: 15
SO4: 75
Cl: 30
HCO3: 105
The alkalinity would have to be neutralized for use in a G Pils, but the sodium, chloride, and sulfate levels give you an idea of an appropriate balance and intensity for those ions.
Hands-down my favorite German Pils. I'm on iteration #5 of a clone based on a recipe from you Jeff, but I've tweaked the hops a bunch. Will be drinking it in about 3 weeks. If it's any good I can post some results/info.
Water was Ca 50, Mg 10, SO4 100, Cl 45.. basically Martin's Yellow Bitter profile.
-red
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General Homebrew Discussion / Re: That German lager flavor
« on: May 31, 2013, 04:56:14 am »
This time I'm using WLP830 German Lager Yeast which is the equivalent of Wyeast's 2124 Bohemian Lager Yeast, but I also like to use WLP833 (lends a bit more maltiness) for my Helles as well.
I have had a couple years of great success using W-34/70 (dry) for all malty German styles: Helles, Maibock, Trad Bock, Schwarzbier, I've even used it on an Alt and a couple Oktobers.... it starts slowly, so I'll make a 1.050 Helles first, then use the cake from that for a Maibock and it goes off like a rocket.
It does work for Pilsners too.... but I find I am having to tweak water and hops to get them where I want them.
-red
I am planning on trying the 34/70 out on a Helles here soon. Why is it more troublesome for Pilsners for you?
I miss a certain aroma that I associate with classic German Pilsners like Jever, Warsteiner, Krombacher, Bitburger, Radeburger, etc. The flavor/bitterness is fine but I find aroma lacking somehow. Some interplay between hops, sulfates, yeast, etc. It's a puzzler. For the maltier styles mentioned above, for some reason, it doesn't seem to be as much of an issue. YMMV.
HOWEVER I continue to use 34/70 for Pilsners because of ease of use (I can brew on a day's notice with dry yeast; no starter needed), and I'm happy that my Pils is "close enough". And also because of based on discussion on this board, a number of you also find your Pilsners lacking that "special something" even when using different yeasts. (The more I brew, the more I think a lot of that special aroma might be oxidization...)
-red
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General Homebrew Discussion / Re: That German lager flavor
« on: May 30, 2013, 11:47:22 am »I have a Munich Helles that's been lagering on the yeast for a couple of weeks. I plan to keg it this weekend and start a German Pilsner with the yeast cake from the Helles.What's your preferred yeast for those beers?
Love them German Lagers!
This time I'm using WLP830 German Lager Yeast which is the equivalent of Wyeast's 2124 Bohemian Lager Yeast, but I also like to use WLP833 (lends a bit more maltiness) for my Helles as well.
I have had a couple years of great success using W-34/70 (dry) for all malty German styles: Helles, Maibock, Trad Bock, Schwarzbier, I've even used it on an Alt and a couple Oktobers.... it starts slowly, so I'll make a 1.050 Helles first, then use the cake from that for a Maibock and it goes off like a rocket.
It does work for Pilsners too.... but I find I am having to tweak water and hops to get them where I want them.
-red
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Equipment and Software / Re: Those little red cans of Oxygen
« on: May 23, 2013, 08:32:35 am »
I thought it only takes seconds?
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Equipment and Software / Re: New MT ordered
« on: May 23, 2013, 08:01:11 am »Kind of like this. http://www.mrmalty.com/chiller.php
Some folks claim ten minutes from boil to pitch temp
Yup. With 50ft of 1/2" copper and 35F water pumped (with a pond pump) from a barrel I keep in a walk-in cooler, I can drop 10gal from boiling to 60F in about 9 minutes. To get a lager to 48F takes 12 min.
I don't bother recirculating, I stir gently with a spoon until it's under 100F, then stir more vigorously to get aeration started.
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Equipment and Software / Re: Those little red cans of Oxygen
« on: May 23, 2013, 07:58:17 am »
http://www.williamsbrewing.com/WILLIAMS-OXYGEN-AERATION-SYSTEM-P699.aspx
Dave
Anyone using this exact system? I'm intrigued...
How do you keep it clean though? Is the wand part difficult to sanitize?
-red
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Yeast and Fermentation / Re: yeast re-use
« on: May 08, 2013, 01:23:08 pm »
OK cool. I will brew on!
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Equipment and Software / sani clean slime
« on: May 08, 2013, 11:11:15 am »
anyone else every see ropey slimy crap in sani clean after it is a month or so old? i mix mine into distilled water and try to reuse it for 3-5 batches (for kegging only - I use star san during brewing). but the ropey stuff has always disturbed me, although I have never had an infection or sanitation issue to date....
[crosses fingers] [knocks on wood]
[crosses fingers] [knocks on wood]
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Equipment and Software / Re: Monitoring Keg Levels
« on: May 08, 2013, 11:08:43 am »I've always gone low tech. Mark # of pints until you get ~ 40, so I don't have to lift and stir up sediment. Bigger glasses tend to throw it off quite a bit though!
+1. I have a blank spreadsheet with lines for about 10 kegs, I tick off in columns for growlers, pints, 12oz bottle fills, etc. I usually forget to mark a growler in there somewhere... but it gets me close.
I used to use a bathroom scale calibrated at zero for an empty keg, but once I expanded above 2 serving kegs (I often have 5 or 6 on tap now) I dropped that idea.
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Yeast and Fermentation / yeast re-use
« on: May 08, 2013, 11:06:00 am »
any one see a problem re-using W-34/70 from a Bo-Pils that was 1.058, to a German Pils that is going to only be around 1.050? I ask because a couple years ago I reused US-05 from a 1.066 IPA in a 1.045 brown ale.... major off flavors etc occurred, AFAIK because of the yeast dropping in gravity so much.... I am assuming a 1.058 to 1.050 drop is not such a big deal?
-red
-red
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Ingredients / Re: Amarillo
« on: April 26, 2013, 05:13:23 am »Can you even find Amarillo? I havent been able to find any online or in stores until I wandered into a LHBS in a neighboring state that somehow had 36 oz of pellets. I bought them all!
They're a good year+ old (been vac-packed in a -15*F freezer)
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Ingredients / Amarillo
« on: April 23, 2013, 04:04:17 pm »
What does Amarillo go well with? I've got about 10oz sitting in the freezer doing not much of anything. I'm thinking of it a basic American IPA. I'm a big fan of all-Centennial IPAs, what about mixing Amarillo 50/50 with Cents? Or are they best used at a certain point in the boil, like flavor or aroma?
Other hops I have on hand (in case anyone sees anything that pairs nicely with Amarillo) are Columbus, Cascade, Magnum, Mittlefruh, Tettnang, and Willamette. (And Saaz but that's going in my Bo Pils this week)
-red
Other hops I have on hand (in case anyone sees anything that pairs nicely with Amarillo) are Columbus, Cascade, Magnum, Mittlefruh, Tettnang, and Willamette. (And Saaz but that's going in my Bo Pils this week)
-red
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All Grain Brewing / Re: Brun Water question
« on: March 22, 2013, 04:42:38 am »
Thanks for all the answers, it's making sense now.
Special thanks to Kai and Martin. What both of you have done to help us ignoramuses (ignorami?) with water chemistry is fantastic.
-red
Special thanks to Kai and Martin. What both of you have done to help us ignoramuses (ignorami?) with water chemistry is fantastic.
-red
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All Grain Brewing / Brun Water question
« on: March 21, 2013, 07:04:10 am »
Recently started using Brun Water to acidify my sparge water with lactic acid. When I'm doing a brew where I'm building water from scratch, based on distilled water, do I enter the Water Alkalinity on Tab #2, Cell B4, as zero, since distilled water plus gypsum & CaCl2 has zero alkalinity, according to Tab #3, Cell L12?
And then when I enter a zero alkalinity into Tab #2, it tells me to use zero lactic acid in the sparge water. I guess I should believe this, but am having trouble figuring out why... won't the distilled water still have a pH of around 7, and I'd like it to get down to 5.5?
thanks
red
And then when I enter a zero alkalinity into Tab #2, it tells me to use zero lactic acid in the sparge water. I guess I should believe this, but am having trouble figuring out why... won't the distilled water still have a pH of around 7, and I'd like it to get down to 5.5?
thanks
red