[gmac]

To celebrate the holidays, I tried an amber lager that I made a couple months ago.  It tastes good but it's sweeter than I was expecting, particularly when compared side by side to commercial amber lager (I have no idea what yeast that would be).

The ingredients are mostly pilsner malt, a pound of munich and a bit of chocolate added at the sparge for colour.  OG was about 1.060 and FG is 1.012.  I lagered it for 5 weeks at close to freezing.
Just wondered if this yeast is known for being a bit sweeter than others or if this FG is too high for a lager.  I fermented it for about 3 weeks and then moved it to a warmer area (65) for 5 days for a D-rest.  Racked it off the yeast and then lagered.  I'm pretty sure it was done working but I can't say I did multiple gravities over days.

So, is this sweetness normal?

[jeffy]

That yeast will accent the malt more than some other lager yeasts.  It does look like the final gravity is within range.
How much hop bitterness did you calculate?  Enough to offset the sweetness?

[majorvices]

Agree with jeffy.  That strain accentuates the malt. Also your hop bittternesss will directly affect perceived sweetness.

[hopfenundmalz]

833 is my choice for malty lagers, while I use 830 for dry lagers like a Pils.

833 is the Ayinger strain, so you might try and find some Ayinger beers for comparison.

[denny]

833 is the Ayinger strain, so you might try and find some Ayinger beers for comparison.

One of my all time favorite beers is Ayinger dunkel.  To me, it' an example of how malty a beer can be without being sweet.  I agree with you guys about the yeast.  If the beer is too sweet, it's a lot more likely to be from the balance of ingredients than due to the yeast.

[gmac]

Thanks guys.  My experience with lagers is limited as you know.  

According to iBrewmaster, I should have about 30 IBUs.  I used 1.5 oz of Hallertauer 4.8% for 90 mins and 0.5 oz Hallertauer 4.8% for 10 mins.  
I may be confusing maltiness for sweetness since most of the beers I've been making lately have been APA and Cali Commons that are 40 to 50 IBUs.
The actual recipe was:
10 lbs Weyerman Pale Malt
1 lb Weyerman Munich
1 oz Chocolate added at the sparge for colour.

I will pick up some WL800 and try that, maybe that's more like what I was expecting.  I went with 833 simply because many people commented that it was their go-to strain and I figured it would be a good starting point, which I think it was.

The other lager yeast I tried, and it's still lagering was Wyeast 2035 - American Lager.  Just curious, what can I expect from that compared to WL833?

Not sure if I've ever seen Ayinger up here but I'll take a look.  I'm sure it's out there somewhere.

[tom]

833 is the Ayinger strain, so you might try and find some Ayinger beers for comparison.

One of my all time favorite beers is Ayinger dunkel.  To me, it' an example of how malty a beer can be without being sweet.  I agree with you guys about the yeast.  If the beer is too sweet, it's a lot more likely to be from the balance of ingredients than due to the yeast.

+1, but a good recipe eludes me.  Got a good one?
TIA, Tom

[denny]

+1, but a good recipe eludes me.  Got a good one?
TIA, Tom

I wish I did!  Ayinger dunkel is one of my Holy Grail homebrews....I'd love to brew something like it, but I've only been in the ballpark on one of maybe 6-8 tries.  If I can locate the recipe that was close, I'll let ya know.

[protonchris]

+1, but a good recipe eludes me.  Got a good one?
TIA, Tom

I wish I did!  Ayinger dunkel is one of my Holy Grail homebrews....I'd love to brew something like it, but I've only been in the ballpark on one of maybe 6-8 tries.  If I can locate the recipe that was close, I'll let ya know.

What are your other Holy Grail Hombrews, Denny?

Chris.

[hopfenundmalz]

There is a recipe for Ayinger Altbarish Dunkel in "Brew Classic European Beers at Home" by Wheeler and Protz.  Do you have that one?  Never made it, so don't know if it is a keeper.

[denny]

There is a recipe for Ayinger Altbarish Dunkel in "Brew Classic European Beers at Home" by Wheeler and Protz.  Do you have that one?  Never made it, so don't know if it is a keeper.

Yep.  Got it, made it, not gonna use that recipe again.  It was a while back so I don't recall exactly what it was, but I think the beer turned out way too sweet and thick.

[denny]

What are your other Holy Grail Hombrews, Denny?

Chris.

Boy, I'd have to think about that for a while.  One that comes to mind immediately is Trumer pils.

[hopfenundmalz]

There is a recipe for Ayinger Altbarish Dunkel in "Brew Classic European Beers at Home" by Wheeler and Protz.  Do you have that one?  Never made it, so don't know if it is a keeper.

Yep.  Got it, made it, not gonna use that recipe again.  It was a while back so I don't recall exactly what it was, but I think the beer turned out way too sweet and thick.

Not a keeper.

Trumer Pils is worthy of trying to replicate.  Yummy stuff.

[narvin]

To celebrate the holidays, I tried an amber lager that I made a couple months ago.  It tastes good but it's sweeter than I was expecting, particularly when compared side by side to commercial amber lager (I have no idea what yeast that would be).

The ingredients are mostly pilsner malt, a pound of munich and a bit of chocolate added at the sparge for colour.  OG was about 1.060 and FG is 1.012.  I lagered it for 5 weeks at close to freezing.

In addition to everything else that was said, your OG was probably higher than most commercial amber lagers.  A 1.050 beer that finished at 1.012 is going to be a lot drier than a beer that started at 1.060 because we're looking at apparent attenuation, and with more alcohol more residual sugar is required to have it still measure at 1.012.

[wildknight]

Could you just be tasting that classic 'pils sweetness' you get from pils base recipes?