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Author Topic: Gonna Get Some Vienna Malt  (Read 6097 times)

Offline Jeff Renner

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Re: Gonna Get Some Vienna Malt
« Reply #15 on: February 12, 2010, 07:27:48 am »
I love an all-Vienna lager.  Right now I have a 1.052/1.012, 23 IBU O'fest/Maertzen on tap that tastes terrific.  I used Durst Vienna.

I brewed it with a pseudo-decoction, which is essentially the same procedure as a cereal mash for adjunct, but with all malt.  I have an article in Zymurgy coming up on this technique.  It gives much of the flavor of a decoction with less time, trouble and potentially oxidizing handling.

I mashed in 1/3 of the malt at ~150F, very thick, in a pot and rested it 20 minutes in a preheated oven, then put the pot into a big pressure cooker and cooked it at 15 psi (1 atm) for 35 minutes.  This was mostly to develop flavors and some color.  A slight improvement in efficiency is incidental.  Then after it had cooled, I added it to the main mash, which had been resting at ~144F for 40 minutes, which raised it to 158F.  Rested this 20 minutes and then mashed out and lautered.

I used Perle and Mt. Hood hops 2:1 on an IBU basis added at the beginning of a 70 minute boil.  No finishing hops.  Fermented at 50F with WLP833 German Bock, my favorite lager yeast, then lagered at 32F.

It's malty without being sweet (77% apparent attenuation, resting the main mash at 144F helps), elegant, spicy (I find a spicy character from Vienna malt), with just enough bitterness to support the malt.  The color is right on the money.
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Offline ndcube

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Re: Gonna Get Some Vienna Malt
« Reply #16 on: February 12, 2010, 08:24:53 am »

Offline denny

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Re: Gonna Get Some Vienna Malt
« Reply #17 on: February 12, 2010, 09:16:40 am »
Jeff, I seem to recall a discussion of pressure cooker decoctions on HBD years ago.  Was that you back then?  I'm looking forward to reading your article.  May be the impetus I need to finally buy a pressure cooker!
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Offline Jeff Renner

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Re: Gonna Get Some Vienna Malt
« Reply #18 on: February 12, 2010, 09:47:21 am »
Denny - it was Spencer Thomas first and then I followed up later.  I think we had talked about it at AABG meetings first, but can't remember for sure.  He did a head-to-head taste comparison of pressure cooked full decoction and normal mash.  My contribution was the pseudo-decoction with two separate, parallel mashes, one of which is boiled, with or without a pressure cooker, and then combined.
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Offline blatz

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Re: Gonna Get Some Vienna Malt
« Reply #19 on: February 12, 2010, 10:04:13 am »
Ndcube - I would not brew anything out of that book.

Jeff - very interesting technique - thanks for sharing.  I might have to give that a whirl.

BTW - do you have a recommended pressure cooker unit?  I am looking to purchase one.
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Offline ndcube

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Re: Gonna Get Some Vienna Malt
« Reply #20 on: February 12, 2010, 10:05:55 am »
Ndcube - I would not brew anything out of that book.

Yeah, it looked pretty sketchy.

Offline Jeff Renner

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Re: Gonna Get Some Vienna Malt
« Reply #21 on: February 12, 2010, 10:21:24 am »
BTW - do you have a recommended pressure cooker unit?  I am looking to purchase one.

I have a 21 quart "All-American" brand model #921, made in Manitowoc, Wisconsin.  It has a metal to metal seal - no gasket to wear out.  It's probably 30 years old.  I think they're still being made.

It's big enough to hold the two-gallon pot that I do the small mash in.  You don't want to apply heat directly to the malt.  as a matter of fact, that's a big advantage of using a pressure cooker - you don't have to stir the way you do when you heat directly.
AHA Member since 1980, Life Member
Ann Arbor Brewers Guild charter member (1986)
AHA Governing Committee (2002 - 2011)
BJCP since 1991, National
"One never knows, do one?"  Fats Waller, American Musician, 1904-1943

Offline denny

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Re: Gonna Get Some Vienna Malt
« Reply #22 on: February 12, 2010, 10:28:31 am »
Denny - it was Spencer Thomas first and then I followed up later.  I think we had talked about it at AABG meetings first, but can't remember for sure.  He did a head-to-head taste comparison of pressure cooked full decoction and normal mash.  My contribution was the pseudo-decoction with two separate, parallel mashes, one of which is boiled, with or without a pressure cooker, and then combined.

Thanks for the clarification!  I guess that being old enough to remember that kind of stuff on HBD also means that I'm old enough to to not remember it!  ;)
Life begins at 60.....1.060, that is!

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The best, sharpest, funniest, weirdest and most knowledgable minds in home brewing contribute on the AHA forum. - Alewyfe

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Offline denny

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Re: Gonna Get Some Vienna Malt
« Reply #23 on: February 12, 2010, 10:29:42 am »
Ndcube - I would not brew anything out of that book.

This ^^^
Life begins at 60.....1.060, that is!

www.dennybrew.com

The best, sharpest, funniest, weirdest and most knowledgable minds in home brewing contribute on the AHA forum. - Alewyfe

"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts." - Bertrand Russell