[skyler]

So I have decided to brew a 100% Vienna Malt beer because I still have never brewed one and I have a good bit of Vienna malt from a sack I purchased a fairly long time ago. I also just got some yeast slurry from Hopworks Urban Brewery in Portland, OR and am eager to use it. They use Wyeast 1318 as their house yeast, but mostly brew American-style ales with it. My first instinct was to use up my 2011 US Tettnanger supply and brew a bitter. Then I considered going a majorly different direction and brewing up a "Session IPA" (the next beer style whose name we will all argue about), which would be about 1.045 and probably 50 IBUs. But I also have plenty of 2011 Cascade, Glacier, and Crystal hops, and could very well brew something a little more "to style" with any of them. What do you all think?

[hoser]

Personally, I would do a vienna lager with just a dash of carafa for color adjustment. Otherwise, I vote for Cascade APA.

[skyler]

Personally, I would do a vienna lager with just a dash of carafa for color adjustment. Otherwise, I vote for Cascade APA.

There are a few reasons why it can't be a Vienna lager, namely that I want to build up some of this yeast for a 10 gal batch of RIS, that I need this beer bottle-conditioned and ready by X-mas, and that I do not like Vienna Lager. Also I want to do 100% Vienna malt in part because I would like to actually see the color produced from doing so.

[hoser]

Personally, I would do a vienna lager with just a dash of carafa for color adjustment. Otherwise, I vote for Cascade APA.

and that I do not like Vienna Lager.

Blasphemy!!!!

[morticaixavier]

I went with bitter with english hops but I think a session IPA would also be nice and you could use the hops you have on hand.

I do an all munich barleywine/small beer partigyle that I really like, although I usually cap the mash with a little c45 or something. haven't used Vienna but isn't it similar?

You up in portland skyler? though you were in berkeley

[skyler]

You up in portland skyler? though you were in berkeley

Actually I live in Oakland now, but I went back up to Portland for Thanksgiving.

[erockrph]

If you want to do a smash, go for it, but I'd go for an IPA with Apollo/Glacier/Crystal/Cascade if it were my brew. SMaSH is fine if you want a pilot batch to taste-test some hops, but for my palate you get a much more enjoyable hop character when using 3-4 varieties of hops.

[TrippleRippleBrewer]

"namely that I want to build up some of this yeast for a 10 gal batch of RIS"

If re-using this yeast or pitching on a cake I've always been under the impression you shouldn't do so with a highly hopped beer like an IPA. The hops compounds negatively impact the viability of the yeast from what I've read. I've never done either but that's what I understand.

Personally I really like the malty flavor from Vienna and would lean toward some sort of pale ale with the Tettnanager and / or the Crystal. Mash it lower so it's not too sweet with that yeast maybe. Single hop addition for bittering and that's it. I'm imagining an OG in the 1.048 to 1.050 range max and maybe 25 to 35 IBU.

[morticaixavier]

"namely that I want to build up some of this yeast for a 10 gal batch of RIS"

If re-using this yeast or pitching on a cake I've always been under the impression you shouldn't do so with a highly hopped beer like an IPA. The hops compounds negatively impact the viability of the yeast from what I've read. I've never done either but that's what I understand.[...]

I have always understood the issue with re-pitching from a hoppy beer is carryover of hop bitterness and flavour.

[blatz]

I have always understood the issue with re-pitching from a hoppy beer is carryover of hop bitterness and flavour.

same here.  and even so, I repitch all the time from IPA (into other hoppy beers) and never have a viability issue.

[skyler]

I brewed it today. I originally decided to brew a vaguely out-of-style bitter featuring glacier and domestic tettnanger. The plan was to hit about 1.044 with a 152 mash temperature, get the bitterness from Glacier (an excellent bittering hop for bitters, IME), and FWH with an ounce of the Domestic Tettnanger, then drop a full ounce each of Glacier and US Tettnanger at flameout for a more robust hop character (and because the glacier just smelled so good while I was measuring out the bittering hops). Everything went fine, except that I forgot my hydrometer (I brewed this while visiting my mom for the day), so I couldn't check the pre-boil gravity, and I accidentally boiled off a 1/2 gallon more than planned. And when I came home, the gravity read 1.050. I somehow got a 4% efficiency boost on top of the extra evaporated 1/2 gallon. So I have a fairly hoppy 1.050 bitter with 37 calculated IBUs. ESB I suppose. I may add some water to the fermenter tonight to drop it down to 1.044-1.046, but probably not.

[skyler]

So I now think my hydrometer is just wrong (it was reading everything 4-6 points too high). Anyway, I just bottled the batch today - I decided to give it a 25 g of crystal dry hops for 4 days before doing so. This is going to be an x-mas present beer, but I am very happy with how it turned out. I even think I may brew up a full-sized Vienna ESB in the near future with a similar hop bill, depending on how the beer tastes carbonated.

[TrippleRippleBrewer]

Sounds like a really nice beer. What yeast did you use?

I have yet to use Crystal in anything but I plan to soon. I think Zymurgy did a story using it as well as Mt. Hood and some others as potential substitutes for Hallertau in Pilsners. I'm curious about this hop.

"I may add some water to the fermenter tonight to drop it down to 1.044-1.046, but probably not."

Not sure what your experiences have been, but on every occasion I've added water to bring down OG, I've not cared for the results. I just leave it a bit big and roll with it as-is instead now.