[Phil_M]

Unrelated update: Freezer came in for pickup at the local Sears, got it home last night. The front right corner is incredibly mangled, the temp controls there appear affected as well. The packaging is fine, this had to of happened at the factory. Fingers crossed that Sears will make this right...

[RPIScotty]

Unrelated update: Freezer came in for pickup at the local Sears, got it home last night. The front right corner is incredibly mangled, the temp controls there appear affected as well. The packaging is fine, this had to of happened at the factory. Fingers crossed that Sears will make this right...

They definitely should. I worked in Merchandise Pickup at Sears all four years of college. Bring it in with the receipt and packing and if they don't have it they will order you a new one.

[Phil_M]

Even if it was ordered online? That's how I got this, with in-store pickup to save on shipping.

That's great news if it'll work for this order. Though it'll still likely delay my planned lager brew day this weekend lol.

[brewinhard]

Unrelated update: Freezer came in for pickup at the local Sears, got it home last night. The front right corner is incredibly mangled, the temp controls there appear affected as well. The packaging is fine, this had to of happened at the factory. Fingers crossed that Sears will make this right...

That's frustrating. Especially when things are out of your control.

[euge]

Sorry to hear about the damaged freezer. They'll make it right.

No mystery why Sears will be history in the next five years. The Amazon of its time- but the decline and failure to innovate has ruined a once profitable business. It's tottering around on its last legs poor thing.

I favored Craftsman and there for a while everything I bought from them was damaged. Ordered online and picked up at Sears location they would either give me the wrong item, a damaged unit in a perfect box or both at the same time.  When bringing the stuff back I would get "I'm new here and I know nothing" from the person at sales and then they would just stand there. Not even an attempt to pick up the phone or indicate they would at least do something such as find out who does know.

But I'd play nice and be made whole with some patience.

[Phil_M]

The fan switch on our (Kenmore) stove shorted out a while back, and we ordered a replacement part from Sears. Somehow there was an issue with the order, was put in twice or something. Took us almost a year to get our money back.

I agree that they're loosing out to Amazon and such, but I think what's really killing them is K-mart. Ever since they were bought out the quality of their products and service has REALLY gone down.

[Phil_M]

Update: The mom & pop owned Sears stores might actually still be a good option. Replacement will be here on Wednesday, and they gave me a discount.

[Phil_M]

I'm just going to dive in an do a pils. From past experience I know I can get what I want out of a mash, hold temps properly, and get everything sanitized right. Really the only new variables are different yeasts and colder temps.

Going to brew something 1.050ish, 100% pils malt/Saaz SMASH. 10 gallon batch, going to split it and use WLP835 on one carboy, Wyeast 2001 on the other.

Single infusion batch sparge, 152 a good temp to target? Or should I go lower?

Hops are going to be interesting:
30 IBU FWH (Bitterness calculated as a 20 min. addition)
10 IBU at 20 minutes remaining
2 oz. with 5 minutes remaining.

My biggest question is what lagering schedule to use? The Brulosophy fast lager? Kai's recommendation for beginners? Something else?

[HoosierBrew]

I'm just going to dive in an do a pils. From past experience I know I can get what I want out of a mash, hold temps properly, and get everything sanitized right. Really the only new variables are different yeasts and colder temps.

Going to brew something 1.050ish, 100% pils malt/Saaz SMASH.

Single infusion batch sparge, 152ish a good temp to target? Or should I go lower?

Hops are going to be interesting:
30 IBU FWH (Bitterness calculated as a 20 min. addition)
10 IBU at 20 minutes remaining
2 oz. with 5 minutes remaining.

My biggest question is what lagering schedule to use? The Brulosophy fast lager? Kai's recommendation for beginners? Something else?

You'll likely get several different responses, Phil.  As for mash temp, it depends on what style of pils you want. Single infusion - I'd go 148F/90 mins for a German pils, more like 150-151F/90 mins for BoPils. The hop schedule looks good to me. As for fermentation schedule the Brulosophy type schedule works great. Using gelatin after crashing, you'll have beer ready in a month-ish. My $0.02  .

[blair.streit]

I've had success with the modified Narziss method and comparing Marzen and Bock styles lagered traditionally versus that I can't tell the difference (except my gelatin fined quick lager is a bit clearer). I haven't tried side by side on a lighter style like Pils or Helles.

I use WLP833 but I mash down around 147. I find that if I used different yeast I need to change the mash temp to get the same malt profile.

[Phil_M]

Alright, I'm running the numbers on the recipe I described above. My hops came in from YVH, my Saaz are 2.1% AA. Running amounts for the IBU values I desire in Beersmith yields:

30 IBU FWH --> 12.29 oz (Calculated in Beersmith using a boil/steep time of 20 minutes)
10 IBU @ 20 min --> 4.5 oz
Flamout --> 2 oz.

Keep in mind: all this is for a 10-gallon batch.

Now, I ordered a pound of Saaz, and certainly expected more than a single ten gallon batch out of all those hops...

Should I keep the same parameters and just scale back to a 5 gallon batch? Or are my numbers just wrong?

[HoosierBrew]

I'd keep the late hops as is, but split the FWH IBU with Magnum. It'll reduce the overall hop matter considerably and come out great. Just me.


Edit - It's tough to get that many IBU from just a 2.1%AA hop without using a ton. Can be done but this works really well.

[Phil_M]

Going to be tough to use Magnum, I don't have any on hand...

Let me go take stock of what I've got on hand, I'll post it here in a second.

EDIT:

Not much with decent AA levels that isn't intended for American or British styles...

Amarillo
Azacca
Cascade
Centennial
Chinook
Columbus
Crystal
EKG
Fuggles
Hallertau Mitt. (2.5%AA)
Jarrylo
Saaz (2.1% AA)
Simcoe
Tettnanger (1.7% AA)

What do you think, use a bit of Columbus?

[HoosierBrew]

No, I wouldn't use Columbus there. Not lager-y at all. You could bitter with Crystal and use that Saaz late. Or blend Crystal with Saaz in the FWH. Crystal isn't high AA by any means, but well over 2.1%. Out of what you have I think it's the best option. It'll be good either way.

[Phil_M]

I knew that crystal was noble-y, just thought a tiny amount of columbus would work without being noticeable.

Here's the new plan, using Crystal. Still a ton of hops! I want to keep the 20 minute addition pretty heavy handed with the Saaz.

3 oz. 2.1 AA Saaz FWH for 7.3 IBU
3 oz. 3.8 AA Crystal 90 min 21.3 IBU
4.5 oz. 2.1 AA Saaz 20 min 10 IBU
2 oz. Saaz at flameout.