It seems like a good idea to have a large amount of base malt laying around now that I finally have a grain mill. I’m thinking of picking up a bag of Crisp Maris Otter for any British beers I want to brew (think biscuity) so that all I need is specialty grains. It keeps the costs down.

Now if only I could get moving on culturing a few key strains of yeast and growing aroma and flavor hops I wouldn’t have to buy much of anything when it comes time to brew.

I tore into the bag this weekend for a traditional Bohemian Pilsener:

12 lb Weyermann Pilsener malt
0.75 lb Carapils (dextrine malt for head retention)

Mash at 154 degrees for 60 minutes, collect enough to end up with six gallons after a 90 minute boil.

1.75 oz Saaz (3.2% AA) @ 60 minutes for 20.3 IBU
2.25 oz Saaz (3.2% AA) @ 30 minutes for 13.3 IBU
1 oz Saaz (3.2% AA) @ 10 minutes for 2.3 IBU
1 oz Saaz (3.2% AA) @ 0 minutes for 0 IBU

WLP800 Pilsener (Urquell) in an active 2L starter (1.3L pitched)

Ferment at 52 degrees. I could only get 54 in the basement and the lager fridge is in lagering mode at 34 degrees right now.

The mash went well, though the grain looked a little more crushed than usual. It was my first crush with the new mill, the Barley Crusher, which was a breeze to use. It came fully assembled, you just stick in on the top of a 5 gallon bucket, hook up the drill, fill the hopper and let it rip. It’s fast and clean with no dust at all.

I definitely learned a lesson about whole hops as well. It was the first time I haven’t used pellets and I underestimated quite how much boiling wort would absorb into the hops, especially 6 full ounces. I only made a fermenter volume of about 4.75 gallons and had to top it off with some water.

The OG before the water addition was about 1.068, 12 points higher than it should have been, so I diluted it to 1.056 with three quarts of cold water. This also brought the temp closer to the target pitching temperature.

The WLP800 should attenuate down to around 1.014, or 75%, for an ABV of about 5.8% and a nice Saazy hop flavor and aroma.

My first lager (technically the second, but the first to be tasted) and it’s crystal clear with a delicious smoky hint. No smoked malt was harmed in the making of this beer. There is a lot of malt flavor, a tiny bit of spicy Hallertau (not enough) and the attenuation isn’t quite as high as it might have been. The beer is a touch sweet. The head disappears too quickly but that might be the glass.

And yes I know it’s not a Pilsener and doesn’t deserve the glass.

This should be a solid light summer lager.

The Helles has joined its darker cousin in the lager fridge. After 2 weeks in primary at 54 degrees (warmer than I wanted but that’s the basement for you) I’ve racked it off to secondary. We’re at 70% attenuation so far – 1.050 to 1.015 – and hopefully it will reach 1.012 by the time all is said and done for final attenuation of 76%.

I tasted the sample and it’s full of maltiness – very much the grain taste on the back of the tongue which probably won’t be as present at proper lager serving temps. An earlier sample from a few days back still had lingering Hallertauer flavor but that has faded somewhat even in that short time.

I’ll probably keg it in 2-3 weeks, a month at the most.

While the Oktoberfest sits lagering in the chest freezer and the basement is still at a balmy 48-50 degrees I am taking the opportunity to brew another lager. I’ve settled on a Munich Helles – a lighter, summer beer though still malty, and something that has a short lagering period. That way I can keg both it and the Oktoberfest at the same time and bring the whole freezer up to serving temp.

Once again I’ve borrowed from Jamil Zainasheff, but this time made a few small changes. I accidentally bought too much Pilsener for a five gallon batch, so I’m doing more like 5.5 gallons to bring the gravity back down to the recipe level.

Without further ado, Munich Helles:

9.75 lb German Pilsener malt
1/2 lb Munich malt (the lighter stuff, 8-10 srm)
2 oz Melanoidin malt

1.5 oz Hallertauer @ 60 minutes (3.00% AA)

Wyeast 2206 Bavarian Lager

Infusion mash at 150 degrees, 90 minute boil, chill and aerate 30 mins. Fermentation to start around 64 degrees and then once it gets started I’ll bring it down to the basement where it’s 48-50 consistently.

I’m building up a two-stage starter since Maine Brewing Supply had sold out of 2 liter flasks and I only have a 1 liter. First stage I did last night, pitched the smack pack into 800 mL of well aerated starter wort. This is the first time I’ve aerated a starter and the first starter I’ve done in a while.

Tonight I’ll chill it down a bit in the fridge, decant off the spent wort and boil/chill another 800mL to build it up again. That should get me somewhere in the range of 250-350 billion cells, which isn’t quite enough but it’s sure better than a single smack pack.

The recipe was cribbed from Northern Brewer’s Oktoberfest recipe and modified somewhat.

5.0 lb. Munich Malt
5.0 lb Pilsener Malt
0.5 lb Dark Munich Malt
0.5 lb CaraMunich 60
0.5 oz Millenium (15.0% AA), 60 minutes
0.5 oz Mt. Hood (5.0% AA), 0 minutes
Wyeast 2633 Oktoberfest Lager Blend smack pack

Mash Schedule:
20 minutes @ 122 degrees (Protein Rest)
60 minutes @ 153 degrees (Saccharification Rest)
15 minutes @ 168 degrees (Mash Out)
Sparged to collect about 7 gallons in the kettle.

Boiled 90 minutes, chilled with the immersion chiller, strained into the carboy and pitched the yeast.

I’ve found out in some reading that with modern malts the protein rest isn’t really necessary, so I may omit that in the future. In another week I’ll rack to secondary and do a 1-2 day diacetyl rest at room temp, then put it back in the fridge and slowly drop the temp to 33 degrees for lagering.