OK, brewed this one up in the ol' L-Town Garage BoozeWorks tonight. An old college buddy of mine had stopped by and was helping me brew the batch while also tasting my stout and amber brews. I made a pretty big mistake when pouring in the honey and dumped a whole 3-lb container in. Whoops!
OG came in at a startling 1.069, just a touch more than the style's range! The honey was really prevalent on the initial taste. Oh well, it's still beer! Should be a clean, crisp a**-kicker when all's said and done!
OK, so this one went for 2 weeks in primary. Checked the FG after 48 hours diacetyl rest and it had settled on 1.020. Considering the attenuation of the yeast I used and the 1.068 OG, it was about spot-on for being done. Tasted the sample and it is REALLY GOOD! Nice and crisp, no diacetyl whatsoever. Alcohol is pretty freakin' high, but it's not overwhelming at this point.
Racked it over to the secondary on Saturday and dropped the temp to 45. I'll let it sit for 4 weeks or so. This is a great beer and I am in no hurry to drink it. I added the remaining 0.5 oz of Saphir hops to it right as I was racking it over. A little longer dry-hop than you recommended, so we'll see how it works. I love the nose of those Saphir hops!
I've had this one kegged and tapped for about 2 weeks now. To say it turned out great is an understatement. I had a party over the weekend and every single person that drank it said it was the best beer they ever had. I bottled a few 6-packs of it for people that wanted to take some home with them. The clover flavors with the dry-hopped Saphir hops really work well together.
The alcohol is really high due to the extra 1.5lbs of honey I added. It doesn't stand out at all so I had to warn people that it was a strong beer!
I've been looking for some sort of Lager to do for my summer BBQ (I'll have 3 homebrews on tap, and a commercial keg) for my friends that aren't hopheads, and I think I'll give this one a shot!
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This looks and sounds exactly like what I am looking for. I do have a couple questions I just got my fermentation chamber done so I have never done a pils or a lager and have a few questions. So the secondary fermentation phase with a pils is done at the same temp as the initial fermentation, ie. 54? I thought with pils and lagers your usually knocked it down to 45 is for the secondary fermentation or lagering phase. Did you only rack it one time to the secondary fermenter? Also, I don't have a kegging system will this bottle condition and carb up properly? Also, at what temp should I bottle condition?
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Originally Posted by neuron555
Homebrewing combines the best of gourmet cooking, beer drinking and chemistry lab.
This looks and sounds exactly like what I am looking for. I do have a couple questions I just got my fermentation chamber done so I have never done a pils or a lager and have a few questions. So the secondary fermentation phase with a pils is done at the same temp as the initial fermentation, ie. 54? I thought with pils and lagers your usually knocked it down to 45 is for the secondary fermentation or lagering phase. Did you only rack it one time to the secondary fermenter? Also, I don't have a kegging system will this bottle condition and carb up properly? Also, at what temp should I bottle condition?
First, I keep my secondary at the same temp as primary, but that's what my temp control allows for. This worked fine for me but feel free to lager at a cooler temp if you have the ability. I don't make many lagers so I'm far from having perfected the process.
As for your secondary question, I just did the standard process of primary, secondary then bottles. I bottle conditioned with 3/4 cup corn sugar for 3 weeks @ around 70 degrees, then I refrigerated. Next time I make this recipe I'll be kegging for sure but the bottling process was the same as it would be for an ale. Let me know how it turns out.
__________________ Primary: Secondary: Bottled: Lots of stuff On tap: Hefeweizen, Centennial Blonde Up next: Quality Beverages
Just one other question.. did you make a starter for you yeast? Did you cool the wort to +54 and then pitch or what? Sorry just really excited about the brew ordered the stuff today.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by neuron555
Homebrewing combines the best of gourmet cooking, beer drinking and chemistry lab.
Just one other question.. did you make a starter for you yeast? Did you cool the wort to +54 and then pitch or what? Sorry just really excited about the brew ordered the stuff today.
You definitely want to make a starter. I actually kept my starter at room temp, pitched at room temp then dropped the temp after pitching. By the time fermentation started it was at 54. There seems to be some debate on pitching temps for a lager but this worked well for me.
__________________ Primary: Secondary: Bottled: Lots of stuff On tap: Hefeweizen, Centennial Blonde Up next: Quality Beverages
The honey was really prevalent on the initial taste. Oh well, it's still beer! Should be a clean, crisp a**-kicker when all's said and done!
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