Historical Beer: Pre-Prohibition Lager SchmiPielSchaeRheingoldter

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Bob

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Location
Christiansted, St Croix, USVI
Recipe Type
All Grain
Yeast
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Yeast Starter
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Additional Yeast or Yeast Starter
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Batch Size (Gallons)
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Original Gravity
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Final Gravity
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Boiling Time (Minutes)
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IBU
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Color
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Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
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Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
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Additional Fermentation
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Tasting Notes
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This beer is based on my research of 1950s American Pilsner/Lager hybrids brewed by the breweries of Brooklyn, NY. Breweries like Piels, Schmidt's, Ruppert and Schaefer brewed beers of distinct character and flavor compared to the bland fizz coming from the national giants.

Ingredients and numbers are based on an average of representative samples from four Brooklyn lager breweries in the 1950s. Full historical notes available upon request.

Sorry about the bold stuff at the top; for some reason I got two complete sets of dialog boxes; I filled out the first one but the second one was what was needed. All the info is below.

A ProMash Recipe Report

Recipe Specifics
----------------

Batch Size (Gal): 3.00 Wort Size (Gal): 3.00
Total Grain (Lbs): 5.00
Anticipated OG: 1.048 Plato: 12.07
Anticipated SRM: 2.7
Anticipated IBU: 29.2
Brewhouse Efficiency: 80%
Wort Boil Time: 90 Minutes
A long wort boil is necessary to drive off DMS.

Grain/Extract/Sugar

% Amount Name Origin Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
30.0 1.50 lbs. Flaked Corn (Maize) America 1.040 1
70.0 3.50 lbs. Pale Malt(6-row) America 1.035 2

Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon.


Hops

Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
0.50 oz. Cluster Whole 6.30 26.1 90 min.
0.25 oz. Styrian Goldings Whole 5.25 3.3 20 min.


Yeast
-----

Wyeast 2272 North American Lager highly recommended for historical accuracy (it's the Christian Schmidt strain!), though White Labs WLP840 American Lager or in a pinch S-23 can be used with excellent results.
Note: Pitching into this volume does not require a starter.
Ferment at 55-58F for 14 days. Rack to lagering vessel.
After at least two weeks of lagering @ 38F, chillproof and fine with your preferred method (I prefer a combination of gelatin and Polyclar), and let rest another week before packaging as desired. You can avoid fining and simply use a longer lagering time, but this is not historically accurate.


Mash Schedule
-------------

Mash Type: Multi Step

Grain Lbs: 5.00
Water Qts: 5.00 - Before Additional Infusions
Water Gal: 1.25 - Before Additional Infusions

Qts Water Per Lbs Grain: 1.00 - Before Additional Infusions


Protein Rest Temp : 122 Time: 20
Saccharification Rest Temp : 155 Time: 60
Sparge Temp : 175 Time: 10

All temperature measurements are degrees Fahrenheit.

A protein rest is necessary to reduce haze and oxidation precursors. The relatively high sacc. rest temperature is to promote dextrins for vollmundigkeit. Temperature rises are performed with additional infusions of boiling liquor, not direct heat.

If you try this, let me know if you like it! I've got batch 3 in the lagerkeller right now.

Prost!

Bob

THIS JUST IN: You can now buy this recipe as a kit from Brewmaster's Warehouse.
 
This one is on tomorrow's brew schedule - I'll let you know how it turns out. The 3 gallon batch size fits nicely in my schedule right now for fridge space.
 
Any progress on this? I'm a Brooklyn transplant myself and I'd love to have something to bring when I visit my friends back home that was historically relevant.
 
Batch referred to in my sig is gone, thanks to having some friends over. (Gotta update my sig!) I guess you can say people tend to like it. ;)

Cheers,

Bob
 
I'm still lagering this one in my secondary. Color looks good & aroma seems good, I'll probably get around to bottling in a week or two.
 
Well - finally have an update on this one. When I first pulled it from secondary to bottle - I tasted it & thought it was kind of corn tasting sweet & didn't seemed balanced. It also had a grassy flavor for the hops that seemed to stand out.

I decided to keg it instead of bottling - and then after a week or two pulled a few draws. It still wasn't fully carbed, but it still had that corn sweetness & grassy type of hop flavor. So I just set it to the back of the kegerator & kind of forgot about it. I had some other brews I wanted to put on tap.

Well - just last night I kicked the Centennial blonde I had been drinking - so I went searching for another keg to throw on tap.

What a difference 2 months of conditioning makes. This beer cleaned itself up nicely - and was well balanced, easy drinking. Only a slight hint of the corn sweetness, and all the hop flavor mellowed into one nice smooth finish.

I just ordered the ingredients to make another batch of this. I had used S-23 for the yeast, this time I've got some W34-70 I'll try.

Any ideas on where to source the 2272 North American Lager strain? None of the online homebrew shops seem to carry that.
 
I'm glad you had success! I'd hope that was the case, as the Brooklyn breweries had hundreds of thousands of adherents over the years. ;)

Unfortunately, the Christian Schmidt strain is no longer available as a normal release from Wyeast. They told me they might release it under the VSS line, but...

Try American Lager (Wyeast 2035), and pay attention to the pitching rate. You should be successful!

Bob
 
2nd batch of this is just coming online - used the American Lager 2035 yeast & it's very nice.

I'm going to keep an eye open to see if Wyeast re-releases the Christian Schmidt 2272 strain, so I can give that a try.
 
3rd batch going in to the Mash now - this time it'll be a 5 gallon batch. People like this one too much - I don't get left with enough for myself!
 
You can do either. I've done both. Frankly, the last time I brewed it, I filtered it (5-micron "rough" polish) and really like that. But bottle-conditioning works quite well.

Bob
 
I do not. My water is pretty hard, too. I don't have a detailed analysis, because I'm on a well and don't feel like paying for it. ;)

Cheers,

Bob
 
I am going to try this out once I get the maze. Can u get a stuck sparge with too much of this stuff? Also I am going to try it with American loger. Different hops too. So probly a totally different beer. I will mess with the water too
 
Would you give any input on my recipe?


3.10 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 46.97 %
2.00 lb Corn, Flaked (1.3 SRM) Grain 30.30 %
1.00 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 15.15 %
0.20 oz Saaz [5.80 %] (60 min) Hops 4.6 IBU
0.15 oz Cascade [5.40 %] (60 min) Hops 3.2 IBU
0.10 oz Saaz [5.80 %] (30 min) Hops 1.8 IBU
0.10 oz Cascade [5.40 %] (10 min) Hops 0.8 IBU
0.10 oz GR Saphir [3.70 %] (0 min) Hops -
0.10 oz Saaz [5.80 %] (0 min) Hops -
0.50 lb Cane (Beet) Sugar (0.0 SRM) Sugar 7.58 %



Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.040 SG
Measured Original Gravity: 1.010 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.010 SG Measured Final Gravity: 1.005 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 3.81 % Actual Alcohol by Vol: 0.65 %
Bitterness: 10.3 IBU Calories: 43 cal/pint
Est Color: 2.5 SRM

30 min Protein Rest Add 1.91 gal of water at 129.3 F 122.0 F
75 min Saccharification Heat to 150.0 F over 15 min 150.0 F
10 min Mash Out Heat to 168.0 F over 10 min 168.0 F
 
I have two observations.

First, I think your hops schedule is excessively complicated. Pick a flavor/aroma variety and be done. I'd also increase the bittering potential to ~20. This is not Light American Lager; this is essentially a pre-Prohibition lager beer. It needs some "oomph".

Second, ditch the Cara-Pils. You're a mashing brewer; you no longer need that crutch. For one thing, anything you can get from Cara-Pils you can get from manipulating your mash. For another, you're including a body-enhancing ingredient, then using sugar to lighten the body. Does not compute. Replace both sugar and Cara-Pils with pale malt (or one with pale malt, the other with maize, which is where I'd go).

You can do a single-infusion mash, and mash relatively high (~154-6F) for vollmundigkeit. If you find your foam retention suffers - and I don't think it will - follow the Fix schedule with infusions.

Cheers,

Bob
 
They'll work, seeing as Styrian Goldings are a Fuggles cultivar. I'd prefer to save them for an English ale, though. My preference, should Styrian Goldings be unavailable, would be to use a US-bred or -grown aroma variety like Mt Hood or US Hallertau.

Cheers,

Bob
 
All right Bob, not a great pic, the glass was frosting over, but you get the point. This beer is outstanding. I'm immediately going to re-brew an 11 gallon batch. Best "lawnmower" beer ever. It's only been lagering for a week and a half, and it's already a quarter gone. Very drinkable, once again a great recipe. You are the man.




2011-05-06_12-17-20_945.jpg
 
Nice timing on the update. I just noticed that the Wyeast 2272 North American Lager strain is on the "Private Collection" list for Wyeast - available through June 2011.

Time to put this one back on the brew schedule.
 
Oh snap, I had to use 2035, I wonder what difference it would make. btw this beer finished @ .008 and was in the keg after 13 days.:eek:


_
 
I'm curious as to why this recipe needs a 90 minute boil. Previously I thought that only recipes with pilsner malt needed a 90 minute boil to get rid of the DMS precursors.

Does the relatively large % of flaked corn necessitate the 90 minute boil?

Also, whats your average terminal gravity for this beer?

Thanks in advance for taking the time to read this!

Looks like a yummy beer to help transition into the hotter months to come.
 
90 minutes was standard in the Brooklyn breweries from whence came the information upon which this recipe is based. Please note it won't hurt a beer to boil for 90 minutes. The only real negative impact might be slight darkening. My standard all-grain boil time is 90 minutes. House rule. ;-)

Average terminal gravity falls between 75 and 80% attenuation. Depends on the strain chosen and a bunch of other fermentation variables.

I wish you every success!

Bob
 
Just put batch #2 in the fermenter yesterday. I actually used the 2272 this time as it was finally available. Can't wait to try it, this is the fastest I have ever gone through a keg, my friends are killing it.

_
 
de3nch pics 279.jpg

Cheers Bob! I finally got around to making this and it's a winner for sure. I had to use us-o5 at a low temp to "fake" the lager yeast but it came very clean without any peachy flavors I've gotten in the past with us05. Lagered for 4 weeks.

Any chance on getting those historical papers regarding the history of the brooklyn breweries? I'd be interested to read up while I sip a pint.
 
Looking good! Glad you made the ale yeast work for you. :mug:

Good Lord, you want the research. I've been through a move in which we significantly pared down our lives. I'll see what I can dig up. I think most of that stuff was internet-based. Give me a couple of days, k?
 

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