Bosium
Well-Known Member
Hi all,
I absolutely love Samuel Adams Boston Lager. For those who have not had it before, is a wonderful, malty, rich beer with incredible depth flavour and balance, and a beautiful colour. It is one of my all-time favourite beers.
So, I am trying to create something similar, and I would appreciate any criticism of my recipe.
I have created essentially a Vienna Lager, but have added a small amount of crystal (I believe crystal 40 is in the SA recipe), and some melanoidin to emulate the decoction mash that is used by the commercial brewery.
I'm not 100% sure on how much bitterness to add, but I know that SA is a very malty and sweet beer yet still is quite bitter, so I'd expect I would need quite a bit of bitterness to balance this. I'm not sure if 34 is too much, but I prefer to err on the side of bitter rather than sweet. I'll be using soft water and FWH'ing, as well as using some of the best hops you can buy, so this should still be a fairly gentle yet firm bitterness (I hope).
I also know that SA uses Hallertau Mittelfruh and Tettnanger, and the beer has a much more pronounced hop aroma and flavour than a traditional Vienna lager. I am not sure how best to split the additions, so my starting point is simply to add equal portions of Hallertau and Tett for each addition. Again, any advice / suggestions would be very welcome.
OG: 1.052
FG: 1.016
ABV: 4.8%
AA: 70%
IBU: 34
Vienna Malt 40%
Munich Malt 25%
Pils Malt (Ger) 25%
CaraMunich 40 5%
Melanoidin Malt 3%
Flaked Barley 2%
Hops: Hallertauer Mittelfruh 4.3% AA
Tettnang Tettnanger 3.8% AA
Additions:
90min FWH 18 IBU
30min 9 IBU
15min 5 IBU
5min 2 IBU
I will use the Wyeast 2001 Urquell strain, mainly as I have it and I plan to brew a bohemian pilsner next, so I can re-pitch on this one's cake once done. I will grow an enormous starter first though, and pitch the slurry. I plan to pitch cold and ferment at 10.C, with a diacetyl rest near to the end of fermentation. I will use a fast ferment test to determine what my limit of attenuation is with the wort I produce.
I will be lagering this for 4-6 weeks, and then bottling it with krausen beer from the leftover original wort, fermented with a flocculant ale yeast for carbonation, probably Notty.
That's about it. Any comments from those more experienced in lagers (or anyone really) would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
I absolutely love Samuel Adams Boston Lager. For those who have not had it before, is a wonderful, malty, rich beer with incredible depth flavour and balance, and a beautiful colour. It is one of my all-time favourite beers.
So, I am trying to create something similar, and I would appreciate any criticism of my recipe.
I have created essentially a Vienna Lager, but have added a small amount of crystal (I believe crystal 40 is in the SA recipe), and some melanoidin to emulate the decoction mash that is used by the commercial brewery.
I'm not 100% sure on how much bitterness to add, but I know that SA is a very malty and sweet beer yet still is quite bitter, so I'd expect I would need quite a bit of bitterness to balance this. I'm not sure if 34 is too much, but I prefer to err on the side of bitter rather than sweet. I'll be using soft water and FWH'ing, as well as using some of the best hops you can buy, so this should still be a fairly gentle yet firm bitterness (I hope).
I also know that SA uses Hallertau Mittelfruh and Tettnanger, and the beer has a much more pronounced hop aroma and flavour than a traditional Vienna lager. I am not sure how best to split the additions, so my starting point is simply to add equal portions of Hallertau and Tett for each addition. Again, any advice / suggestions would be very welcome.
OG: 1.052
FG: 1.016
ABV: 4.8%
AA: 70%
IBU: 34
Vienna Malt 40%
Munich Malt 25%
Pils Malt (Ger) 25%
CaraMunich 40 5%
Melanoidin Malt 3%
Flaked Barley 2%
Hops: Hallertauer Mittelfruh 4.3% AA
Tettnang Tettnanger 3.8% AA
Additions:
90min FWH 18 IBU
30min 9 IBU
15min 5 IBU
5min 2 IBU
I will use the Wyeast 2001 Urquell strain, mainly as I have it and I plan to brew a bohemian pilsner next, so I can re-pitch on this one's cake once done. I will grow an enormous starter first though, and pitch the slurry. I plan to pitch cold and ferment at 10.C, with a diacetyl rest near to the end of fermentation. I will use a fast ferment test to determine what my limit of attenuation is with the wort I produce.
I will be lagering this for 4-6 weeks, and then bottling it with krausen beer from the leftover original wort, fermented with a flocculant ale yeast for carbonation, probably Notty.
That's about it. Any comments from those more experienced in lagers (or anyone really) would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!