Malt heavy Vienna-ish style ale?

Hey all,

I'm planning to attempt to brew an AG ale that is somewhat "lager-esque" and this is the recipe I've come up with:

4lbs Munich Malt
3lbs Vienna Malt
3lbs Pilsner Malt

1oz Tettnang at 60 minutes
1oz Tettnang at 30 minutes.

Wyeast 2112

Its a relatively simple recipe...I'm aiming for malty for sure. Does anyone have any critiques or suggestions? Yeast strains, hops and schedule etc? Thanks.

 

Sounds like you are aiming for an Oktoberfest? Looks like a good recipe to me.

 

Add 4-6oz of Melanoidin malt to boost maltiness, and maybe 6-8oz CaraMunich for body & touch of sweetness (optional). Looks great.

I've never used that yeast, but many of the German lager strains produce a really malty beer. The American strains tend to be a bit more crisp and dry (which is what I prefer).

 

This is pretty much an oktoberfest / marzen style recipe. So that can be your basis. A good start for a oktoberfest / marzen is equal amt of vienna, munich, and pilsner. Then adjust to your liking.

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f59/worlds-best-oktoberfest-123493/

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f59/oztoberfest-1st-place-score-43-a-279201/


Me, personally, I would up the vienna more than the munich. You also should add some specialty grains, depending on what you want. Definitely a crystal malt (40L to 80L), if you want a nice malty aroma with a good malty caramel flavor I would just add cara-aroma by itself, ect.

 

Thanks for the input guys. I'm wondering if I should opt for an altbier yeast instead of the California lager yeast. That being said, I'm aiming for something that's low in fruitiness with decent attenuation so it won't end up cloyingly sweet. I think I'll definitely add some specialty malts to boost aroma, malt taste etc.

 

What temperature are you planning to/capable of fermenting at?

 

I would definitely NOT add specialty grains. You'll get plenty of maltiness as is and it is amazing how much caramel like sweetness you'll get from all the munich and vienna malts. If this is your first time brewing a beer like this, brew it without the specialty grains and then decide if you want to add something next time. Chances are, you wont.

I brewed virtually the same beer two months ago. 5lbs munich, 2 vienna, 2 pils, and fermented it with the wlp080 cream ale blend. Bittered with hallertauer. It turned out very nice, I had a small BBQ and 6 people killed the keg in a couple hours. It had great maltiness (actually, a bit more than I expected) a very low amount of fruitness. Not a lager, but damn close. Actually, I had planned on re-brewing the recipe with a kolsch yeast, though an alt yeast would probably be the better choice.

http://perfectpint.blogspot.com/2012/06/brew-day-faux-vienna-lager.html

 

I plan to ferment around 60 degrees. I don't have the equipment just yet for colder temperatures (have an old spare fridge in the basement but it's about as unreliable as they come, I'd hate to lose a whole batch to a faulty fridge!)

 

If you plan to ferment at 60 degrees, I would definitely try to use a clean fermenting ale yeast, like WLP001/Wyeast 1056/US-05 American Ale. I have not used wyeast 2112 before (although I like that album), but it looks like it is the equivalent to white labs San Francisco Lager strain used for Anchor Steam, which I have used before and produces some fruity character in my experience.

The other strain you might consider is the White Labs WLP080 Cream Ale Blend, which I haven't personally used, although I have several friends that have used it with good results, and the reviews on the white labs site are positively glowing.

Be sure to make a nice, big starter for it. As big as you can manage. That should help control ester production.

 

In general, an ale yeast fermented cool will be much cleaner than a lager yeast fermented warm. At 60 degrees, I would recommend doing this as an ale. In fact, I did exactly that recently.

I haven't tried it yet (I'll be trying to bottle it up this week), but others have made great beer like this. I used S-04 because it seems to be cleaner at 60F than US-05 (which can get "peachy" that low). Others have reported success with both S-04 and Kölsch yeast.

 

If you are going to be fermenting at 60*F, your best yeast choices will be (from wyeast): 1007, 2565, 1056, 2112. 1007 will probably produce the closest thing to a lager. 2565 and 1056 should be able to do pretty good also, though some people can pick up a peach like off flavor from 1056 while fermented at low temps. 2112 is a great yeast that will ferment well at 60, but it does throw out more fruitiness than 1007 or 2565 do.

 

What do you guys think about WLP011? I used it for a porter. It finished a little sweet but had a very good flavor profile and was very malty. Might be good for a beer like this.

 

I am not a fan of kolsch yeast for this purpose because it produces some pretty characteristic aromas and flavors that don't really match Oktoberfest/Vienna lager styles.

 

I think I'll try my recipe above listed with either the S-04 or the wyeast 1007. I am wondering about the specialty malts: maybe cut back the munich malt in favor of vienna and add in some melanoidin malt as well.

 

If nobody said it, a 90-120 minute boil will drive off the pilsner's dms and increase maltiness without adding specialty malts.

 

Or boil hard for 60mins and use melanoidin. You have options.

 

I think Wyeast Kolsch will work fine if you can ferment around 62F. But if you can get to 62F in August, you could probably just use a proper lager yeast at 52F...

 

Brewed this up this past weekend, went with 3lbs Munich, 4lbs Vienna, 3lbs pilsner malt and the same hop schedule. Pitched Wyeast 1007. Hopefully this one turns out good!