2014: A year of German beers!

[TrustyOlJohnson]

Well, my progress on this goal got slightly interrupted. Early May I was notified that I was going to a 2 month training. So I brewed as much as I could, left June 4, and came home July 3rd to the pilsner you see above. Returned to training for the month of July and was home by late July. The pilsner was finished pretty quickly, and I bottled a case of Munich Helles and a case of Oktoberfest. Both turned out great!! In early september, I brewed an Alt, and after 4 weeks of lagering tapped the keg yesterday. Its really a pretty good recipe! A pic to follow on that. Here is a pic of the Helles..

 

[TrickyDick]

Anybody have any tips on MaiBock recipe? I've reviews a couple articles from BYO and seen a few recipes.
Want to try another decoction mash this time and wanted suggestions on the mash schedule.

So far I'm thinking mash in at 131 rest 15 minutes then infusion to 145 for 20 minute rest with decoctions for 158 for 15 minutes and mash out(168) ten minutes.

For the caramel malts was thinking cara 8, carahell and caravienne at about 25% combined, with rest of grist mostly pils, and some munich I.

Also wondering about harvesting lager yeast from a conical. With ale yeast, most of the sludge you dump is just trub. But what about lagers (bottom fermenters)?

TD

 

[TrustyOlJohnson]

TrickyDick,

This is the Maibock recipe I used:

6 lbs 4 oz Munich malt
5 lbs 8 oz Pilsner 2 row

2 oz Hallertauer Hersbrucker 4.0% (60 min)
.75 oz Hallertauer Hersbrucker 4.0%
(15 min)
.5 oz Hallertauer Hersbrucker 4.0%
(0 min)

Wyeast 2124 Bohemian Lager:
1 week at 48 deg
1 week at 50 deg
2 weeks at 52 deg
5 days at 68
Lagered at 38 for 6 weeks
Remained in primary on yeast cake for the total 11 weeks

SG 1.074
FG 1.020
ABV % 7.2

For the mash
Doughed in 11 qts @ 70 (15 min rest)(goal of 70 for this rest)

Acid rest Added 7.5 qt @ 168 (103 deg for 25 min rest)
(Goal of 105 for this rest)

Protein rest: pulled 6 qts heavy grist, raised temp to 122 (10 min), raised to 162 (20 min), boiled, returned to raise (122 for 15 min)
(Goal of 122 for this rest)

Dextrinization rest: pulled 10 qts heavy grist, raised to (158 deg for 20 min), boiled, returned to raise (153 for 20 min)
(Goal of 153 for this rest)

Mash out:
Pulled 8 qts, boiled, raised mash to 169
(Goal was 170)

Sparged with 170 deg water to get 6.75 preboil volume, 90 min boil, 5.25 into primary

Decoction temp increases and rest targets were:
70
105
122
153
170

I kegged this and really enjoyed it! Malty, melanoidens, barely hoppy, jus really enjoyable!

 

[TrickyDick]

Sounds nice. Thanks for sharing.
Was the acid rest enough to achieve proper mash pH all by itself, without any acid malt or acids added?
Have read that head retention suffers when doing a protein rest for fully modified malts. Not sure what malt you were using, but curious how you felt the head retention was.

I had formulated my recipe a year ago but never got around to brewing it. I'm not sure where I culled the information from for the selected temp rests I had in my recipe: 131, 145, 158, 170.

TD

 

[TrustyOlJohnson]

Dont know. Mash Ph was 4.9, but only measured after vorlaufing.

I kegged this beer, and recall head dissipated within 2 minutes, minimal lacing.

And I used Weyermann pilsner malt and munich malt I believe

 

[TrustyOlJohnson]

And no acid malts or acids were added.

 

[cbhxh]

Yooper!! I hoped you would chime in!! Have at it!

 

[TrustyOlJohnson]

Yooper??

 

[TrickyDick]

Thanks!

I think I'm going to skip the crystal malts, and let the decoction step provide the complex malt flavors from a grist of munich and Vienna 50:50 ratio to an OG 1.064. My previous decoction beer had an impressive 90% efficiency, so I may end up adding water to achieve desired post boil gravity if I'm going to hit similar efficiency. I'll monitor pH and add some acid malt if necessary.
Picked up a variety of german hops: hallertau Hersbrucker, magnum, Mittelfrueh, plus some tettnanger. Probably will need the magnum for bittering given the sub 3.0% AA rating, and use the Mittelfrueh at knock out. Maybe some at 5 minutes too.

Picked up the BOCK book so I'll read that before brewing, for a little inspiration and guidance. Might add 1% wheat malt for some additional head retention too.

TD

 

[TrustyOlJohnson]

Well, I just opened the 1st bottle of beer that I ever corked... It is an Eisbock that I made in November of 2013... And its delicious!!View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1426995130.499037.jpg

 

[TrustyOlJohnson]

And Im finding out that trying to drink a bottle of this might not be such a good idea 😵

 

[zcfhzh]

That's a great idea! What are your plans for the other 11?

 

[TrustyOlJohnson]

That's a great idea! What are your plans for the other 11?

Drink them carefully... Let em age..