Can You Help Make This Recipe Better?

[adrian078]

I created this recipe not long ago. All in all a nice drinking beer. Very sessionable. I was going for a German lager like ale.

Question is how can I change it from something nice to sensational?

I'm happy with the colour. The bitterness is nice - perhaps it could be a little less bitter to let the maltiness come through more.

I fermented this yeast low to make it nice and clean - which it is.

I welcome your feedback



Type: Partial Mash
Batch Size: 26.00 l / 6.86 gal
Boil Time: 60 min
Fermentation: 14c
IBUs: 28
Colour: 12.6 EBC
ABV: 5.1%

Ingredients
2.2kg / 4.8lbs Vienna Malt (Weyermann)
200g / 0.4lbs Caramunich II (Weyermann)
2.2kg / 4.8lbs Light Dry Extract (8.0 EBC)

65g / 2.3oz Saaz [3.60 %] - Boil 60.0 min
30g / 1oz Saaz [3.60 %] - Boil 20.0 min

German Ale (Wyeast Labs #1007)

 

[watermelon83]

I created this recipe not long ago. All in all a nice drinking beer. Very sessionable. I was going for a German lager like ale.

Question is how can I change it from something nice to sensational?

I'm happy with the colour. The bitterness is nice - perhaps it could be a little less bitter to let the maltiness come through more.

I fermented this yeast low to make it nice and clean - which it is.

I welcome your feedback

Type: Partial Mash
Batch Size: 26.00 l / 6.86 gal
Boil Time: 60 min
Fermentation: 14c
IBUs: 28
Colour: 12.6 EBC
ABV: 5.1%

Ingredients
2.2kg / 4.8lbs Vienna Malt (Weyermann)
200g / 0.4lbs Caramunich II (Weyermann)
2.2kg / 4.8lbs Light Dry Extract (8.0 EBC)

65g / 2.3oz Saaz [3.60 %] - Boil 60.0 min
30g / 1oz Saaz [3.60 %] - Boil 20.0 min

German Ale (Wyeast Labs #1007)

Have you played with the water chemistry in the mash much? It can alter the flavor significantly.

 

[adrian078]

Have you played with the water chemistry in the mash much? It can alter the flavor significantly.

I added a little calcium chloride. The water here is quite low on everything especially calcium.

I haven't tried it before/after the change though.

I didn't however try another ale I make regulary - one with and one without calcium. And yet there was a difference. Wasn't huge but the one with was more rounded.

 

[giraffe]

Use a pils extract? You can try replacing some/all of the vienna with MFB's Special aromatic, which is a 5L vienna style malt. Or replacing a .5kg with munich. Both will make it a shade darker, but just a bit. Maybe a small late saaz addition, for some floral aroma. These would be the first things id experiment with ingredient wise.

 

[pdxal]

Decrease the Vienna.
A clean, crisp pils should be primarily pilsner malt, with a touch of Munich or Vienna. Perhaps some aromatic. Extracts already generally contain some light crystal malt, so no need for that.
25-30IBUs with primarily neutral or noble hop bittering with a little noble hop flavor/aroma should do it.
Your recipe looks good on hopping, just simplify the grain bill. A touch of gypsum might help round out the bitterness too.

 

[adrian078]

Thanks guys. What will the munich do for me? Never used it before.

 

[pdxal]

90-95% pilsner/pilsner or extra light malt extract and 5-10% munich produces great pils. The munich helps to simulate a decoction mash a little, and gives a maltier, rounder flavor. Too much and you lose the hops balance and get darker. Munich can self convert, so partial mash it at 150ish for 30 minutes so you don't just add starch and haze to the beer with steeping it.

 

[adrian078]

90-95% pilsner/pilsner or extra light malt extract and 5-10% munich produces great pils. The munich helps to simulate a decoction mash a little, and gives a maltier, rounder flavor. Too much and you lose the hops balance and get darker. Munich can self convert, so partial mash it at 150ish for 30 minutes so you don't just add starch and haze to the beer with steeping it.

Thanks. How about if I was going for more of an Oktoberfest? But in an ale.

 

[pdxal]

Thanks. How about if I was going for more of an Oktoberfest? But in an ale.

All you need to do is up the percentage of Munich and possibly some Vienna. Higher OG, 25 IBUs of noble hops. I've had good success with half Pilsner and half Munich or in that neighborhood with an OG around 1.060. A clean ale yeast, like Nottingham fermented cool or the Kolsch/Alt yeasts, can give you a lager like beer.