Critique my lager

[OZZ]

Hey guys, working on a house lager recipe and want to see what everyone thinks:

11 gal

16 lbs Vienna
3 lbs flaked maize
2 lbs Munich 10L
7 oz acid malt (for mash ph)

3 oz tettnang @ 60
2 oz Hersbrucker @ 15

1 pack 34/70 in 2 liter starter plus an additional 2 packs rehydrated (have 3 packs only and 3 isn't quite hitting proper pitch counts)

Mash 90 min @ 152

OG 1.050
IBU 29
SRM 5.8
ABV 5.1%

Primary @ 53 degrees, 4 day d-rest @65 degrees, 14 day lagering @ 42 degrees. Keg with gelatin and cold condition 2 weeks.

RO water with 1/2 tsp gypsum and 1 tsp calcium chloride per 5 gallons water treated.

Any suggestions? I'm all ears!

 

[TastyAdventure]

What style are you going for? What do you want the final product to be like?

 

[paperairplane]

Have you made beer with that much Vienna before? I did a Maibock that was 30% Vienna and it was not as crisp and dry as I would have liked. It scored very well, but wasn't exactly what I wanted.

If you really like the malt profile of Vienna, then by all means, carry on.

 

[OZZ]

I have not used that much Vienna before, in fact, I've only ever used a few lbs of it in any given recipe. Maybe I should do a smash ale first? I've heard great things about Vienna smash and even Munich smash as well.

I was trying to do something easy drinking but not quite as light as typical American lagers. Maybe something more like a modello especial (not negra).

Thought about adding a few ounces of roasted barley or something for color to get around 8 SRM but I'm fine with it lighter around 5 too. I've never done a lager, but have full temp capabilities and can lager and cold condition all I want. Maybe I should shoot for a tried and true helles or bo pils first.

 

[beersnblues]

Not far from our house Vienna lager. After a number of runs, we have the following...
55% Vienna
20% pils
15% Munich
5% Carared
5% CaraVienne
7 oz sauermalz for 10 gal

We do a single hop addition. Our recent batch was Mt. Hood 3 oz @60. Have also tried tettnang and hallertauer.

As for yeast, we've used WY2124, 2308, 2206. I think 34/70 is the same as 2124 and possibly white labs 830. We used 2124 on our recent batches.

I would encourage you to pursue your recipe. There is a great article on Vienna lagers in byo. Google it.

Cheers.

 

[solbes]

My Vienna recipe uses all Vienna as base. 1.050 OG, 1.010 FG. Plenty dry in my book. I mash right around 150.

My only suggestions are to drop corn by a lb per 10 gallons and possibly ferment a couple of degrees colder. So far Wy2206 and your dry yeast has been my favorites.

 

[OZZ]

Not far from our house Vienna lager. After a number of runs, we have the following...
55% Vienna
20% pils
15% Munich
5% Carared
5% CaraVienne
7 oz sauermalz for 10 gal

We do a single hop addition. Our recent batch was Mt. Hood 3 oz @60. Have also tried tettnang and hallertauer.

As for yeast, we've used WY2124, 2308, 2206. I think 34/70 is the same as 2124 and possibly white labs 830. We used 2124 on our recent batches.

I would encourage you to pursue your recipe. There is a great article on Vienna lagers in byo. Google it.

Cheers.

I think that article might have been the one that led me to creating this recipe!

What SRM is yours? I'm curious because beer smith has the cutoff minimum for a Vienna lager at 10 SRM. that doesn't make sense to me when there's lots of references stating you can use all Vienna in a Vienna lager which would be well below what my recipe hits and I'm still way under on color. My guess is beer smith is off?

 

[OZZ]

My Vienna recipe uses all Vienna as base. 1.050 OG, 1.010 FG. Plenty dry in my book. I mash right around 150.

My only suggestions are to drop corn by a lb per 10 gallons and possibly ferment a couple of degrees colder. So far Wy2206 and your dry yeast has been my favorites.

Thanks a million, you guys rock. I'll look to dropping the corn by a lbs and play with the numbers a bit more. What SRM is yours?

 

[solbes]

I get 10 SRM with the following:

9.5 Vienna
1lb dark munich
1 lb flaked maize
0.5 lb caramunich I
1 oz roasted barley (added last 10 min of mash for color)

Comes out nice. Much closer to regular Modelo than their Especial (think almost all pilsner malt).

Sounds like you should also consider a pre-prohibition American lager (classic American pilsner). Light color, but way more flavor than a modern American lager. 6 row, corn, with some cluster hops for flavor.