I racked my first ever brew into secondary today. It was just an extract kit to get my feet wet, but it was a doppelbock. I never take the easy route. It always has to be a challenge, but so far so good. I did a big starter with a stir plate to make sure I pitched enough yeast. I started with 4 liters and then stepped up to 5 liters. I decanted it and just pitched the yeast. On brew day, I steeped the specialty grains, added the extract, and did a full boil. I didn't have enough ice on hand that chill the wort as quickly as I would've liked, but I got it down to 85 degrees in 15 minutes running ice water through my immersion chiller. I put the wort in the fermentation chamber to cool the rest of the way.
I had planned on pitching at 48 degrees, but I got impatient and pitched at 60 instead. By the next morning the wort was at my target fermentation temperature of 52 degrees. I had full blown fermentation in the 8-12 hour range after pitching. On day 8 I was within 7 points of my final gravity, so I brought the temperature up to 65 degrees for a diacetyl rest, even though I couldn't detect any diacetyl. Two days(today) later I had reached final gravity, so I siphoned the beer off into a secondary carboy for lagering. Now I'm harvesting the yeast for next time. My plan is to slowly bring it down to 33 degrees over the next two to three days. I plan on lagering at least 4 weeks and up to 8 weeks if my patience allows. Then I'll bottle and condition for a minimum of three weeks. Geez this brewing turned into a long process.
Here is the recipe I used for anyone that's interested:
10 pounds Munich extract
1 pound golden light dme
1 pound caramunich malt
4 oz chocolate malt
Wyeast Munich lager 2308
1 oz 5 hbu noble hops
OG 1.088
Fg 1.025
ABV 8.3%
IBU 15
I tasted the beer several times throughout the fermentation process. It went from being sweet and bready to malty and bitter and now it tastes like a really flat, strong, malty bock. I was afraid there would be a strong alcohol warmth with it being a higher ABV, but it's not. I can't wait until it's done to see what the final product will taste like.
I had planned on pitching at 48 degrees, but I got impatient and pitched at 60 instead. By the next morning the wort was at my target fermentation temperature of 52 degrees. I had full blown fermentation in the 8-12 hour range after pitching. On day 8 I was within 7 points of my final gravity, so I brought the temperature up to 65 degrees for a diacetyl rest, even though I couldn't detect any diacetyl. Two days(today) later I had reached final gravity, so I siphoned the beer off into a secondary carboy for lagering. Now I'm harvesting the yeast for next time. My plan is to slowly bring it down to 33 degrees over the next two to three days. I plan on lagering at least 4 weeks and up to 8 weeks if my patience allows. Then I'll bottle and condition for a minimum of three weeks. Geez this brewing turned into a long process.
Here is the recipe I used for anyone that's interested:
10 pounds Munich extract
1 pound golden light dme
1 pound caramunich malt
4 oz chocolate malt
Wyeast Munich lager 2308
1 oz 5 hbu noble hops
OG 1.088
Fg 1.025
ABV 8.3%
IBU 15
I tasted the beer several times throughout the fermentation process. It went from being sweet and bready to malty and bitter and now it tastes like a really flat, strong, malty bock. I was afraid there would be a strong alcohol warmth with it being a higher ABV, but it's not. I can't wait until it's done to see what the final product will taste like.
- the only part I found that really matters is mash temp, yeast temp for first 72H and keeping everything super clean after primary
