First LODO lager a success

[maltboy1]

I just tapped my first LODO, a "country" Helles that was brewed using the techniques and recipe guidelines in the Helles paper. Ho-lee-crap. The fresh malt jumps out of the glass. This beer is as close to perfect as anything I've ever brewed, and it's only been in the keg for 12 days.

 

[Bilsch]

Nicely done!

 

[maltboy1]

Nicely done!

Thanks. Now if I can only do it again...
We're 1/3 into the first of two kegs and I'm already worrying about running out.

 

[maltboy1]

Keg one gone already! I blame my son and my wife's sewing buddy. They hit it pretty hard. I'm gonna have to put a lock on the tap handle for the second keg.

I kegged a LODO Festbier about a week ago. I just tried it today and it's going to be spectacular as well - maybe better than the Helles. Damn!

 

[Bassman2003]

Great to hear. It really is not a myth and so many of us have had similar experiences. When you start brewing every beer style like this you will look back and realize how easy it is yet how different everything is now compared to your old ways of brewing.

 

[maltboy1]

Great to hear. It really is not a myth and so many of us have had similar experiences. When you start brewing every beer style like this you will look back and realize how easy it is yet how different everything is now compared to your old ways of brewing.

Seriously. We did a LODO APA that was as smooth as silk, and it was ready to drink three days after kegging. The color of all 3 LODO beers we've brewed are significantly lighter than expected (not a bad thing, IMO), and the head retention is phenomenal. Lace and rings all the way down the glass. Zero astringency. Essentially perfect beers.

FWIW, based on the literature from the manufacturer, I cut way back on the Brewtan-B for the Festbier (about 20 ppm), and it cleared up very well without any Silafine. Not sure if that's a coincidence or just good brewing practice or what. The Helles has a slight haze, and I used what the vendor recommended (about 10X what the manufacturer recommends). I've read that too much kettle finings can actually be detrimental, and I can't help but think that might've contributed. I'll slowly back out of the room now and fetch my asbestos suit.

 

[tracer bullet]

First, congrats!

Did you make a change or two or three to get this success vs. previous efforts, or was it more the entire process involving a dozen or more tweaks? I guess I'm trying to ask if you think any particular thing was most effective.

 

[maltboy1]

We tried to incorporate as much of the Helles paper into our process as we could. We used the trifecta in mash, sparge, and boil, eliminated all copper, used a floating mash cap with incorporated sparge line, low boil, and sauergut in mash and at knockout. Since we use a Brewzilla, we also modified our sparge to reduce oxygenation. Instead of lifting the mash pipe all the way out, we suspended it on a block and tackle and never allowed the bottom of the pipe to get above the liquid level. We also conditioned the grain before milling. That made a huge difference in grain bed flow during the mash and sparge.

 

[maltboy1]

I never really answered your question. We took a shotgun approach, so IDK what we did that was most beneficial, but I know the LODO "fixes" made a world of difference. One problem we do have is lower yields. We're crushing with a homemade 8 inch roller mill set to .050. The flour is picture perfect - beautiful intact/empty husks and a good mix of loose grits and flour. I think it may be too perfect based on the flow characteristics. The sparge flows through the grain bed so fast that it doesn't have enough contact time to wash out all the sweet stuff. The Brewzilla doesn't really accommodate sparge throttling, so we're trying to figure out how to fix that. We may try to do a batch sparge, but that would mean we'd have to transfer the first runnings into another vessel and then transfer back.