Help Me Brew Yuengling

[Krrazy]

I think if all goes well that I'll brew my "Lager" attempt this coming weekend.

 

[ere109]

At day seven, I've still for bubbling activity, which I'm very happy to see. The digital temp controller has done a great job of managing a constant 50 degrees. I'm definitely wondering whether I should rack to secondary exactly at 14 days or wait til bubble activity hits one per minute. I have a beer thief, but I hate losing nearly a glass of beer every day to test, plus running the risk of exposing the beer to contamination. Thoughts?

 

[XXguy]

Bubbles per minute is not an accurate guage of a beer's progress. If it was, all the breweries would have thrown out their hydrometers years ago.

For a cold fermenting lager, I wouldn't even bother to take a reading until at least 10 days had passed, and probably more like 2 weeks. If you're worried about 'wasting" the beer you take for a hydro sample, think how bad you'd feel if you ended up with a whole keg or two of beer you rushed along & didn't test.

Good luck with it.

 

[Krrazy]

Great pictures, the color looks pretty close as far as I can see! I agree with XXguy, I think times are useful for guidelines and bubbles let you know that there may be something going on but that fermenation and measurements should dictate when you do things.

From what I've read, you should leave it in the primary until you've gotten about 75% of the way to your expected FG before doing a diacetyl rest (if necessary) and racking to a secondary for lagering.

It looks like you've got ten gallons there so I also wouldn't be too worried about drawing some 3-4 oz. samples that will help you ensure that you make a good product and learn by tasting along the way.

It looks good already..looking forward to hear how it comes out.

 

[ere109]

You're probably right. Losing a few ounces to measurement won't be the end of the world. I'll test it on day 14 and see where I'm at. I'm pretty happy with the result so far. Also, after talking to a local brewer I've decided not to do a d-rest, but rack to secondary and drop the temp by two degrees a day to carry the yeast to 34. That should help clean up remaining off flavors.

 

[ere109]

Getting ready to test a sample, and will proceed from there. I'll keep everyone updated.

 

[ere109]

1.014 on day 14. Time to rack to secondary!

 

[ere109]

The secondary went well. I dropped the temp by 1 degree celcius (about 2 F) per day from 50 to 34 degrees Fahrenheit, then sat on it for 30 days. It's amazing how well the beer cleaned up during that time.
Last Friday, while brewing my next 10 gallon batch, I pulled the beer off. I put about two gallons into green bottles, and kegged the other eight. I also kept a full cylinder to test with.
I was expecting results around 4.5 percent, but this was a very clean, happy beer. It came out magnificently clear, and had dropped from 1.048 to 1.005. I believe that calculates out to about 5.7%. And the taste? INCREDIBLE. I haven't tried to drink it side-by-side with Yuengling, yet, but this is absolutely my best beer to date. A very beautiful thing.
Thanks to all the folks who participated in the discussion. I'm happy to answer any questions people may have at this point. I'll try to pour a glass of each and snap a picture soon for a color and taste comparison.

 

[Hernando]

Very cool. Wasn't followng but I just read and caught up. Glad you had a successfuly brew. Can't wait to see the pics.

 

[ere109]

I'm only two and a half weeks into bottling, but wanted to get a taste for the brew so i could judge color and flavor. As you can see, I compared my lager with an actual can of true Yuengling. My brew is a bit lighter, and lacks some of the "crisp" feel of the original, but is really close in aftertaste. I'll work on my recipe and do some more side by side comparisons after mine has finished carbing. Then I'll post an updated recipe.

 

[Jaysus]

Awesome! Thanks for posting the photo

 

[thereferee2]

I make an almost dead ringer yuengling using (10 gal batch) 2.5 lbs #60caramel and 9 lbs pale to 3 lbs corn grits. you need to do a cereal mash first with 2.0lbs of the pale and all the grits(makes all the difference in the world)There’s a pretty good description of the process in John Palmer’s How to Brew (p. 173) Also yuengling uses 1.0 oz cluster(full boil) and .5 oz cascade hops(last 15min).
good luck and happy brewing

 

[Pie_Man]

ere109, the beer looks great! Thanks for posting your brew story.

I live in Florida now, but having grown up in the Poconos, I know the feeling for "Lager".

 

[ere109]

I'm on my second ten gallon batch right now. I've made a few adjustments to the recipe and am also trying a Bavarian lager yeast, rather than the American I used last time. I'll be sampling in about two more weeks and can share the results. I've got the color dead on now, and the Bavarian seems to clean up much better than the other.

 

[thereferee2]

what adjustments have you made? whats ur current recipe?

 

[elj4176]

I'm curious to see the changes as well. I would think the Chinook would have made a big difference in the first batch.
I make a version of Yeungling too:

10 gal 1.049 OG; ~18 ibu; ~ 8 srm
9# pils
6 # 6-row
2 # flaked maize
1.5 # c-60
1.5 # munich 10 L

1 oz Cluster @ 60
1 oz cascade @ 15
1 oz liberty @ 5

Wy 2035 or 2042 (or whatever german lager strain I have on hand).
I like the little bit more flavor I get from the munich. I just made this yesterday but with some ale yeast to see the difference from the usual batch.

 

[ere109]

what adjustments have you made? whats ur current recipe?

Sorry it took me so long to reply. Here's my current recipe - in addition to slight tweaks, and putting in the RIGHT hops, I'm also trying Bohemian Lager Yeast. Note, I used 9 oz. of wet hops, which are roughly 6x less potent than dried hops - hence 1.58 oz. You still want to aim for 17 IBU.

Type: All Grain
Date: 6/1/2012
Batch Size: 11.00 gal

Ingredients
Amount Item Type % or IBU
9.00 lb Pale Malt (6 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 45.00%
4.00 lb Corn, Flaked (1.3 SRM) Grain 20.00%
4.00 lb Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 20.00%
2.00 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 10.00%
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 5.00%
1.58 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (60 min) Hops 13.2 IBU
1.00 oz Cluster [7.00 %] (10 min) Hops 4.3 IBU
2 Pkgs Bohemian Lager (Wyeast Labs #2124) Yeast-Lager

 

[thrstyunderwater]

Who's got the best yuengling recipe now?

 

[ere109]

I don't know that there's a lot of competition. My beer tastes good. Just had four glasses tonight. How close it is to yuengling, I can't say.

 

[Adeering]

Have you tried it with the bohemian lager yeast, what was the result?

 

[ere109]

I don't have access to my notes at the moment. I noticed a slight difference in taste, but not much. If I find more flavor notes I'll add them later.

 

[ere109]

I'm making this recipe again, and I actually pulled the corn back. I have a feeling that it's smoothing the beer out too much for Yeungling. I'd like to get a little more mouth punch from it.