Hop forward lager

[TimelessCynic]

I have some American lager wyeast I want to use and full sacks of munich light, Maris otter and vienna malt. I also have more than 8 oz each of citra, willamette, cascade, centennial, and US Tettnanger.

Can someone suggest a hoppy lager recipe for me? Or are hoppy lagers a no no? I brew 5.7 gal batches. Tks

 

[RonPopeil]

i'm not a lager brewer just yet so take it for what it's worth. my consideration would be preserving hop flavor. lagers take a long time and much of that time includes yeast exposure. i would be concerned with flavors fading and/or being leached by the yeast. you could try to compensate for this but then it becomes a game of trial and error.

 

[Flipadelphia]

A Pilsner would be considered a hoppy lager, but you don't have the ingredients for one. You definitely could put together a Vienna lager though and use the tettnanger in increased amounts.

 

[TimelessCynic]

I think i am gonna make a really weird experiment and combine all my grains and all my hops and are what happens

 

[mblanks2]

a pilsner would be considered a hoppy lager, but you don't have the ingredients for one. You definitely could put together a vienna lager though and use the tettnanger in increased amounts.

+1

 

[The542]

Or are hoppy lagers a no no?

I'm seeing more and more commercial IPL's, and I think they're great.
I think dry hopping in the late stages of your lagering process would put you at the hoppiness your after. I may have to give this a whirl.

Recent article http://articles.washingtonpost.com/...926893_1_lager-yeast-ratebeer-com-boston-beer

 

[Osedax]

IPLs (india pale lager) are becoming more popular. Sam Adams does a pretty good one.

You could probably do a heavy dry hop towards the end of the lagering. Just remember, it takes longer to extract hop aroma compounds at colder temps. I like to dry hop when the beer is in fermentation temp and then again in cold crash. Gives different profiles.

 

[TimelessCynic]

I have a vienna willamette lager smash. I added several late hop additions during the boil. Relatively low IBUs around 20 if i remember correctly. It is cold crashing in keg now. About a month old. I might carb it, connect it to tap, and have a sampler. If I think it can tolerate some dry hopping i will throw an oz and a half into the keg and assess the results.

Concerning making an IPL recipe i would guess 50 or 60 IBU would be to bitter for a smooth beer with subtle flavors like a lager. I'm guessing around 35 would be good.

What do u people think? Thanks

 

[chickypad]

This is an article on IPL's in last month's BYO.

 

[TimelessCynic]

Cool article. Thanks.

 

[aeviaanah]

I'm seeing more and more commercial IPL's, and I think they're great.
I think dry hopping in the late stages of your lagering process would put you at the hoppiness your after. I may have to give this a whirl.

Recent article http://articles.washingtonpost.com/...926893_1_lager-yeast-ratebeer-com-boston-beer

+1

I recently brewed an american style lager. It was drinkable but the end product wasnt what I was after. I believe fermentation temperature fluctuated too much and caused esters.

At half keg i ended up dryhopping with 1 oz of cascade. It turned this beer into something that was ok to something that was great. I highly recommend even 2 oz of hops in 5 gallons of lower gravity lager.

 

[TimelessCynic]

+1 I recently brewed an american style lager. It was drinkable but the end product wasnt what I was after. I believe fermentation temperature fluctuated too much and caused esters. At half keg i ended up dryhopping with 1 oz of cascade. It turned this beer into something that was ok to something that was great. I highly recommend even 2 oz of hops in 5 gallons of lower gravity lager.

What would you expect from 2 oz of hops in a good lager? Something amazing?

 

[The542]

My preference would be to push the envelope. I'd probably run four oz of both simcoe and Amarillo.
And yes, I think it would be very good.

 

[aeviaanah]

What would you expect from 2 oz of hops in a good lager? Something amazing?

I think there are more variables involved but yea It took my ok beer and improved it greatly. I just finished the last glass last nice. You know that full glass of trub and hop particles? MMmm.

I added dry hops and started drinking immediately. It took a day for the full flavor to come through. Peak was 2-3 days in. Left hops in till I killed the keg.

Get creative.