Lager #1 & #2

[Owly055]

*** All Grain Brew # 47 in less than a year, my first attempt at a lager ***


I'm having the first bottle of my first lager with breakfast this morning. A Dunkle brewed on 17 January and bottled on 28 Feb.... I should wait another week, but I was eager to try this. Brewed with 5 pounds of Munich 10, and a half pound of CR60 for a 2.5 gallon brew, bittered with Northern Brewer, and flavored with Hallertau, half an ounce at 10 min, and half an ounce at one minute. IBUs at 31, SRM at 15, and just over 5% ABV.

It has a nice sharp crisp and clean flavor, with the flavor of the munich malt unmistakeable. The hop presence is probably more than is typical for a Dunkle, but compliments the flavor of the malt very well. I'm not good at adhering to style. Thick creamy head with some persistence, and nice lacing, and a beauiful reddish brown color that is crystal clear. I would call it a success, and will be brewing it again in some variation, as I never brew exactly the the same thing twice.

This Dunkle pretty much nailed the style, with the exception of a bit more hop presence as far as flavor and aroma, and the IBUs being just a smidge over the top to match my personal taste. A very very nice beer.

Lager # 2 is sitting on the kitchen table bubbling away merrily..... It's a vastly different beer, based on 2 row and some CR75, much lighter with SRM 11, and much hoppier with IBUs at 47. Hopped with Perle and Willamette. After a month in the pump house where the temps range from 45-55 this time of year, I brought it into the house a couple of days ago, where the temps are much higher. Current fermentation temp is 70F, and it immediately began percolating away like a coffee commercial. It's pretty clear that I need some sort of temp controlled fermentation chamber, but I'm not ready to go there yet. It's my hope that the month at cooler temps, then moving it into the house, will still give me a decent lager...... like the "fast lager" method. It won't go into cold crash for at least a week or 10 days, and will sit in cold crash (lagering) for 2-3 weeks before bottling.


H.W.

 

[Teromous]

If you brew ales all of the time there is something revitalizing about brewing a lager.

 

[Owly055]

If you brew ales all of the time there is something revitalizing about brewing a lager.

An interesting statement......... Please elaborate.....


H.W.

 

[Teromous]

After brewing so many ales the process begins to become second nature. I don't brew many lagers, so I find a "newness" to the process when I get a chance to make them. For example I will constantly verify that the temperature remains just where I want it...for ales I just have to keep the temperature down, but for lagers I want to keep an eye on it to make sure that it doesn't get too cold...even though I've set up temperature control I find myself checking the temperature often. Then there is the d-rest that I want to nail at just the right time. The unique way that lagers ferment is interesting visually and I tend to get more sulfur aroma on lager strains than I do with ales. I find that because more homebrewers are making ales than lagers, there is a lot less information about some lager clones, recipes, and yeast strains. In this respect it is a lot like venturing into undiscovered country, which is a reprieve from the abundance of information you get from ales (for example Pliny the Elder clones). I suppose the best way to rephrase my original statement, is that I have a renewed vigor when brewing lagers akin to when I first started brewing ales. It's something that I hope remains...and if it doesn't I will venture into making wine or mead!