Lagers and pilsners

[KatoBaggins]

I was thinking possibly the Vienna route. Is it simply all vienna malt for the malt bill?

Not necessarily. Check out some of the recipes in the European Amber Lager section of the recipe data base to get a better idea of what else is added. Usually some sort of grain to darken the color. In addition to Vienna, I used some Munich II, as well as some Caramel 60, and a smidgen of Carafa I in my recipe. It's at the dark end of the color scale for a Vienna Lager though. My Vienna is lagering and is not done yet, so I'm not posting the recipe until I'm sure it's a good one.

 

[wobdee]

All I brew are lagers. Last year it was German Pils, OFest and Dunkel. This year I'm experimenting with Czech lagers. I'm making some very rich malty Czech ambers and darks with higher percentages of Caramunich. Wyeast 2000 Budvar has been my latest yeast to play around with, it really brings out a malty sweet caramel flavor for me.

Something else I've been playing with is Best Red X malt. It makes a great red lager simply by itself with a OG of 1.050.