StefanK
Active Member
Hello! Im all new to the forums. I am from S.A. specifically from Venezuela. here we drink a lot of golden fully hopped pilsners (because of the heat) and dark beers are not something you can find in your average store or homebrewer (Marzens from time to time as a special edition).
So one good day I decided to make my own, dark lager.
Used Pilsner grains as a base, with some Crystal and Chocolate.
Perle hops for bittering, but not too much since I was interested in a more malty, less hoppy character.
Brewing with Saflager S-23... At 20°C! i know, "thats a lot of temperature for a Lager!" but due to a temporary lack of refrigerator (due to an entirely Murphyan failure happening right away as I was finishing boiling my must) I had to ferment at room temperature, in the coolest room I could find in my house.
Primary happened quickly. Took almost 12 hours to take off, had a Krauzen for almost a couple of days which then sunk entirely to the bottom of my carboy and kept fermenting. Airlock activity went for full 4 days. I racked to secondary (today) about 8 days later. There was a nice yeast cake at the bottom.
About smell: first day It smelled funky, like non-good fermenting bread and too many hops. At the fourth day, it was smelling heavily "beer like". Today at racking to secondary, Strong beer smell with a lot of malty, roasted notes (my mouth is watering as I write this). Hops smell mellowed out (taking away all floral notes) but left a nice hint of its presence.
About taste: No Dyacetil taste. No SO2 smell during fermentation at all! So far (tasting when racking to lagering vessels) it aquired a mildly bitter, malty, slightly roasted flavor, feels fresh and velvet-like on the mouth (dont know how else to describe it).
I decided to do a split-batch to experimentate. Since I brewed about 13 lts, I decided to bulk-lager about 7lts in a carboy to then do bottle conditioning; the other 6 lts I decided to bottle them, carbonate them in bottle (mixed in priming solution, then bottled) and then will proceed to lager in bottles. Having fixed the refrigerator already, lagering will take place at 12°C constant temperature.
Here is my Lager in primary. Carboy is an old water carboy. Very thick glass, an absolute beauty.
Here, racking to Lagering vessels.
Yes, I know I will take fire on this one. I have to lager part of the batch in a plastic container. Couldn't find a suitable small glass carboy anywhere around.
The color (here seems very clear. Darker when in bulk)
The ones I bottled first to condition, then lager. (Sorry for the crappy image quality on this one)
So one good day I decided to make my own, dark lager.
Used Pilsner grains as a base, with some Crystal and Chocolate.
Perle hops for bittering, but not too much since I was interested in a more malty, less hoppy character.
Brewing with Saflager S-23... At 20°C! i know, "thats a lot of temperature for a Lager!" but due to a temporary lack of refrigerator (due to an entirely Murphyan failure happening right away as I was finishing boiling my must) I had to ferment at room temperature, in the coolest room I could find in my house.
Primary happened quickly. Took almost 12 hours to take off, had a Krauzen for almost a couple of days which then sunk entirely to the bottom of my carboy and kept fermenting. Airlock activity went for full 4 days. I racked to secondary (today) about 8 days later. There was a nice yeast cake at the bottom.
About smell: first day It smelled funky, like non-good fermenting bread and too many hops. At the fourth day, it was smelling heavily "beer like". Today at racking to secondary, Strong beer smell with a lot of malty, roasted notes (my mouth is watering as I write this). Hops smell mellowed out (taking away all floral notes) but left a nice hint of its presence.
About taste: No Dyacetil taste. No SO2 smell during fermentation at all! So far (tasting when racking to lagering vessels) it aquired a mildly bitter, malty, slightly roasted flavor, feels fresh and velvet-like on the mouth (dont know how else to describe it).
I decided to do a split-batch to experimentate. Since I brewed about 13 lts, I decided to bulk-lager about 7lts in a carboy to then do bottle conditioning; the other 6 lts I decided to bottle them, carbonate them in bottle (mixed in priming solution, then bottled) and then will proceed to lager in bottles. Having fixed the refrigerator already, lagering will take place at 12°C constant temperature.
Here is my Lager in primary. Carboy is an old water carboy. Very thick glass, an absolute beauty.
Here, racking to Lagering vessels.
Yes, I know I will take fire on this one. I have to lager part of the batch in a plastic container. Couldn't find a suitable small glass carboy anywhere around.
The color (here seems very clear. Darker when in bulk)
The ones I bottled first to condition, then lager. (Sorry for the crappy image quality on this one)
