Vienna Lager Revvy's Vienna Lager

[YeastieBoys]

Thanks for the recipe Revvy. Just finished my batch. 5.5 gallons, 1.049 og. I added 1 oz of hallertauer at 60 mins and realized I was going to be under for ibu's. Added .25 oz hersbrucker at 30 mins. I know that it's a little out of style, but it gave me 20.3 ibu's.
I have a nice 50 degree spot upstairs in my bungalow. Perfect for a late Michigan fall.
Any thoughts?

 

[periwinkle1239]

My thoughts are you did the right thing by adding some more hops.

I brewed this last night as well and since my 1 oz of hallertauer was only 3.8% AA, I added 0.5 of tettnang (probably not the best substitute but it's the closest I had) to get me above 20 IBUs. Decided to only use 0.5 lbs of Caramunich and made up the difference with more Vienna malt. OG was 1.050. Got temp down to 58-60 degrees, then pitched re-hydrated S-23 (first time using it) after giving a blast of O2, I put in garage where it currently reads 50 degrees this morning. Been a little over 12 hours, and I already see bubbling.

Mashed at 152 instead of 154, since lately I've been having trouble getting my FGs down low enough. (I wonder if my thermometer is out of wack). The smell of Vienna mashing was definitely unique since I'm used to brewing ales mostly with some sort of 2-row base malt.

Looking forward to this one.

 

[atri]

I'm a little concerned about the stuff on the ridges. Yeast? Hops? Trub?

 

[Revvy]

Just floculating yeast clinging to the ridges of the carboy. Happens all the time.

 

[m_stodd]

After 5 days my hydrometer reads around 1.022. Initially I was a little worried that it was fermenting too fast, but then I realized that I used a yeast starter, so there's a lot of yeast in their doing there thing, even if it is at a cooler temperature. Does this seem correct? There was some time where I'm sure it got too warm, but it's been pretty cool for the most part.

The hydro sample smelled awesome, and I'm super excited about this one!

 

[periwinkle1239]

View attachment 86983

I'm a little concerned about the stuff on the ridges. Yeast? Hops? Trub?

No concerns like Revvy says, but this obviously isn't his Vienna lager recipe. Did you modify it with darker malt?

 

[zeg]

That picture isn't too different from how mine looked. A flash can make it look more opaque than it really is, also.

I just bottled my PM version and it's tasting pretty good. To save anyone having to dig through the thread, this was made using 5 oz (!) of Spalt Select (1.3 %AA) and another 1oz of it thrown in for the last 10 minutes. Fermented with WLP833. I think I only gave it 3 weeks in primary, with a probably unnecessary D-rest and then a month of lagering at 32-34°F. OG was 1.051, FG was 1.012.

It's my first lager, but zomg is that crystal clear. It's like looking through a caramel-colored window pane. It has a nice maltiness and some nuttiness which I presume is from the vienna. It does have some spicy hoppage that's probably out of style, but I have to say I don't regret throwing that in. I was a bit worried that there'd be some grassiness from using 6 oz of hops in a lager, but I don't detect any. The only flaw I see right now is a dull but fairly strong bitterness late in the aftertaste. A minute after a sip, it's still with you. In an ale, I wouldn't think twice about this because it tastes like something that would age out quickly. I'm not sure what to expect in a lager, though, since I'd think it'll evolve somewhat less in bottles. But we'll find out!

 

[m_stodd]

I'm now 'lagering' which means I covered my fermenter with a big plastic bag, then put it in a cooler thingy, and put the whole thing outside. I'm getting air temp highs and lows of around 40F and 28F, so I'm assuming with some insulation to smooth things out, it won't turn out too bad.

My primary was 10 days I think, the gravity was getting low (1.016), so I did a 40 hour rest at room temp, then put it outside. I read that the rest should be done before it's too attenuated, so that's why my primary was shorter than others. When I did the rest, I didn't detect any diacetyl, only large amounts of deliciousness. I'm curious what this will taste like in time, perhaps it will give me an idea of what diacetyl tastes like, or perhaps I just didn't have any.

 

[zeg]

Tried the first one this evening after 3 weeks carbonating and 3 days in the fridge to settle. It's pretty good, but I think it's still a bit green. It has a bit of a bitter bite to it. The hop flavor from my 10 minute addition is ok, but I think a bit much. It helped to let it warm a bit, which accentuated the maltiness, giving a better balance. I think a bit more time in the bottles will help balance the flavors and improve the carbonation a bit. It was pleasantly effervescent, but the head was small and short-lived.

 

[Nike_Eayrs]

What would you think of using ale yeast instead of lager yeast? I know it wouldn't have the same clean crisp taste, but I was just kicking the idea around. Cheers!

 

[Revvy]

I've done it with a clean ale yeast, fermented cool. It wasn't the same beer, but it was close. And tasty. Try something like Pacman and ferment as cool as you can. Or a Cali Ale yeast.

 

[m_stodd]

This is probably the most drinkable beer I've made. It's super smooth and has a nice malty taste to it.

I'm entering this in a competition to be judged in a couple weeks. I'll try to post how it did.

Excellent recipe

 

[Revvy]

Awesome!!!! Good Luck!

 

[m_stodd]

Awesome!!!! Good Luck!

Don't have scoresheets yet, but it scored a 32, and my other beer (Christmas Ale) scored 41.

I wish this one would have scored higher than the other one, since I'm a huge fan of it, but at least when I get score sheets back I'll know how I can improve on it.

Breaking it down:
First year brewing
Partial mash
First lager
Weak boil
Ice bath cooled
No hot or cold break
Completely hacked temp regulation and lagering

This is the second beer I'll be making a second batch of.

 

[Duffman870727]

So this was my first lager, has been in bottles for 2 months now. I'm happy with how it turned out Nice clear beer, smooth malty flavour and aroma, crisp finish. Carbonation is a little low, I did not add more yeast when bottled. Revvy, how is the head retention on this brew for you? I know I don't have much carbonation but any head I get when first poured or subsequently swirled goes down very fast. I'd brew this again and would like better head on it, though I am looking into kegging now for lager brewing to get around the issues of properly bottle conditioning a lager. Thx for the recipe man!

 

[tommygunn]

Mine had very minimal head with poor retention too.

(I don't mind, as it's a delicious beer that has only gotten better with age)

 

[zeg]

My PM version has a pretty good head. The retention is fair, as good as any I've made (which is not terribly good, I suppose, but it's not far shorter than commercial beers).

 

[Mdsutton]

REVVY!!!

I was thinking a mini-mash.

3.3# BRIESS CBW MUNICH
4# Weyermann ® Vienna
1# Caramunich Malt
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L

Following the rest of your recipe from there.

What do you think?

Thanks,
Martin

 

[zeg]

I did a partial mash version (recipe is somewhere upthread) that was similar to that. I used 3.5 pounds of light DME and 5 pounds of Vienna, otherwise the same. That got me to 1.051 OG. My efficiency is low---probably 50% on that one---so that may or may not be useful information, depending on your system.

The recipe worked well, at least malt-wise. I got a little crazy and added some hops late in the boil and overdid it. It's still good, but it would have been better without that.

 

[spark_plug]

I just rocked this recipe off yesterday. Awesome efficiency coming in at 80%. Using White labs Belgian lager, hoping it turns out great!

 

[user 78027]

Is there any reason this beer cannot be in a secondary for 3 months? I will be out of commission for about 3 months and need to brew this so it will be ready when I'm ready.

 

[Revvy]

Lagering means "to store." Three months is going to make it pretty awesome actually.

 

[user 78027]

Lagering means "to store." Three months is going to make it pretty awesome actually.

It will be my first lager, I've been thinking of brewing this for a.long time. Thanks for your help.

 

[Revvy]

Can't wait to hear how it turns out.

 

[user 78027]

I am trying to iron out some process issues before I brew this. I have been having issues with the grind of my grain but I think i can get that figured out before i brew this.

Typically I end with about 2.25 gallons in my bottle bucket and i assume it would be the same for a secondary. Since i will be using the same container, 3 gallon better bottle, there will be about .75 gallon of air space above the beer.

Is is common practice to just leave it as air, or to purge it with CO2?

 

[ShaineT]

I'm now 'lagering' which means I covered my fermenter with a big plastic bag, then put it in a cooler thingy, and put the whole thing outside. I'm getting air temp highs and lows of around 40F and 28F, so I'm assuming with some insulation to smooth things out, it won't turn out too bad.

My primary was 10 days I think, the gravity was getting low (1.016), so I did a 40 hour rest at room temp, then put it outside. I read that the rest should be done before it's too attenuated, so that's why my primary was shorter than others. When I did the rest, I didn't detect any diacetyl, only large amounts of deliciousness. I'm curious what this will taste like in time, perhaps it will give me an idea of what diacetyl tastes like, or perhaps I just didn't have any.

I'm wondering how you calculate when to start the D-rest if trying to hit a certain FG. I'm brewing a Marzen soon but using a yeast with higher attenuation WLP830 rather than the 820 and planned to rest & rack to lagering before falls below 1.017 or so.

 

[spark_plug]

Well I finally kegged this beer, and it turned out fantastic! I think the White Labs Belgian lager was a great yeast choice. Very well received by friends that have tired it. Bravo to a fantastic recipe Revvy!

 

[YeasternStar]

Dos Equis Dark is one of my favorite beers when it's on tap, not so much when it's bottled. I think Revvy's recipe will be the first lager I try once I get set up to brew that way. I won't change anything until I've brewed my first batch and sampled it.

 

[user 78027]

I made this recipe 2 days ago and it is just starting to ferment now. The bubbles are about 4 seconds apart. I hope it gets going faster. I changed the yeast to Bohemian Lager, 2124. I am fermenting at 50F. I probably needed to use a starter but this is what I get for listening to the LHBS. My plan is to let it d-rest for 48 hours then rack to a secondary and let it store at 40 for about 3 months.

 

[YeastieBoys]

I made this recipe 2 days ago and it is just starting to ferment now. The bubbles are about 4 seconds apart. I hope it gets going faster. I changed the yeast to Bohemian Lager, 2124. I am fermenting at 50F. I probably needed to use a starter but this is what I get for listening to the LHBS. My plan is to let it d-rest for 48 hours then rack to a secondary and let it store at 40 for about 3 months.

Sounds good. Make sure to do a yeast starter next time. Let us know how it turns out.