Schmitz Hochkurz Decoction

[wobdee]

The boil seems a little more murky than usual. Lots of little flakes moving around, protein maybe?

 

[VladOfTrub]

Nice job!!

Sweet idea, tossing hops in with the 1st run off.

The mash in the cylinder looks good. It isn't too thin.

At least the mud was in the basket, not in the liquid. Great!

Less hot break. Great!

The iodine that is a little darker indicates a/b limit dextrins. The beer looks like it will have a decent balance of fermentable to non-fermentables. No color change, to a slight yellow orange hue is a very balanced wort.

How much wort did you get and at what grav? What yeast did you decide on?

 

[wobdee]

Just took gravity, 1.052, 83% mash efficiency according to Promash. Look like just over 3 gal of wort, just right. I'm pitching a slurry of Wyeast 2124 from previous batch.

 

[wobdee]

I've been playing around with mash hopping and getting great results. The flavor and aroma seems to survive the 90 min boil and fermentation for some reason.

 

[VladOfTrub]

Yep, protein. It is normal. You will see flakes ripping around the boiling wort. What you might have noticed as the boil went on, is that the flakes/rods rolling in the boil will appear to explode and glitter like miniature fireworks. That's an indicator that things are working out. When you see it occur, you'll understand what I am talking about. After you pull the hydrometer sample, short, flakes/rods should be floating around. As the sample cools, the flakes should settle out. That is what you want to happen. Here's something to take notice of. After the wort is chilled and the cold break settles. If the break looks like egg droppy snot soup. Modifying the protein rest can help to reduce the stuff. If the gunk shows up in the fermenter, it might be better to rack the wort off of it before dumping in yeast.

 

[VladOfTrub]

You might want to add hops after boiling past the hot break. Start timing when you add the bittering hops and boil one hour.

When I play around with a Wit style, I'll add hops to one of the decoctions and boil them. I throw the mash, hops and all into the lautertun and sparge through the whole ball of wax.

 

[wobdee]

Chilled to 55, pitched yeast, set ferment chamber to 50. I'll keg in two weeks.

 

[wobdee]

Yep, protein. It is normal. You will see flakes ripping around the boiling wort. What you might have noticed as the boil went on, is that the flakes/rods rolling in the boil will appear to explode and glitter like miniature fireworks. That's an indicator that things are working out. When you see it occur, you'll understand what I am talking about. After you pull the hydrometer sample, short, flakes/rods should be floating around. As the sample cools, the flakes should settle out. That is what you want to happen. Here's something to take notice of. After the wort is chilled and the cold break settles. If the break looks like egg droppy snot soup. Modifying the protein rest can help to reduce the stuff. If the gunk shows up in the fermenter, it might be better to rack the wort off of it before dumping in yeast.

Didn't notice any fireworks but as soon as I turned off the heat she cleared up fast and it formed the big protein globs.

I use a paint stir attachment for my drill during cooling. It took 10 min to drop under 60 then I let it settle for 20 min before transferring to fermenter. It got pretty frothy so I couldn't see what's going on. Transferring the wort was clear for a time but trub eventually goes in which doesn't really bother me since I get nice clear beer after lagering.

 

[wobdee]

You might want to add hops after boiling past the hot break. Start timing when you add the bittering hops and boil one hour.

When I play around with a Wit style, I'll add hops to one of the decoctions and boil them. I throw the mash, hops and all into the lautertun and sparge through the whole ball of wax.

I did a 90 min boil and added the bittering hops at 60 min. The mash hop will give me some flavor and aroma to balance the malt.

 

[wobdee]

Beer is fermenting away nicely.

Next up is a Bo Pils with 100% Weyerman Bo Pils floor malted Pils malt.

I think the only change I'll do is cut the Schmitz boil down to 20 min and maybe cut the sacc rest of 155 down to 20 min if iodine test is good.

I have this same recipe lagering right now but it was direct heat step mashed and also had a few oz of aromatic malt thrown in. It will be interesting to see the differences between the two.

 

[wobdee]

Kegged this morning, OG was a little higher than I was hoping for at 1.015 but the hydro sample tasted very good. Malty and very clear light copper color. I'll post a picture of the final product and give a review in about a month and a half.

 

[wobdee]

Brewed up my Bo Pils today and everything went pretty well, just a few blurps. I over shot my first sac rest by 2 degrees (152) but cooled it down with some cold water to bring it back down to 150. The second rest was also a little high at 157 but just left the lid off and stirred for awhile til it came down where I wanted it at 155.

Mash efficiency was at 84%, so I'm pretty happy with that, didn't even do a sparge.

Hot break was pretty much non existent and cold break settled out real quick, no big globs of protien. Looks like it will be a nice golden colored Pils.

This single decoction adds about 1 hour to my brew day but if the beer turns out better it will be worth it.

 

[wobdee]

FG of my Pils was 1.012, right where I wanted it. I thought it might of been a little high because I overshot mash temps. Hydro sample was nice and clear and tasted great. Kegged and into the lagering fridge for the next 6/weeks.

Next up is a Dunkel with 95% Munich, 5% Pils and a touch of carafa III for color.

 

[VladOfTrub]

It will be interesting to see what turns out after boiling mostly Munich, rich in melandoin, for 40 minutes.

 

[wobdee]

Just finished my Dunkel. Everything went great, 84% mash efficiency. I was a little worried about the color, it looked dark in the kettle but the hydro sample looks just about right.

So far I've done 3 batches with this Schmitz process, a Pils with a 20 min boil, a Ofest with a 30 min boil and a Dunkel with a 40 min boil. Can't wait to taste them, still have a couple weeks for the first one.

 

[wobdee]

It will be interesting to see what turns out after boiling mostly Munich, rich in melandoin, for 40 minutes.

Yeah, I was thinking of cutting the boil back a bit but after tasting a few Dunkels they seem very sweet so I'm going for the gusto! Malty malty malty. I can always cut back on the next one and these first 3 beers should help me deterime where I need to go.

 

[wobdee]

Here it is, my first Schmitz beer. Its been lagering for just about 4 weeks at 34 degrees.

Looks to be a nice crystal clear gold to light cooper color with a nice white foamy head and decent lacing.

Taste is definitely malty along with the aroma. Also a hint of caramel. Very smooth and balanced. I'm liking this a lot.

I think I'll continue with this process for awhile and play with different sacc rest temps and or boil times.

Next brew up is a 50/50 Pils/Munich. I want just a bit more color than this one that was 60/40. I may extend the boil to 2 hours as well.

 

[wobdee]

Here's my Bo Pils, a little light colored but it was 100% Pils malt and I wanted to see if this decoction would make it s bit darker, well I don't think it did. Still tastes great and the aroma is just like an imported German Pils.

Nice lacing. Crystal clear and a well balanced beer. I think this is one of my best Pils I've made, I will continue to tweak this Schmitz decoction.

 

[wobdee]

Little over carbed too