International Pale Lager That's Grolsch!

[Jim_Holmes]

just racked from secondary to carboy for lagering nice smell and flavor, little darker than original but that might be my grains. following the original recpe so will lager for 4 weeks.

 

[Bottoms_Up]

just racked from secondary to carboy for lagering nice smell and flavor, little darker than original but that might be my grains. following the original recpe so will lager for 4 weeks.

I'm curious - why didn't you lager right in the keg? And why the large amount of airspace?

 

[Jim_Holmes]

I'm curious - why didn't you lager right in the keg? And why the large amount of airspace?

didnt put it in the keg because i wanted to try to get the beer a little clearer before kegging dont know if anything else is going to fall out of suspension or not thought id give it a try. as for the headspace since this is the second racking thats all the beer i could get off the cake i use 8 gallon ferment buckets with spigot and if you try to get too much out of them you wind up with a big cloud of trub going with it. to offset the headspace i did flush the better bottle with co2 before transferring so at least its not just air on top.

 

[Bottoms_Up]

didnt put it in the keg because i wanted to try to get the beer a little clearer before kegging dont know if anything else is going to fall out of suspension or not thought id give it a try. as for the headspace since this is the second racking thats all the beer i could get off the cake i use 8 gallon ferment buckets with spigot and if you try to get too much out of them you wind up with a big cloud of trub going with it. to offset the headspace i did flush the better bottle with co2 before transferring so at least its not just air on top.

I usually just put it in the keg and flush out any trub later (pour away the first cloudy part). Should be fine if you flushed it with CO2. How did you manage to flush it? Do you have a special fitting on your CO2 line?

 

[Jim_Holmes]

I usually just put it in the keg and flush out any trub later (pour away the first cloudy part). Should be fine if you flushed it with CO2. How did you manage to flush it? Do you have a special fitting on your CO2 line?

just stuck the co2 line in the bottle to the bottom and cracked the valve for a bit (ive been told co2 is heavier than air and will displace the air) then racked into the bottle . this is only my 2nd attempt at a lager so im still learning and trying to figure out a system.

 

[Bottoms_Up]

just stuck the co2 line in the bottle to the bottom and cracked the valve for a bit (ive been told co2 is heavier than air and will displace the air) then racked into the bottle . this is only my 2nd attempt at a lager so im still learning and trying to figure out a system.

Oh, so you took the ball lock off the gas line?

 

[Jim_Holmes]

Oh, so you took the ball lock off the gas line?

yes, i took the fitting off the line, then sprayed the line with sanitizer and fed it into the bottle to the bottom. hopefully it works out ok. looks like its clearing a little more got a dusting of trub on the bottom of the bottle

 

[Kharnynb]

the real question here is, does it give a real grolsch hangover?

As a "twentenaar", i've drunk grolsch most of my youth, and one thing always got me was the weird headache/hangover it gives compared to other eurolager.

 

[Bottoms_Up]

just stuck the co2 line in the bottle to the bottom and cracked the valve for a bit (ive been told co2 is heavier than air and will displace the air) then racked into the bottle . this is only my 2nd attempt at a lager so im still learning and trying to figure out a system.

Thanks - that should do the trick. Let us know how close the result is to the original.

 

[Bottoms_Up]

the real question here is, does it give a real grolsch hangover?

As a "twentenaar", i've drunk grolsch most of my youth, and one thing always got me was the weird headache/hangover it gives compared to other eurolager.

I wonder if Grolsch contains some fusel oils?

 

[a1dookie]

In definately going to try this next week as soon as my fridge clears up. Should be done in time for my birthday the end of November I'll use the premiant and regular mash. It'll also be my very first all grain and second brew

 

[Redfutz]

This was found on the net somewhere a long time ago, so credit to whomever. It brews up pretty good and is pretty close to the real thing. Quantities adjusted for 70% eff.

Malt Bill​

10 lb German 2 row pils
4 oz 10L crystal
2 oz German Munich

Hops​

3/4 oz Northern Brewer 7.8% AA Bittering 60min
1/4 oz Hallertau Hersbrucker 3.1% AA Flavour 15min
1/2 oz Saaz 2.6% AA Flavour
1/2 oz Saaz 2.6% AA Aroma

Yeast

​

2042 Danish Lager in a 1L starter at high krauesen.

Mash



(Single decoction optional)​

May use MT or insulated MLT to reach rest temperatures. Mash in using 11 qts at 134f to rest at ~ 122f. After 5 min. pull the heaviest 40-45% of mash to the decoction vessel. Use a kitchen strainer and get only enough liquid to fill the spaces between the grains. Heat to 150f over about 10 min to 15min, then continue to heat slowly ( ~ 15 min ) on up to 167f, then kick it on up to boiling, and boil for 10min. for a total decoction time of ~ 35min. Return the decoction to the MT or MLT slowly and evenly and in a non-oxygenating fashion to achieve a rest temp of 150f. Maintain for 90min. Now add ~ 4 quarts boiling water to achieve 168f. Rest 10min. Sparge and lauter as usual. Collect 6.5 gal

Boil

​

Boil 90 min. Bittering hops in 30min. into boil. Irish moss ( 1 hydrated tsp) in at 60min. into boil. Flavour hops in at 75min into boil. Aroma hops in at flameout.( Collect 5.25 gal.)

Ferment

​

Chill to 54f. transfer to 6.5 gal. carboy. Pitch starter. Ferment until sg = 1.017, then transfer to fresh 5gal secondary and gradually reduce temp to 42f (<5f drop/day) Ferment 3 weeks or untill the young beer is still. Transfer to lagering carboy and lager for 4 weeks at 36f, then crash the temp to 31f for 3 days. Transfer to serving keg and carbonate at 14lbs.

This was found on the net somewhere a long time ago, so credit to whomever. It brews up pretty good and is pretty close to the real thing. Quantities adjusted for 70% eff.

Malt Bill​

10 lb German 2 row pils
4 oz 10L crystal
2 oz German Munich

Hops​

3/4 oz Northern Brewer 7.8% AA Bittering 60min
1/4 oz Hallertau Hersbrucker 3.1% AA Flavour 15min
1/2 oz Saaz 2.6% AA Flavour
1/2 oz Saaz 2.6% AA Aroma

Yeast

​

2042 Danish Lager in a 1L starter at high krauesen.

Mash



(Single decoction optional)​

May use MT or insulated MLT to reach rest temperatures. Mash in using 11 qts at 134f to rest at ~ 122f. After 5 min. pull the heaviest 40-45% of mash to the decoction vessel. Use a kitchen strainer and get only enough liquid to fill the spaces between the grains. Heat to 150f over about 10 min to 15min, then continue to heat slowly ( ~ 15 min ) on up to 167f, then kick it on up to boiling, and boil for 10min. for a total decoction time of ~ 35min. Return the decoction to the MT or MLT slowly and evenly and in a non-oxygenating fashion to achieve a rest temp of 150f. Maintain for 90min. Now add ~ 4 quarts boiling water to achieve 168f. Rest 10min. Sparge and lauter as usual. Collect 6.5 gal

Boil

​

Boil 90 min. Bittering hops in 30min. into boil. Irish moss ( 1 hydrated tsp) in at 60min. into boil. Flavour hops in at 75min into boil. Aroma hops in at flameout.( Collect 5.25 gal.)

Ferment

​

Chill to 54f. transfer to 6.5 gal. carboy. Pitch starter. Ferment until sg = 1.017, then transfer to fresh 5gal secondary and gradually reduce temp to 42f (<5f drop/day) Ferment 3 weeks or untill the young beer is still. Transfer to lagering carboy and lager for 4 weeks at 36f, then crash the temp to 31f for 3 days. Transfer to serving keg and carbonate at 14lbs.

I found a recipe for grolsch on Brewfather that said it’s based on this recipe. Though it mentions using kviek or NovaLager. Fermenting at 86 f.
From what I gather that is pretty hot for NovaLager but not for kviek. Does anyone know if the kviek idea would work for this recipe? I’m wanting to do a batch of grolsh without a freezer/fridge and just using a heat wrap in a cold room.

 

[Broothru]

I found a recipe for grolsch on Brewfather that said it’s based on this recipe. Though it mentions using kviek or NovaLager. Fermenting at 86 f.
From what I gather that is pretty hot for NovaLager but not for kviek. Does anyone know if the kviek idea would work for this recipe? I’m wanting to do a batch of grolsh without a freezer/fridge and just using a heat wrap in a cold room.

Twenty years ago, I had a real liking for Grolsch, but was never able to quite master the clone. Of course, that pre-dated the whole Kviek craze. It never occurred to me to resurrect my old recipe with Kviek, but it would probably work well.

But what really piqued my interest was your thought of using NovaLager. I’ve used it four times in the last six months, and I love this yeast. But 86F is way too hot. I’d be reluctant to go much higher than mid 60sF. If you can pressure ferment, it works well at 1BAR/14.7 psig, even though it’s not advertised to be a high pressure yeast.

I’ve had excellent results at 63F/1 BAR. Fast, neutral, clean, drops clear. I even harvested and repitched some in another batch, just to see if it would work. It did, marvelously. I’ve only used dry yeast 2-3 times in the past 8-10 years before using NovaLager, but this yeast is so versatile it may become my Go To. I haven’t thought of a lager (or ale, for that matter) that this yeast wouldn’t play nice with.