Lager season 2016

Good plan to get that Ofest going. Oktoberfest starts the third week in sept. The 17th don’t want to be caught short.

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Oh I thought it started already since I see OFest on the store shelves already. :rolling_eyes:

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O-fest is in the freez-mentor, I’m a bit nervous as it hasn’t started bubbling away. Brewed Sunday morning, pitched sunday about noon, but my amount of yeast wasn’t much more than what I bought… My bad, now the waiting… If I don’t have any activity, 34/70 will go in as a back up… Sneezles61

Make sure you hydrate the 34/70. Like mentioned above the 34/70 is slow to start on first pitch also

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Checked tonight, pulled the blow off tube out of the water container and nothing. Shook the keg, and it dribbled fermenting wort. Now I have a keg that leaks. I’m not worried now as I know the fermenting has commenced. WHEW… I’ll need to discard or try to peen the sealing edge… Sneezles61

I’m with Danyboy58; WY2206 is a great lager yeast. Very versatile, and handles repitching well. A few years now I’ve bought one smack pack and kept it going for several beers over a number of months with great results. That said, if I don’t plan to brew several lagers in a row, I’ll often use 34/70 which is also good. Have tried 2308, Bohemian Pils, Danish Lager and American lager strains in the past, and each one brings something unique to the beer, but for the majority of my lagers I’ll use the 2206 or 34/70.

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An online HomeBrew shop in CA sells a thicker lid o-ring which might be a fix for your problem. Also don’t forget to lube all your o-rings with silicone.

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Thanks fer the heads up Loopie! Sneezles61

Yea the silicone O rings are thicker and seal a few of mine that were difficult to seal otherwise.

I pulled a sample yesterday, down to 1.020, so I turned up the freez-mentor to 62*. The sample is still cloudy as to be expected, and it had a very good barley, spicy, warm biscuit flavor to it. I am getting anxious.:astonished: Sneezles61

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Gravity at 1.014, into the serving keg and lagering until late September. Now for the next lager, hhhmmm, maibock? Sneezles61

Maibock is my favorite of the lagers I brew. Make sure to lager at 32 deg

Lets talk grain bill then, I would make 10 gallons then. I have 25 pounds pale malt, and would like to use it up in this maibock. Is vienna the choice or could I sub some MO? The maibock I did last year was was hopped with challenger and I thought it brought some spiciness to the party. Sneezles61

For 10 gallons I use 14# Pilsner 6# Vienna 1# light Munich 1# carapils. I use whatever German hops I happen to have available. .070

I brewed a Maibock this late Winter, early Spring and it was 67 percent German pilsener malt and 33 percent Light munich. Bittered with Perle, with late additions of Tettnanger and Hallertauer Mittelfrueh. Vienna would work well too.

Good ideas, I’ll use them. May rain here Saturday, good day to brew! Sneezles61

I recently scored an average of 42.33 for a maibock that I brewed with 70% pilsner malt and 30% munich (6.5 SRM) and 30 IBUs from tettnanger, fermented with S-189.

It sounds good. All IBU from bittering hops?

What IS the flavor we are aiming for in Maibock? Its to be in the 6-7 ABV? Then, not too dark, but some color is enjoyed? Hops, some to moderate, never too much? Strong malt forward? I see my pale malt is a lot less than I thought, so I will need to use pilsner as the blank paper, but now I am liking dark munich malt’s back ground flavor, so may lean towards that as the color and flavor to this. 80% pils to 20% dark munich? Still I will stay with challenger hops… Sneezles61

Mine is around 7%. It is a malt forward beer so the hops are restrained . It is also light from the pilsner malt . Mine 28 IBU 5.8 SRM. The 80%/20% sounds good

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