Funny that your lowering your mash temp. My last brew I raised my mash temp partly from what you said you normally do. My normal was 150 and I increased to 155 to get more maltiness
Just tinkering with the pils. For my other lagers I keep the mash temp in the 154 range including the bohemian pils which I like malty.
I do wonder about the mash temp. I know the last brew I did, last Saturday, my thermometer was off so I canāt say what temp I was truly at, but checking apparent gravities from what the grist can offer I got 89% efficiency. It read 180* while it was boilingā¦ so was my mash temp that low then? My temp said 158ā¦ in reality 138!! I have alot of pilsner left and my admiration fer Duvel will be my test soon. I will mash one low, 145, and one big, 158, I wonāt rely on my regular thermometer for this testā¦ Sneezles61
Really annoyed about this oneā¦brewed on 10/22 chilled to 50, aerated and pitched a big starter of wy2001, urquell yeast, which Iāve always had good luck with. It was kind of a spur of the moment brew day, the yeast starter had been done and sitting in the fridge for about a month and I had no time to refresh it but brewersfriend calculator agreed that I still had plenty of yeast taking the viability date into account. No action for 3 days so I let the temp rise to 54-56ishā¦still nothing. I had to leave town on 10/27 so while I was gone the temp rose to ambient room temp of 68 where it is now. I just got in and checked it and thereās krausen. Probably too late to mess with the temp now so Iāll let it burn. Should be interesting to see how this one turns outā¦
I just canāt figure out what went wrong. Iāve used much older slurry. Even though the slurry had been in the fridge for a month it was considered 60% viable by brewersfriend which is pretty conservative. I had about 2L of slurry from a big two step starter. I estimated it at 2b cells per ml which is conservative considering the 4th gen slurry I started with was super clean from a pils and a vienna and only about 4 months old when I built the starter. Both steps fermented well. Since it was now a month old I figured 60% viability and calculated 1200b cells available with 833 required. So still a pretty heavy overpitch but I kind of expected it to take a while to get started so I aerated the crap out of it.
So I been experimenting with red x malt makeing some beautiful red lagers with it adding more and more of it to different lager . Before doing 100% red x smash lager. First taste is nice malty almost dark cherry toffee kinda notes going to continue to lager till thanksgiving and will give another update
I believe it will be a steam beer. Let us know how it turns out
Could it be it just had that much lag time to rebuild before truly taking off? I read a brulosohpy exbeerment that he fermented two lagers, one cold and one warm and I recall the peeps couldnāt tell the difference. Maybe a good short read? Iām sure yers will be fine! Will await yer tasting results. My big lager is now at room temp, finishing. Later today I will rack and start chillinā, prepare for the keg! Sneezles61
Wellā¦I kegged the above referenced pilsner last night while trying to ignore the electionā¦worst smelling beer Iāve ever encountered. Not even sure how to describe the āaromaā. Rancid garbage is the first thing that comes to mind. Couldnāt force myself to taste it. I/m still debating just dumping it. Canāt imagine itās going to turn into something anyone will want to drink.
I would let it sit in the keg for a few of weeks. The work is over. Might have a chance of turning into something if even passable. Dumping now or later takes the same amount of time if you can get by without this keg for a while.
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yeaā¦my thoughts too. Itās in the lagering fridge. Might as well give it a little time and see what happens.
That really sounds kind of like a contamination issue, especially with the long lag time. Rancid/garbage could be butyric or isovaleric acid, in which case itās not going away. But at this point, whatās there to lose in letting it ride? Iād be extra careful with your sanitation on anything this brew touched.
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Sounds as tho the election tainted yer brew way before you legged. Bad omen of things to come? Sneezles61
āleggedā do you mean running?
Dad gumm auto correctā¦ I try to proof readā¦ a bitā¦ Great yeast sample too! Spice like coriander as a hint in the background? The yeast told me to axe you! Sneezles61
Tapped another pint of this BIG lagerā¦. Its what Iāve come to expect with a lager, malt forward, a nice balance betwixt malt and hopsā¦ and thats about it. This was done with 34/70 yeast. Sneezles61
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I havenāt brewed a lager since spring. One more ale batch and then switch over to lager for cold months brewing. Probably wonāt be ready till 2017 so have to post the results in" Lager season 2017"
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Just out of curiosity, howād this beer end up? I have s Speckled Heifer that has some bad characteristics and just wondered if it stands a chance.
It did not end well. Donāt have many notes but my last entry was ācidery and murrkyā.
Glad this thread came back around. I had fun rereading it. Classic thread went all over the place and ended up back with discussing lagers. I have a maibock on tap now that Iām just āsamplingā now which Iāll hit hard in May. Also a doppalbock that is still lagering. Both of these were brewed in 2017 but all the ingredients were secured in '16
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Thanks! I think Iām going to taste it and if I donāt puke Iāll keg the stuff anyway. I smelled it this AM and it was not as nasty as I remember although still strong and not the happy beer smell I was looking for.
