Lager affectionados

Mashing
41

[quote=“Beersk”]I target around 20 IBU for most of my German lagers, a bit higher for schwarzbier, more like 25 IBU. I’m not sure there is a noticeable difference between 20 and 25 IBUs.

Lagers are pretty easy if you keg. I treat mine pretty much ales, except you have to chill the wort colder and ferment colder. That’s about the only difference for me. I usually tap my lagers in about the same time frame…give them 2-3 weeks and tap them. They aren’t bright yet, but they clear up after a couple weeks on tap.[/quote]
Sounds like you have the same process as I do, except I usually try to lager them longer before I put them on tap. I really find they improve if they have a full couple of months lagering.

42

I just scored a free 4’ freezer from the guy I work with. Looks like more lagers in my future. :smiley:

43

Awesome! Good luck! Using a Johnson control unit I just got from NB to convert my garage beer fridge into a Lagering unit. :smiley:

44

what do you guys suggest? Can I set my freezer temp to 48deg and ferment and lager at the same time?

45

Probably but you could also fairly easily create a cooler micro environment for individual carboys in the 48 degree chamber with creative use of ice packs, mentioned by JP in one of his lagering articles.

46

[quote=“rebuiltcellars”][quote=“Beersk”]I target around 20 IBU for most of my German lagers, a bit higher for schwarzbier, more like 25 IBU. I’m not sure there is a noticeable difference between 20 and 25 IBUs.

Lagers are pretty easy if you keg. I treat mine pretty much ales, except you have to chill the wort colder and ferment colder. That’s about the only difference for me. I usually tap my lagers in about the same time frame…give them 2-3 weeks and tap them. They aren’t bright yet, but they clear up after a couple weeks on tap.[/quote]
Sounds like you have the same process as I do, except I usually try to lager them longer before I put them on tap. I really find they improve if they have a full couple of months lagering.[/quote]
If only I had that kind of patience. They taste pretty good to me after a couple weeks in the keg, so I don’t see why not drink them! Those last several pints are nice and crystal clear though…beautiful. Just don’t have the patience for the whole keg to be that clear.
I’m pretty much becoming a lager snob. Sad thing is, there’s barely a lager on tap anywhere that isn’t sh!te macro lager. The nearest German bar is 2 hours away. So many amazing German beers on tap there… Hessen Haus, Des Moines, IA.

47

Just put on tap my first attempt at an A1 style American Lite lager. Pilsner malt, mittelfruh hops and 30% 4-grain hot cereal for my adjunct (think oatmeal but with flaked barley, wheat & rye added). Danish lager yeast. Spent a month in primary, two months lagering, then diluted 20% with boiled water after the lager period.
The “concentrated” fermentation is supposed to preserve more maltyness in the beer. I don’t know if it is true, not having a baseline to compare to, but the malt does shine through without detracting from how clean it is. So maybe there is something to it and not just a trick to allow big breweries to fit more beer into the tanks they have.

48

[quote=“rebuiltcellars”]Just put on tap my first attempt at an A1 style American Lite lager. Pilsner malt, mittelfruh hops and 30% 4-grain hot cereal for my adjunct (think oatmeal but with flaked barley, wheat & rye added). Danish lager yeast. Spent a month in primary, two months lagering, then diluted 20% with boiled water after the lager period.
The “concentrated” fermentation is supposed to preserve more maltyness in the beer. I don’t know if it is true, not having a baseline to compare to, but the malt does shine through without detracting from how clean it is. So maybe there is something to it and not just a trick to allow big breweries to fit more beer into the tanks they have.[/quote]
Wow, nice! That’s quite an involved process. I have zero interest in brewing American adjunct lager. I’d rather just do all pils malt with a clean lager yeast…or my favorite, a German helles. Many of the commercial helles I’ve had have been hoppier than is described in Brewing Classic Styles, I feel. Or drier, maybe. Either way, I usually think of helles as just showcasing pils malt character, but there really is some hop character in there that makes for a very quaffable beer. My current helles, although not perfectly clear, reminds me of Weihenstephaner Premium…one of my favorites. And I think it’s the hop character coming through.
That’s the kind of beer I’d like to drink all day every day, pretty much.

49

[quote=“Beersk”][quote=“rebuiltcellars”]Just put on tap my first attempt at an A1 style American Lite lager. Pilsner malt, mittelfruh hops and 30% 4-grain hot cereal for my adjunct (think oatmeal but with flaked barley, wheat & rye added). Danish lager yeast. Spent a month in primary, two months lagering, then diluted 20% with boiled water after the lager period.
The “concentrated” fermentation is supposed to preserve more maltyness in the beer. I don’t know if it is true, not having a baseline to compare to, but the malt does shine through without detracting from how clean it is. So maybe there is something to it and not just a trick to allow big breweries to fit more beer into the tanks they have.[/quote]
Wow, nice! That’s quite an involved process. I have zero interest in brewing American adjunct lager. I’d rather just do all pils malt with a clean lager yeast…or my favorite, a German helles. Many of the commercial helles I’ve had have been hoppier than is described in Brewing Classic Styles, I feel. Or drier, maybe. Either way, I usually think of helles as just showcasing pils malt character, but there really is some hop character in there that makes for a very quaffable beer. My current helles, although not perfectly clear, reminds me of Weihenstephaner Premium…one of my favorites. And I think it’s the hop character coming through.
That’s the kind of beer I’d like to drink all day every day, pretty much.[/quote]

Any chance you have a recipe for that Weihenstephaner Premium? I am thinking of doing a Helles next and am a big fan of this beer.

50

[quote=“Beersk”][quote=“rebuiltcellars”]Just put on tap my first attempt at an A1 style American Lite lager. Pilsner malt, mittelfruh hops and 30% 4-grain hot cereal for my adjunct (think oatmeal but with flaked barley, wheat & rye added). Danish lager yeast. Spent a month in primary, two months lagering, then diluted 20% with boiled water after the lager period.
The “concentrated” fermentation is supposed to preserve more maltyness in the beer. I don’t know if it is true, not having a baseline to compare to, but the malt does shine through without detracting from how clean it is. So maybe there is something to it and not just a trick to allow big breweries to fit more beer into the tanks they have.[/quote]
Wow, nice! That’s quite an involved process. I have zero interest in brewing American adjunct lager. I’d rather just do all pils malt with a clean lager yeast…or my favorite, a German helles. Many of the commercial helles I’ve had have been hoppier than is described in Brewing Classic Styles, I feel. Or drier, maybe. Either way, I usually think of helles as just showcasing pils malt character, but there really is some hop character in there that makes for a very quaffable beer. My current helles, although not perfectly clear, reminds me of Weihenstephaner Premium…one of my favorites. And I think it’s the hop character coming through.
That’s the kind of beer I’d like to drink all day every day, pretty much.[/quote]
I figure, if you’re going to do it, do it right. Lite adjunct lager isn’t my thing either, which may be why after so many years brewing this is my first one. But brewing a good one of these is pretty much the ultimate challenge for a home brewer, so I gave it a try. Plus, I noticed a few months ago that there aren’t that many styles in the BJCP list that I haven’t brewed, and tackling those last ones will help make sure I don’t get into a rut.

51

I brew a couple light american lagers per year. Not only are they a very tough challenge, they are easy drinking which is nice. Nice to have if I’m going to sit down and watch a 4 hour game, plus non-homebrew drinkers don’t realize they are drinking homebrew. :wink:

52

[quote=“mattnaik”][quote=“Beersk”][quote=“rebuiltcellars”]Just put on tap my first attempt at an A1 style American Lite lager. Pilsner malt, mittelfruh hops and 30% 4-grain hot cereal for my adjunct (think oatmeal but with flaked barley, wheat & rye added). Danish lager yeast. Spent a month in primary, two months lagering, then diluted 20% with boiled water after the lager period.
The “concentrated” fermentation is supposed to preserve more maltyness in the beer. I don’t know if it is true, not having a baseline to compare to, but the malt does shine through without detracting from how clean it is. So maybe there is something to it and not just a trick to allow big breweries to fit more beer into the tanks they have.[/quote]
Wow, nice! That’s quite an involved process. I have zero interest in brewing American adjunct lager. I’d rather just do all pils malt with a clean lager yeast…or my favorite, a German helles. Many of the commercial helles I’ve had have been hoppier than is described in Brewing Classic Styles, I feel. Or drier, maybe. Either way, I usually think of helles as just showcasing pils malt character, but there really is some hop character in there that makes for a very quaffable beer. My current helles, although not perfectly clear, reminds me of Weihenstephaner Premium…one of my favorites. And I think it’s the hop character coming through.
That’s the kind of beer I’d like to drink all day every day, pretty much.[/quote]

Any chance you have a recipe for that Weihenstephaner Premium? I am thinking of doing a Helles next and am a big fan of this beer.[/quote]

I wouldn’t call it a clone or anything, but here’s the recipe for mine.

Lighten Up, Francis Helles (Stripes reference)
83% Best Malz Heidelberg
14% Best Malz Munich 8L
3% acid malt
15 IBU Hallertau Hersbrucker 60 min
3 IBU Hallertau Hersbrucker 20 minutes
Saflager 34/70

OG 1.050
FG 1.010
5.2%
4.4 SRM

For the water I did RO with 3/4 tsp calcium chloride in each mash and sparge. I usually add 1/2mL phosphoric in the sparge water, but didn’t this time.
I think this beer turned out really nice. I think a better lager yeast would yield a better result even. But 34/70 gives good enough results.

And I did a step infusion mash - 1.25qt per lb water, 145f rest for 30 minutes, then infused with boiling water to 1.79qt per lb, for 40 minutes. Then batch sparged to get my preboil volume. This was for a 4.5 gallon batch, which is why the numbers I’m giving may seem funny. Basically first step 9qt, infused with 4qt, batch sparge with 12qt for a preboil volume of 5.75 gallons. Efficiency was juuust under 80%.

53

I noticed most helles recipe call for herbrucker hops. That’s what I used in mine and I like it but I was wondering why. Is it a must?

54

I would say Hersbrucker or Mittelfruh are the best hops for Helles. You don’t want a lot of hop character, but you want some, and you want it to be noble hops. Those are the 2 I’d go to first. But, it varies by the brewery how hopped a helles is. Some are very low, and some, like Weihenstephaner, are on the more highly hopped side for the style. But the version we get might be hopped up more than what they’re drinking in Germany, perhaps.

55

On another post we were discussing american lagers. Being from NYC my father drank reingold in the fifties. I read the original recipe used hersbrucker any ideas about the yeast.

56

Anyone brew a hoppy lager. I was going to brew an IPA this weekend but I’m switching gears. I already have the grains for my IPA recipe. I was wondering about a hop profile. I’m thinking of bittering and hopping similar to a german pils. I have magnum, chinook, willimette, Styrian and a bit of EKG. Suggestions, tips, advice.

57

You could try brewing that IPA exactly as you had planned, but switch to a lager yeast and fermentation. I suspect it will come out really good. Baltic porter is essentially a robust porter made as a lager, I don’t see why you couldn’t pull of the same thing with an IPA.

If the plan is to brew something more traditionally lager-like, I’m not sure I’d use any of those hops except the magnum. They are all either very strong in character or like EKG, strongly associated with particular ales styles. Same way that saaz is so closely associated with pilsners.

58

I read that the lager yeast effects the hops bitterness differently than ale yeast. Does that make sense? I believe they said to bitter a little higher.

59

I’ve never heard that before, but I suppose it could be possible. Yeast does a lot more than just turn sugar into alcohol.

60

I have an IPL ready to keg now. I used 34/70, started fermentation at 55, let it rise to 62F. I came down from 1.060 to 1.010. Definitely give it a try, it makes for a smoother, more balanced beer and lets more of the malt shine.