foxbat's brewdays

[foxbat]

My 2.5l starter if Wyeast 2308 has done well:

+12h: colour change to light brown. Small krausen.
+24h: high krausen marks on flask, krausen dying back.
+36h: swirling grit-size yeast bits. It's done and trying to flocculate.

I'll take it off the stir plate tonight and cold crash it ready for Sunday.

 

[strange-steve]

I haven't used 2308 yet but I really want to brew another Oktoberfest. I had good results with 2633 I wonder how they compare.

 

[foxbat]

I've brewed a hazy IPA! Does that mean I can call myself a craft brewer? I'll need more facial hair...

The Wyeast 1318 delivered an unexpectedly hazy result on my Outback Gold IPA. A surprise for me since all my brews end up bright like they've been filtered. The interesting thing is that the overbuilt starter in the fridge is also hazy. There must be a reaction between Ashbeck and 1318 that results in haze. There's nothing wrong with the yeast; it was very fresh, performed perfectly well and the beer tastes great. Now I can see why the NEIPA crowd tend to chose 1318 for their beers. Love the mouthfeel though.

 

[Clint]

You will have to get permission if you wish to become a forum hipster as Myqul is in charge of all that stuff...

 

[foxbat]

Today was brewday for the Oktoberfest Lager with the following recipe

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 24.68 L
Post Boil Volume: 22.08 L
Batch Size (fermenter): 21.00 L 
Bottling Volume: 19.00 L
Estimated OG: 1.047 SG
Estimated Color: 13.8 EBC
Estimated IBU: 22.1 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 76.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 76.7 %
Est Mash pH: 5.30
Water profile: Ca:25, Mg:4, Na:10, SO4:11, Cl:40, HCO3:25
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt              Name                                             Type          #          %/IBU         Volume     
26.33 L          Tesco Ashbeck                                    Water         1          -             -           
2.70 ml          Lactic Acid (Mash)                               Water Agent   2          -             -           
0.90 g           Calcium Chloride (Mash)                          Water Agent   3          -             -           
0.20 g           Calcium Chloride (Mash)                          Water Agent   4          -             -           
2.00 kg          IREKS Munich Malt (20.0 EBC)                     Grain         5          48.0 %        1.30 L     
1.75 kg          IREKS Pilsner Malt (3.5 EBC)                     Grain         6          42.0 %        1.14 L     
0.42 kg          IREKS Crystal Maple (3.5 EBC)                    Grain         7          10.0 %        0.27 L     
0.20 ml          Lactic Acid (Sparge)                             Water Agent   8          -             -           
15.00 g          Magnum [9.30 %] - Boil 60.0 min                  Hop           9          18.1 IBUs     -           
10.00 g          Tettnang [4.60 %] - Boil 10.0 min                Hop           10         2.2 IBUs      -           
1.00 Items       Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 7.0 mins)                 Fining        11         -             -           
15.00 g          Tettnang [4.60 %] - Boil 5.0 min                 Hop           12         1.8 IBUs      -           
1.0 pkg          Munich Lager (Wyeast Labs #2308) [124.21 ml]     Yeast         13         -             -           


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 4.16 kg
----------------------------
Name              Description                             Step Temperat Step Time   
Mash In           Add 21.33 L of water at 68.9 C          65.5 C        60 min

I was up at 6:15am to get started, prepped the water with the delicate profile I used so successfully for my Pilsner. Mashed in exactly on target at 65.5C and got a point over the expected gravity. Good enough for me. Nothing exciting to report about the process - a lager is not a challenging recipe. I ended up with about 20.7 litres of lovely looking golden wort thanks to the very large percentage of Munich malt in an Oktoberfest. OG was bang on at 1.047.

After fermenter losses I should get exactly one keg (19 litres) out of this, and if the yeast performs as it always does then I can expect an FG of about 1.007 for a final ABV of around 5.0%. The fermenter is now tucked away in the brewfridge getting down to 10C which is when I'll pitch the large decanted Wyeast 2308 starter.

Talking of fermenters, I did my lower back in a couple of weeks ago lifting a full keg into my keezer so I decided to purchase some lifting assistance:

This foot-operated lift gets up to about 90cm from where I use a sheet of checker board aluminium to bridge the gap to my brewfridge. Now I can just slide my fermenter in and out without lifting it. My back is thanking me already.

 

[Ajhutch]

Beautiful colour. Hope that turns out well, should be delicious beer.

 

[foxbat]

Lagers are naturally slow fermenters and after 6 days of chugging along at about a bubble every 2 seconds the Oktoberfest is showing slight signs of slowing down so I'm letting the temperature start to free rise from 10 to a target of somewhere around 15 degrees for an extended finish and diacetyl rest of about 2 weeks. Wyeast 2308 is highly flocculent so a good rest is recommended though I hope that by pitching a large starter and holding the temperature at 10 the diacetyl production should be low anyway. No idea what the current gravity is. Once my fermenter is sealed I never open it again until hooking it up for transfer to a keg.

 

[Zephyr259]

No issues with such a low calcium content in the water? I thought 50 mg/L was a minimum before issues started occurring? Maybe it's like "all" brulosophy experiments and doesn't actually matter. :-)

 

[foxbat]

No issues with such a low calcium content in the water? I thought 50 mg/L was a minimum before issues started occurring? Maybe it's like "all" brulosophy experiments and doesn't actually matter. :-)

The latest advice I could find on the net from the water experts is that 20-30ppm Ca is a good place to be for a malty Czech lager so I tried it and it came out very well so I had no hesitation in doing it again with the Oktoberfest. In the Brunwater spreadsheet the "PseudoBohPils" profile is 20ppm Ca.

 

[Zephyr259]

The latest advice I could find on the net from the water experts is that 20-30ppm Ca is a good place to be for a malty Czech lager so I tried it and it came out very well so I had no hesitation in doing it again with the Oktoberfest. In the Brunwater spreadsheet the "PseudoBohPils" profile is 20ppm Ca.

Ah, I've not looked at that profile, tend to stick to the generic ones, but it looks like I matched the Brukaiser profile for my Maibock.

 

[foxbat]

I got back from a week away today and it was time to keg the Festbier after 24 days in the primary. FG was 1.007 giving me a satisfactory ABV of 5.4%. The extended d-rest time in the primary certainly gave the Wyeast 2308 time to settle as it had packed down into a nice hard cake that smelled absolutely wonderful. I fined the keg with Kwik-Clear, added 2g of ascorbic acid as an oxygen scavenger, purged the headspace with CO2 and set at 12 psi to carbonate and condition over the next few weeks. I'm rather looking forward to this one.

 

[Clint]

Crikey! Sounds very scientific....it's amazing what can be done with a Wilko cervesa single can!

 

[foxbat]

I enjoyed my hoppy pilsner so much that I'm doing another pilsner this weekend. Similar hoppiness to last time but instead of Saaz it's going to be Tettnang so more of a Bavarian than a Czech pilsner. A nice fresh pack of Wyeast 2308 Munich arrived from the Malt Miller today and as usual a mongo starter is required in my biggest flask.

It's on the stir plate spinning away right now. I'll publish the recipe on brew day because I'm still fiddling with it a bit.

 

[foxbat]

The Wyeast 2308 starter for tomorrow's brew was done in 36 hours. It's now chilling in the brew fridge getting ready for tomorrow's brew:

On a slightly tangential note I pulled my first pint of the Oktoberfest from the keezer last night and it tastes amazing with the added bonus that it's dropped almost completely clear in the two weeks it's been in the keg. Sweet munich malt notes blend perfectly with the Tettnang hops - the flavour is instantly recognisable from any amber lager that you'd drink in Bavaria. I'm hoping the small addition of ascorbic acid to the keg will keep those fresh, sweet malt flavours just the way they are now all the way to the end. I'll post a piccy of the pint when I get around to it, probably next week.

 

[foxbat]

Today's hoppy German Pilsner brew went ahead without any hitches or unplanned incidents. Target OG was 1.044 and I hit 1.045 at the target volume of 22 litres.

The recipe is...

Batch Size (fermenter): 22.00 L   
Estimated OG: 1.044 SG
Estimated Color: 6.8 EBC
Estimated IBU: 28.9 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 76.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 76.7 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes
Water profile: Ca:24, Mg:3, Na:9, SO4:10, Cl:38, HCO3:25
Estimated mash pH: 5.31

Ingredients:
------------
Amt              Name                                             Type          #          %/IBU         Volume       
27.34 L          Tesco Ashbeck                                    Water         1          -             -             
3.00 ml          80% Lactic Acid (Mash)                           Water Agent   2          -             -             
0.90 g           Calcium Chloride (Mash)                          Water Agent   3          -             -             
3.67 kg          IREKS Pilsner Malt (3.5 EBC)                     Grain         4          90.0 %        2.39 L       
0.20 kg          IREKS Crystal Maple (3.5 EBC)                    Grain         5          5.0 %         0.13 L       
0.20 kg          IREKS Munich Malt (20.0 EBC)                     Grain         6          5.0 %         0.13 L       
0.20 g           Calcium Chloride (Sparge)                        Water Agent   7          -             -             
0.20 ml          80% Lactic Acid (Sparge)                         Water Agent   8          -             -             
18.00 g          Magnum [9.30 %] - Boil 60.0 min                  Hop           9          21.3 IBUs     -             
12.00 g          Tettnang [3.00 %] - Boil 15.0 min                Hop           10         2.3 IBUs      -             
17.00 g          Tettnang [3.00 %] - Boil 10.0 min                Hop           11         2.4 IBUs      -             
1.00 Items       Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 7.0 mins)                 Fining        12         -             -             
25.00 g          Tettnang [4.60 %] - Boil 5.0 min                 Hop           13         2.9 IBUs      -             
1.0 pkg          Munich Lager (Wyeast Labs #2308) [124.21 ml]     Yeast         14         -             -             

Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 4.08 kg
----------------------------
Name              Description                             Step Temperat Step Time     
Mash In           Add 22.34 L of water at 69.2 C          66.0 C        60 min       

Sparge: Dunk sparge with 5 L of 75C water

I managed to get it down to 22C with the immersion chiller before giving up and transferring the lot, trub and all, to the fermenter and putting it into the brew fridge. When it gets down to near 10C then I'll decant and pitch the large 2308 starter that's now settled to the bottom of the flask.

 

[foxbat]

My hoppy pilsner (posted above) has been bubbling away happily for 6 days at 10C in the brewfridge and is now showing signs of slowing so I'm going to let the temperature free-rise towards 16C for the tail-end of fermentation, diacetyl rest and to give it time to drop clear in the fermenter over the next two weeks before I keg it. This is the same procedure I used for the Oktoberfest and it worked a treat there with the same yeast so I'm hoping I'll get the same results this time around.

 

[foxbat]

I kegged the hoppy pilsner today after 3 weeks in the fermenter. 1 week was spent at 10C so the Wyeast 2308 could do the bulk of the fermentation without producing any unwanted flavours then the temperature was allowed to rise on its own to 16C where I kept it for 2 more weeks.

FG was 1.006 for an ABV of 5.1%; just about right to my taste for a dry hoppy pilsner and it's got a nice amber hue from the munich malt. I don't take gravity readings during fermentation any more because my process seems to be completely repeatable and always yields an FG of between 1.005 and 1.008 regardless of what the yeast manufacturers say. Mash temperature seems far more important.

I fined the keg with Kwik Clear, purged with 5x15 psi and set my fancy new regulator to 12 psi for it to carbonate at 6C in the keezer over the next few weeks.

 

[BeerCat]

Interesting read mate. You seem to be getting a lower FG than me. Mine all hit 1010 apart from the last which finished at 1014 after 2 weeks fermenting. I normally leave them 3 weeks so lesson learned. I don't open mine either until I add finings. Also been pitching active starters with my lagers, not sure if it affects the flavour but gets fermentation going faster. Impressed with wyeast 2278, was hard to find but worth it. Also like MJ Bohemian.

 

[foxbat]

Interesting read mate. You seem to be getting a lower FG than me. Mine all hit 1010 apart from the last which finished at 1014 after 2 weeks fermenting. I normally leave them 3 weeks so lesson learned. I don't open mine either until I add finings. Also been pitching active starters with my lagers, not sure if it affects the flavour but gets fermentation going faster. Impressed with wyeast 2278, was hard to find but worth it. Also like MJ Bohemian.

My best lager yet, the Czech Pilsner, used Wyeast 2278 and I'll certainly use it again next time. It's usually in stock at the-home-brew-shop or if not then they get it back quite quickly. If you do malty German styles then 2308 is worth trying. I'm on my third use of it now and will stick to it going forward for the Bavarian style lagers.

 

[matt76]

I don't get it @foxbat , what's hoppy about your hoppy Pilsner?

I wasn't imagining it to be like an IPA or anything (though I have heard of IHL = intensely hopped lager ) but isn't 29 IBU's pretty normal for the style? Or is there something more subtle I'm missing?

Still sounds good in any case - the Czech pils I did earlier this year seems to have taken on more maltiness as it's aged, and I'm interested in brewing some more lagers. But for me I'll have to stick with 2124 unless I can find some proper temperature control!