Some first tasting notes here of my AG#19 Chinook Pale Ale - I noted the amber malt is not intrusive
Aye, that's it, and I nicked it from The Kernel brewery - purveyor of fine APAs throughout the south-east area- I've nicked the hopping schedule from @foxbat which is supposed to be amounts in the ratio (I think) 1.0 : 1.4 : 2.0 added with 15, 10 & 5mins left in the boil respectively.
I've never used amber myself - it looks very close to Weyermann's melanoidin and carared malts. Out of those two I've only used melanoidin and then only in very small percentages. I hope at 10% it doesn't muddle the hop flavours but you say you've done it before and it was fine.I think amber and victory are quite similar (and arguably not a million miles from melanoidin malt, I believe) so in a sense I'm just increasing the quantity.
Yeah, amber, victory, melanoidin and, as @pilgrimhudd says, biscuit too - I think they're all in the same ballpark of lightly roasted malts.it looks very close to Weyermann's melanoidin and carared malts.
Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. When I read what I did originally (still quite early into my brewing career at that point) I had to do several double takes! Did I really do that?I hope at 10% it doesn't muddle the hop flavours
I certainly haven't noticed anything like that - just normal fermentation smells.When I used 97 I seemed to get sulfur after the second week in the fermenter. I am curious if you notice it. It definitely faded after it was bottled for a couple weeks though.
I certainly haven't noticed anything like that - just normal fermentation smells.
But I have had some lager yeasts give of sulphurous smells in the past - ISTR WY2206 was particularly eggy!
And now I write that, I have a funny feeling I was listening to a podcast a while back and they were saying that recent DNA analysis had shown a particular well known ale yeast was actually, genetically, a lager yeast.
I can't remember for sure, but it might have been WY1272/BRY-97 they were talking about. So it could be...
Quite high on the water minerals for a lager but it's a dark one so maybe not... I picked up a hint that you've done something similar before? Maybe a Dunkel?AG#61 Czech Dark Lager
This one has been on the To-Brew list for ages but I guess I've been putting in off as I still have a couple of bottles left of my very enjoyable AG#37 Czech Amber.
The recipe is pretty much the Josh Weikert "make Your Best..." and looking at it, I suppose it's quite Porter-ish which is something Weikert notes. One major change to his recipe is I've used my firm favourite Chocolate Rye in place of Pale Chocolate - love that stuff! I've also used Northdown instead of Saaz for bittering which has worked well for me previously in my English and Baltic Porters.
16L tap water, 5ml Lactic Acid 80%, 2g CaCl, half a Campden tablet.
Calcium 169
Chloride 102
Sulfate 40
Alkalinity 113
2000g Lager Malt
325g Victory Malt
325g Caramunich 1
250g Chocolate Rye
2.9kg Total
60min full-volume no-sparge mash @ 67degC.
I've decided to standardise for the time being on 60mins @ 67degC. This temperature pretty much covers all the bases for everything I brew, so the aim is to bring more consistency and predictability to my brewing unless I have a particular reason to deviate from this.
Boil 30mins:
15g Northdown 7.5% AAU 30mins
40g Saaz (Leaf) 2.5% AAU 20mins
1/4tsp Irish Moss powder 5mins
Cooled in the fridge to 12.5degC and pitched a full 10g pack of MJ M84 Bohemian Lager - not tried this yeast before so I've just gone for the middle of the 10-15degC range on the pack.
8.5L in the FV with another 5L crud in bottles to settle out and top up the FV later. This was a bit strange as I normally get more like 10L in the FV at the first attempt. But when I was draining the kettle the break matter hadn't settled out as much as normal - but I'm confident all will come good in the end.
22.5 SRM (that'll be dark then!)
22 IBUs Rager
OG 1.050 - this was a bit higher than I was targeting so I liquored back with 1L mineral water. I won't actually know the real OG until I've topped up the FV but it should be somewhere around 1.045, which translates to about 4.5% ABV if it ferments down to 1.010 or thereabouts.
It's certainly high compared to a traditional Czech lager brewed with Czech waterQuite high on the water minerals for a lager but it's a dark one so maybe not... I picked up a hint that you've done something similar before? Maybe a Dunkel?
Funny that, I'm the exact opposite. All my black beers have been distinctly 'meh' but the paler they go the better they seem to come out for me, hence my affinity to pilsner malt!I have a feeling that for whatever reason, these darker beers seem to work for me - possibly a combo of water, luck, and simply what floats my boat!
Still a bit early to make any firm conclusions. In the hoppy amber ale I bottled the other day there seem to be clumps/flakes of crud floating about in the bottles - I get this sometimes anyway to a degree, but these are bigger clumps. My guess is it's the finings making "stuff" coagulate which will settle out over the next 2-4 weeks while it conditions.By the way how's the experiment with bottle finings going? Have you noticed any difference?
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