I’m looking forward to Monday night (middle of my "weekend, and I’m a shift worker) when I am going to try using nearly every unnecessary technique I can think of. I’m bored, so im going to type it up. If you are bored too, feel free to read and poke holes init.
The goal is experience, and maybe some good beer. I’m a fan of Denny’s philosophy, Best Beer, Least Work, Most Fun. This brewday might fudge some of those principles around a little. But I am also NOT a fan of arguing for or against techniques based solely on what someone else said. Being adamant on a subject based only on what someone else said, with no experience to support it, is kinda hollow. Plus Denny always says “but try it and see if it works for YOU.” So, if this stuff works for me GREAT! If not then I can say that it doesnt, rather than I’ve been told it doesn’t.
I’m not necessarily trying to brew a perfect example of any specific style, or clone an existing beer, so I’m avoiding referring to the beers by style.
Beer #1
6 gallon batch OG ~1.048
9.25 lbs Best Malz Pilsner
1.25 lbs Best Malz Vienna
Mashed at 1.6 qt/lb at 5.5 pH
Step-mashed with my direct fire recirculated MLT
132F protein rest 15 min
142F maltose rest 45 min
158F dextrin rest 45 min
Batch sparged
Preboil adjusted to 5.0 pH
60 min boil
28g Hallertau Mittelfruh at 60
28g Hallertau Mittelfruh at 10 (1/2 tab wirlflock, wyeast nutrients)
Rapid chill to 48-50F
Yeast blend
1LO2HK at 50F starter of wyeast 2308 Munich and 1LO2HK starter of Wyeast 2352 Munich II
Temp control set at 50F
Beer #2
6 gallon batch OG ~1.056
10 lbs Best Malz Pils
2.25 lbs Best Malz Pils
Same mash process as beer #1
56g Hallertau Mittelfruh at 60
56g Hallertau Mittelfruh in wirlpool at 170F for 30 min
Same fermentation as beer #1
I think…
Some of these techniques are supposed to be how they do it in Germany (a lot of this came from listening to Kai Troester on Basic Brewing)
The 5.5 mash pH is said to put the enzymatic activity in its happy place
The protein rest is said to help clarity and something else but I forget what
The low sac rest is said increases fermentability
The high sac rest is said to build back some body after the low rest by continuing to work on remaining starches
Adjusting to 5.0 for the boil is said to improve clarity and smooth out hop bitterness and get the wort closer to the environment that the yeast thrive in
I’ve heard that sometimes a yeast blend will help acheive your goal. I dont know what my goal is, but I have two packs of 2308 and two of 2352, so what the heck. Maybe it will be the newest thing to do. Then people can argue that its awesome though they’ve never tried it LOL.
This will also be my first try with a lager with the 1LO2HK starters. The method works awesome for me on ales, so here goes nothing.
I considered that, but when I entered tripple decoction into my Best Beer, Most Fun, Least Effort slide rule, the least effort part wouldn’t slide that far to the left
Sounds like a fun brew day. FWIW I’ve done decoction for some lagers. It’s not difficult. It just takes extra time. Not sure that it really effects the flavor. Although, if you don’t pull a large enough decoction then you don’t hit your temp.
Sounds like a nice brewday - I’d love to set up a back to back brew day one time with one lager brewed with some of the German techniques and another using a standard American/English mash.
It should be fun, but ask me afterwards. Actually its just a little more attention than normal during mashing, and a dose of lactic at boil time. It just seems more labor intensive.
A couple thoughts came to mind about all this (listening to Kai and having similar plans:
Is 5.0 too low for a boil pH? I think Kai said he hits 5.3 or something.
Have you looked much into the whole protein rest thing? I’ve never tried it and it’s a new concept to me but I read it can actually be detrimental if your malt is highly modified. Not positive yet what to look for in a malt analysis or in general if it’s good for most german pils malts.
I think protein rest is often times confused with a rest in the 132-136 range. Some people refer to this rest as a protein rest but it is a little outside of that range. I have not used a true protein rest in the 122 deg F range for any type of beer.
In one article Kai mentions that a rest in the low 130’s can help prevent dough balls as it is below the gelatinization temp of the malt. I want to test this out for beers where I am pushing the capacity of my mashtun to make mash in easier.
Does it also have anything to do with increasing fermentability? It’s at the low end of the beta amylase range so it must have some effect that differs from the higher rest (think 148ish) or else so many of the Belgians wouldn’t use it.
Brew day well underway. So far so good. The only hassle so far is that I need my pump for step mashing so that means I have to finish and rack batch 1 before I can start batch 2. Normally I start mashing the second batch about 30 minutes into the boil of the first batch. All good, I guess it forces me to not multi task.
One batch one the wort seems a lot lighter color than I am used to with that beer which is beginning to confirm in my mind that the last time I bought Vienna it was probably honey malt, since everyone picked up a honey note in that beer.
I heard him explain it on Basic Brewing and he said 5.0 there. He gave several reasons.
The chart I saw for protein rests if I recall correctly said it’s good for ~40 kolbach and according to Best Malz their Pilsner is right in there. They give a scale and I think 40 is about middle of that scale.
My blichmann brewmometer shows 112-132 for protein rest, 122 is dead center obviously. I went with 132 just cuz that’s what Kai said on a basic brewing podcast. And I heard somewhere that Strong does it too with continental pils.
I targeted 1.048 on batch 1, used my normal efficiency to calculate and my actual OG was… drum roll… 1.048. So, I’m guessing the step mash will not change my efficiency. Well… brewhouse efficiency anyway. I normally use an extra half gallon of water and boil 90 min. This was a half gallon less and 60 min boil. Per Marshall’s experiment, and then hearing Kai say that he boils 60 min, 30 at a simmer and 30 at full boil, I decided to drop my time to 60. Reference Kai, he said he gets away with 60 by chilling fast. If you use a plate he suggests 90 min. I chill fast. Anyway,
So far I got the same brewhouse efficiency when comparing 60 to 90 min boil and, it seems to be lighter colored wort. Not side by side obviously, but in the past this beer came out about light gold. This one is going to be pale straw. As said before there may have been a grain mistake issue in the past.
