I think this may be my new favorite style of beer. Cheers!!
Picked up a growler from a local brewery here and it’s just fantastic
Also a fan. I can get Von Trappe in cans which is very nice.
Fun beer to brew too!
Smooth little sweet, got a little spice to it. Damn good beer
Shouldn’t have any “spice” …should be dry with some cracker like malt character and clean/crisp. It’s possible thehops may have some herbal like character that are coming across as spicy.
I should clarify that “spice” makes me think of yeast phenolics or actual spices which would be inappropriate for the style, but obviously that might not be what you mean.
It’s very mild. It’s an apple orchard here that grows their own hops and I have gotten a little spice note from Perle before on a brew. Regardless it was an enjoyable beer
I’m brewing one today with 838. My go-to recipe is a version of Jamil’s original recipe which is dark and malty. Today I’m brewing a version from a brewery I visited when I went to see my daughter at school in Indiana. I reached out to the brewer and he gave me the recipe. It’s unconventional but I’m making it just as he gave it to me. First time brewing in about a month due to the weather. It’s a balmy 24° now and on its way up to 32°. WHOO! 
My hose bib was frozen yesterday so I had to go buy water! I feel your pain.
Look forward to the pictures
I brewed one 3 weeks ago today. Its been cold crashing for 3 days and I’m going to collect yeast and keg today. Samples have tasted good along the way and I can’t wait to drink it after a little conditioning.
The hose I use for chilling has been brought inside just in case it’s frozen. I know my outdoor water source is okay because I filtered water on Friday. But it is cold right now. At least I know I’ll have super cold ground water for chilling. :D Cheers.
i think it could end up being a slow-burner style that grows in popularity. its sort of vague in that yes, there is the BJCP “original” vienna lager that has fairly tight numbers and tastes.
but really, it could range from ~4SRM 100% vienna beers, all the way to pretty roasty example with maybe up to 4% chocolate malt even. just keep the crystal down.
the one im making now has no colouring so its about 6 or 7SRM and orange.
So I am calling the one I’m making today “unconventional” because it contains 10% CaraMunich 1, which I would never do. That said, the beer served at their brewpub was delicious so I’m giving it a try. Most of these tend to be a combination of pilsner malt, vienna and munich and then Carafa III for color. The one I made today will be more pale… maybe SRM 8 or 9.
amber lager vs vienna lager.
Maybe. I have been a little too critical of some recipes that I have seen and I’m trying to get around that. In this case, I had the beer at the brewpub a number of times and it was very good so I feel good about getting a decent beer from this recipe… but is it a Vienna Lager? A commercial brewer envisioned a Vienna Lager and this was his recipe. That doesn’t make it right but I feel like the finished beer will be very nice.
If you didn’t know the recipe, would you call it a Vienna Lager when you taste it? I always find it odd to name a beer based off the recipe rather than the finished product.
That’s a good question. If someone just showed me the recipe I guess I would call it an amber lager. At some point I got away from using higher percentages of crystal malt in a beer. I have also seen other Vienna Lager recipes and they’re all similar to each other and not really similar to this one. I consider a pound of CM1 to be a lot of crystal malt and I would not have designed it this way. But the brewery calls it a Vienna Lager and at the time I did not know the recipe at all so I just ordered it and enjoyed it. It reminds me that any brewer could take any ingredients and call the finished product anything they want and it doesn’t necessarily mean anything.
Back in the day, I bought a sack of Durst TurboVienna and brewed a couple of 100% Vienna malt Vienna lagers. i found them a bit one dimensional and kind of insipid.
I much better liked the Mexican Vienna Lagers I made, with 40-50% Pilsner malt, 20-32% Vienna malt, 10-20% flaked corn, 5-10% Caramunich/Caravienne, and a touch of black malt added to the sparge for color.
Yeah, that second description of yours is what I make a lot of… with 940. Gold lagers, amber lagers and dark lagers made with a nod to Mexican styles and 940. Those are beers I drool over. Well, not literally.
What is the Brewery and the beer? I’m from NW Indiana, curious if it’s something I know. Also if you don’t mind, sharing the recipe? I have easy access to my crawl space and I come to find out recently it’s really well suited for lagers this time of year lol. I might have on the list soon.
I have a club friend who wins a bunch of awards for his Vienna’s. Several brewery ramp ups, best of shows, etc… and he uses something close to: Red X (21.7%), Vienna (59.7%), Pils (17.3%), Carafa II (1.3%). Mittelfruh (1 oz), Magnum (.5 oz) and Tettnang (.4 oz.) at 60’, Tettnang (1.25 oz) at 10’. I didn’t run his water adjustments, but he uses tap water with campden and adjusts to style and grist with lactic acid, gypsum and CaCl2.
I’ve never made his, but I have a fair number of people who like mine. It is a simple combination of Vienna (55%), Munich (10%), Pils (30%), Carafa (2.5%) and Acid Malt (2.5%). Similar hopping and water comes from RO and is treated to grist and style.