STANDARD AMERICAN LAGER

Apologies for the absence.


The most popular session beer in the world?  As I've said before on this blog, I'm not a macro lager hater, they have their place and the big breweries know how to brew this tricky style well.  So this time I thought I would try and brew the most consumed beer style in the world.


When brewing a Standard American Lager, the key is a clean flavor profile.  Not too much malt, not too much hops or yeast derived esters.  In fact, in the BJCP description it actually says, "strong flavors are considered a fault".  The devil for this one is in the ingredients.  I went with the standard American 2-row since pilsner malt would be too flavorful for this style.  Corn and rice adjuncts include a fair amount of the total grist and sometimes up to 40%.  I used a little less than 10% flaked rice (which I prefer over corn for it's neutral flavor but that's just a personal preference) and a little light crystal for body.


This was also the first time I tried the S-189 dry Swiss Lager yeast.  I had heard good things about it but I haven't had good success with dry lager yeasts in the past.  I tried Saflager W-34/70 and wasn't particularly impressed.  It threw a lot of diacetyl, which isn't a big deal on it's own, but the flavor profile also left something to be desired.  Also, I'm looking for a nice all around lager yeast and one that produces a lot of diacetyl is just going to be a pain.  


Anyway, Fermentis doesn't seem to sell small (~11 gram) packet to homebrewers but there's a sight (http://www.americanbrewmaster.com/product_info.php?products_id=2349) that buys in bulk and repackages into 11 gram packets.  Much better than buying a 500 gram packet.  I was worried about contamination due to the repackaging but the yeast performed well for me, so I have no complaints.

Standard American Lager (BJCP Description)

(6 Gallons, ~70% Eff, Tinseth)

OG: 1.043

FG: 1.011

IBU: 14

ABV: 4.2%

SRM: 3.8

9 lbs - Domestic 2-Row

.875 lb - Minute Rice

.5 lbs - Crystal 10

1 oz - German Hallertau (Whole Leaf) 3.8% @ 60 Min

.5 oz - German Hallertau (Whole Leaf) 3.8% @ 10 Min

1 oz - German Hallertau (Whole Leaf) 3.8% @ 0 Min

Yeast: Saflager S-189 Swiss Lager (22 grams re-hydrated)

Mashed 60 min @ 154, 1.25 qt/lb

Fermented for one month at 50 degrees.

Tasting Notes:

Look - Straw gold, brilliant white head that surprisingly sticks around (most likely due to the low adjunct content), slight chill haze

Aroma -  Sweet grainy malts, not much hop aroma, clean lager yeast

Mouthfeel - Medium-thin bodied, crisp

Taste - Sweet bready/grainy malts, spicy herbal/lemony hops, firm bitterness

Notes:  Overall I'm very happy with the beer and the dry yeast's performance.  It's a solid, flavorful, well brewed and very drinkable lager.  However, if I was to enter this into a competition I would probably enter it as a Premium American Lager because to me, it has too much malt/hop flavor for a Standard.  I would probably increase the percentage of adjuncts to eliminate some of the flavor from the 2-row, cut out the crystal malt and drop the last hop addition.

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Rob

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SAISON

One of my favorite styles and something I plan on brewing more often.  Historically brewed in the spring to last through the summer months when it's too hot to brew. This version is brewed in the "farmhouse" tradition and uses some oddball grains.  From my understanding, traditional Saisons were farmhouse ales which meant that the farmer usually threw in whatever grains besides barley they had laying around to increase the fermentable sugars. Sometimes these other grains were not malted like barley, and may or may not have contributed to the total fermentable sugars depending on the gelatinization temperature.  I love unmalted wheat so I threw some in. The gelatinization temperaute is low enough to include directly into the mash without any further processing (malting, flaking, etc.).

I also included Spelt which is the first time I've used this grain in brewing.  The gelatinization temperature isn't low enough to include in the mash, so I used flaked Spelt to avoid doing a cereal mash.  Hopping can vary greatly in Saisons from barely noticeable to assertively hoppy.  I shot for kind of a moderately hoppy mix of EKG & Saaz, since it's on the low side in terms of alcohol.

Saison (BJCP Description)
(6 Gallons, ~70% Eff, Tinseth)

OG: 1.040
FG: 1.006
IBU: 19
ABV: 4.5%
SRM: 3
90 Minute Boil

7 lbs - German Pilsner
1 lb - White Wheat Malt
1.5 lbs - Flaked Spelt (Bob's Red Mill)
.5 lbs - Unmalted White Wheat

1 oz - East Kent Goldings (Whole Leaf) 4.6% @ 60 Min
.25 oz - Saaz (Pellets) 5.5% @ 15 Min
.25 oz - East Kent Goldings (Whole Leaf) 4.6% @ 15 Min

.5 oz - Saaz (Pellets) 5.5% @ 0 Min
.5 oz - East Kent Goldings (Whole Leaf) 4.6% @ 0 Min


Yeast: Wyeast 3711 French Saison (2 Liter Starter)

Mashed 60 min @ 150, 1.25 qt/lb

Pitched yeast at 65 and let it free rise to 78

Tasting Notes:
Look - Light yellow, hazy, 1 1/2 finger white head with nice lacing
Aroma - Tropical fruit/citrus, very slightly peppery type phenols, sweet pils malt, earthy/spicy hops
Mouthfeel - Surprisingly light/medium bodied
Taste - Spicy/citrusy yeast, spicy/earthy hops, slight nuttiness, moderate bitterness

Notes:  This beer was delicious! I wish I had more.  Not sure if I was able to pick out the Spelt but it was the first time I used it.  It might have lent a slight nuttiness to the beer but it's hard to say.  I look forward to brewing this again.

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Rob

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MUNICH HELLES

A light golden, clean, and very drinkable lager that's perfect for summer especially when brewed to session strength.  I have a soft spot for lagers especially the full flavored continental variety, namely Weihenstephaner Original.  Although I'm not opposed to a Premium American Lager (BJCP Description) with my favorite being Shaefer but I've been known to enjoy a Budweiser every now and again. Die beer snobs! (sorry I got carried away).  Some might argue (link) that the most popular beers in America are session strength lagers (bud light, miller lite, etc.).

I was looking for a simple, tasty, no nonsense lager for the summer so I kept the recipe simple.  Mostly German Pils with a little Munich for character and all German Hallertau hops.  I used the WLP833 German Bock yeast because it's a supposed to be a versatile yeast which is what I was looking for since I plan on re-using the yeast for multiple batches.  I also decided to go with a single temperature infusion mash.  I thought about maybe doing a protein rest but this isn't a show beer so I'm not concerned with clarity.  With today's highly modified malts, there's no need for any sort of step mashing/decoction so why complicate the issue?

Like a lot of homebrewers I usually brew ales for obvious reasons.  This is only the second lager I've brewed and the first that came out well.  It seems like I've had nothing but bad luck with lager yeast with two separate starters getting infected (seriously has this happened to anyone else?).  When I finally did get a good starter going, I brewed a Premium American Lager.  Unfortunately I rushed the fermentation and ended up with too much diacetyl (even after a d-rest).  I also forgot to taste the sample after I took a gravity reading, woops.  Very disappointing so I realized I needed to do more research before my next lager. 

For this one I decided to leave it in the primary fermenter for twice as long to make sure there was no diacetyl.  After a month I tasted it and didn't find any diacetyl, so I kegged it and moved it to the keggerator for a couple weeks of lagering.  This fermentation schedule worked out well for me and I think I'll go this route again when brewing lagers.

Munich Helles (BJCP Description)
(6 Gallons, ~70% Eff, Tinseth)

OG: 1.045
FG: 1.010
IBU: 29
ABV: 4.6%
SRM: 4
90 Minute Boil

9.5 lbs - German Pilsner
1 lb - Light Munich

2 oz - German Hallertau (Pellets) 3.9% @ 60 Min
.5 oz German Hallertau (Pellets) 3.9% @ 20 Min

Yeast: WLP833 German Bock (4 Liter Starter with 2 Vials)

Mashed 75 min @ 150, 1.25 qt/lb

Pitched yeast at 52 and fermented for 1 month then 2 weeks of lagering at 42

Tasting Notes:
Look - Light yellow/golden, clear, 1 1/2 finger white head with nice lacing (no protein rest)
Aroma - Sweet pils malt, no hop aroma
Mouthfeel - Medium bodied
Taste - Sweet grainy malt, spicy/slightly earthy hop flavor, very clean with a lingering bitterness

Notes:  I'm extremely happy with how this beer came out.  It's much more flavorful than any light beer or even a Premium American Lager and very easy to drink.  All I need now is a glass boot.

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Rob

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CEREAL MASH

The purpose of this post is to give anyone who is thinking about doing a cereal mash a good place to start.

This is basically my blonde ale recipe with unmalted raw red rice from Thailand in place of the usual flaked/instant rice and unmalted white wheat in place of malted white wheat.

I thought it would be interesting to try red rice and thought it might even impart a pinkish/redish hue but it didn't.

It seems like there is a bias against using adjuncts in craft brewing. Most likely due to the fact that Bud/Miller/Coors uses adjuncts and in a sense the craft beer movement is a response to these boring flavorless mass market beers and I get it.

However, contrary to popular belief these adjuncts weren't used in order to save money (at first), they were used to cut the protein/nitrogen content of the domestic 6-Row barley that is better suited for growing in the US than 2-Row barley.

For a much more in depth and much better written explanation, here is a link for you (here)

Since the red rice is raw, you have to gelatinize the starches before the enzymes can get to work converting them into sugar during the mash.

In this case since the overall % of adjuncts is on the low side (<20%), you could just boil the rice/unmalted wheat for 15-20 minutes to gelatinize the starches and throw it in the mash, but I decided to do a proper cereal mash for the fun of it. This is the original website I used as a guide (http://www.ingermann.com/cerealmash.html). There's also a BYO article from Mar/Apr 2005 issue but you'll have to find that yourself since it's not available free online.

(6 Gallons, ~70% Eff, Tinseth)
OG: 1.047
FG: 1.011
IBU: 29
ABV: 4.7%
SRM: 4

3.5 lbs - 2-Row
3.5 lbs - Pilsner (German)
2 lbs - Red Rice (Thailand)
1 lb - Unmalted White Wheat
.5 lb - Crystal 20
2 oz - Rice Hulls

1 oz German Perle (Pellets) 9.1% @ 60 min
.5 oz Crystal (Pellets) 2.8% @ 10 Min
.5 oz Crystal (Pellets) 2.8% @ 0 Min

Yeast: US-05 (re-pitched 100ml thick slurry)

Fermented at 62 for two weeks

Mashed 60 min @ 150, 1.25 qt/lb

Main Mash:
3.5 lbs Pilsner (German)
2.5 lbs 2-Row
.5 lbs Crystal 20

Doughed in with 4.5 gallons of strike water to raise temp up to 122 for a protein rest and mashed for 30 min.

Cereal Mash:
2 lbs - Red Rice (Thailand)
1 lb - Unmalted White Wheat
1 lb - 2-Row

Crushed the rice and wheat in my malt mill with the gap setting tighter than normal.

Note, grinding up unmalted adjuncts is tougher than malted barley, you should prob do it by hand. The rice/wheat was ground to the consistency of grits more or less.

Heated up the adjuncts on the kitchen stove in a separate 1.5 gallon pot and the 1 lb of malted barley with 7.5 quarts of water (a very thin 2.5 qts per lb).

Heated to 122 and held for 30 min then raised to 148 for 25 min. with direct heat (stir constantly).

After that I boiled it gently for 15 min while stirring often to avoid scorching.

Then I added it directly to the main mash (with the rice hulls) which was siting at 122 which brought the temp of the main mash up to my target of 152.

This was the part I was most worried about since I've never step mashed in my cooler before this point but it worked out well. I had some hot & cold water on hand though just in case I had to adjust the temperature.

I was shooting for 1.75 - 2 qts per pound for the final mash with the adjuncts added. I mashed thin because I was worried about effeciency. I also rested the mash for 90 min to ensure conversion.

Hope this helps anyone thinking about using unmalted adjuncts in their brew.

Cheers!

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Rob

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