Guys and Gals, I really hesitated on lagering again, but then got my feedback for the beer below.... I used the American lager yeast and entered the beer as a Premium American Lager. The judges seemed to like the recipe and malt complexity but said the yeast gave some off flavors etc. Do we have any lager experts in the club who may be able to help me tweak this a bit into a better beer?
Here is a summary of my notes:
-OG 1.057
-Yeast starter pitched at 55
-Stored Saturday night in the garage, covered by a blanket for natural temp control only to see the outside temp get down to 26.
-Brought temp back up to ferment at 52 before taking it down the past 3 days to 50.
-Based on How to Brew and a few conversations with Doug, my next step is to bring it up to around 60-65 for 12-24 hours once primary is finished. Then drop the temp back down to 35, and lager for 3 weeks before kegging.
Here is the recipe:
-5 Lbs of German Pilsner
-4Lbs of Breis 2 Row
-5 oz Belgian Carapils
-5 oz Honey Malt
-1/2 oz Acid Malt
-1 Lb Crystal 10
-1/2 oz Perle 6.4 AA at 60 Minutes
-1 oz Liberty 3.5 AA at 15 Minutes
Guys, If you use Minute Rice
Guys,
If you use Minute Rice (or any 5 minute rice).....there is no need to precook it AT all.
I just put it thru the mill when milling my other grains. (milling is not even necessary)
hey dump the acid malt on
hey dump the acid malt on that beer ,do to the lager yeast. its fine in the blonde but to strong in an lager. also use either .5lb of honey malt or .5 of crystal dont use both because its to much for the style. you need so rice in there also. hop selection should be different like nuetral hops.
So....
Having honey and crystal gives off too much sweetness? But the honey malt has more fermentable sugars so that may be best. I noticed Jeff uses minute rice in his recipe.... Is normal white rice just as good? Sorry for all the questions.
you can use regular white
you can use regular white rice, but you have to do a cereal mash first to prepare the starches for conversion.
Greg, can you elaborate for
Greg, can you elaborate for our edification on the cereal mash process. I've used rice before but I used it directly in the mash after cooking it according to box directions. My gravity was way off so I'm guessing the process was wrong. The professor is in!
You don't need my
You don't need my elaboration for your edification, just turn to How to Brew by Jim Palmer page 173-175. With rice you can probably get by with grinding it (just like barley you don't want it whole so the enzymes can get to the starches) and boiling the snot out of it, but according to Palmer it is best if you do the cereal mash which incorporates adding a percentage of barley. If you don't have the Palmer book shame on you;)
Damn, nd you just made me
Damn, nd you just made me have to order it... So much for my budget!