Absolute Homebrew

With Sunday’s black lager the trub from the mash shows up nicely in photos. Here it is on top of the grain bed at the end of the mash:

It is the fine darker stuff in the centre of the photo, and here is a side shot:

YOu can see how it has settled from the top of the grain bed to a depth of a centimetre or so. The trub is a very fine protein sludge produced by the degradation of larger proteins during the mash. It is important this trub does not pass over into the wort where more protein will precipitated during the boil, that is the hot break. To ensure this, the grain bed needs to be kept immobile. You cannot mash loose in a pot or other vessel.

When trub and break material pass over into a finished beer there will be problems with haziness and lack of stability, ie the beer will not keep well.

This beer was brewed on Sunday May 27. With this beer I wanted to trial a new method. One of my methods is to use a no sparge mash to brew a concentrated wort which is diluted with chilled water in the fermenter to produce a quick and easy mid-strength beer. The idea this time was to brew a standard gravity wort with a no sparge mash.

The grain bill was:
220 grams crystal wheat
220 grams roast wheat malt
700 grams dark Munich malt
3.5 kg pilsner malt.

The grain bill is slightly higher than what I’d normally use in order to compensate for the relative ineffeciency of the no-sparge mash.

This was the vessel I mashed in, a 32 litre cooler.

And this was the 12 inch false bottom - it had to be modified to accomodate the bulkhead.

I used about 28 litres of water, having heated it to about 68 degrees and then allowing it to stabilise at 67 degrees in the tun so that I could mash at 65 degrees. Generally you should use an overall water to grain ratio of about 7 litres per kilo. How you divide the 7 litres between the mash and the sparge is up to you and the equipment you use. With a no-sparge mash you can let it slide up to 8 litres if you have the vessel capacity.

The nice thing about very thin (dilute) mashes is they convert quite quickly, 45 minutes is plenty of time. This one I let run longer because I was busy with customers. Anyway I had a straightforward run-off and once I had collected about 3 or 4 litres turned on the heat.

You should always ensure you get a good rolling boil, that is the surface of the wort is rolling around in the kettle.

Hopping was to about 22 IBU with 40 grams of 5.75 Hallertau at 45 minutes and another 6 grams at 3 minutes. And the yeast was a final hurrah for the Danish lager.

I’m afraid I’ve let things get behind. So just to plug the gaps:

May 6 - Vienna Lager II. This was 4 kg of Weyermann Vienna malt with 150 grams of Caramunich I. Mashed at 65 degrees for a drier beer. Hopping was to 22 IBU with Hallertau and the yeast once again was the Danish Lager. This beer is now at home gassed and waiting to be drunk.

May 13 - Had a lazy day and just threw some of the Danish lager yeast in with a Brewers Selection wort kit. This is now on tap at Faulconbridge.

May 20 - Black Lager. This is another beer for home. I brewed several of these last year using the Whitelabs Mexican Lager yeast. The grain bill was 170 grams each of roast wheat malt and crystal wheat, 500 grams dark Munich malt, and 3.4 kg of pilsener malt - all Joe White malt. Again mashed at 65 degrees for a drier beer. The only commercial black lagers I’ve drunk have been the Kozel and the Kruscovice, both Czech beers and both rather sweet. This just doesn’t work for me. Hopping was Hallertau in two additions to 23 or so IBU and the yeast was again the Danish lager. This beer is now in secondary and will probably be kegged at the end of the week.

This beer is for St Marys - half grain, half extract. Periodically people will ask me why I don’t have standard gravity all grain beer in the shops. It’s too much of a disappointment for customers who say “That’s a nice beer, which one is it?” as they look at the beer kits. You’ve got to have something that customers can brew themselves, and for either a half and half, or short all grainer I can set them up with it.

This one was:
2 kg JW ale malt
600 grams JW light Munich malt
150 grams JW light Crystal
Plus 1.5 kg Morgans liquid amber malt extract.

Mashed in 18 litres of water at about 65/64 degrees with about 5 grams of calcium sulphate. Most waters in the UK are reasonably hard, so with the very soft water of the Australian Eastern seaboard you really do need to harden it up. This gives the beer structure and backbone in the taste, without it the beer can taste flabby - rather like a wine with insufficient acid.

Recirculated a few litres and then once a few litres were in the pot, turned on the heat. With these half and half, and short all grain beers I want to start the boil early so evaporation will allow me to squeeze more into a 15 litre stock pot.

Hopping was 60 grams of EK Goldings at 45 minutes and 20 grams at about 3 minutes for about 28 - 30 IBU. With this beer I will probably add a hop tea later. The major drawback to this method of brewing is the relatively high proportion of kettle wastage and lower hop utilisation. The higher the wort gravity, the lower the hop utilisation.

Anyway, cooled the boiled wort in a water bath then into the fermenter along with the 1.5 kg of liquid amber malt extract and about 9 litres of chilled water. The OG was 1044, and the yeast the Wyeast 1275 Thames Valley.

Despite having brewed quite a few I have not tasted a commercial example. About the closest i got was several years ago when a customer’s mother-in-law was coming from the US and he had organised her to get a six pack of Dos Equis. She had the beer but then the sods confiscated the beer before she got on the plane. The world would be a better place with fewer people in uniforms.

It’s a bit of a funny beer style. There are not too many examples of the style, and most of them are not from Austria. Some people maintain that a Vienna lager is more or less an Octoberfest or Marzen at normal gravity. I think it is quite wrong on two counts. Firstly while the production of Munich and Vienna malts is similar when contrasted with the production pilsener malt, they are quite different malts. Secondly, the Marzens and Octoberfests are more to the sweeter side of things, while I think a Vienna works better if it is to the drier side. The late George Fix drops a few hints about this in his Classic Beer Series book on the three styles.

This one is the first in a run of Viennas and dark lagers. Last year I used the Whitelabs Mexican lager yeast for them, this year it is the Wyeast Danish lager - I presume the Whitelabs Copenhagen is the same strain.

The grain bill was:
2.25 kg Weyermann Vienna malt
1.75 kg Weyermann Bohemian Pilsener malt
150 grams W’mann Caramunich I

The only reason for this particular grain bill was that I had 1.75 kg of the Bo. Pils left - the next one will be straight Vienna with a touch of Caramunich.

Mashed at about 65/66 degrees for 90 minutes with about 3 litres of water per kg. Generally I use about 4 kg of grain with 12 to 13 litres of mash water and about another 18 of sparge water.

Hopping was Hallertau at 45 minutes, about 40 - 50 grams offhand. Yes I know I should write it down, especially as I tell customers to write things down. Another 6 grams at 3 minutes for a hint of aroma. All up the IBUs were about 22. With this type of beer you want the malt flavours to come to the fore, especially the nutty and light toast flavours of the Vienna malt. The yeast was the Danish lager.

OG was 1044 - expecting an FG of about 1008 -1010. Currently it’s fermenting away happily and will be due for racking during the week.

Had a nice number of people for the demonstration on Sunday April 15, about 6 or so. We brewed an all grain beer using what I call a short method. It involves a very thin no-sparge mash, a concentrated boil and diluting with chilled water. You end up with a flavoursome mid-strength beer, OG of about 1032.

The grain bill was:
2.5 kg Joe White ale malt
1 kg JW amber malt
300 g JW light crystal.

Mashed in about 18 litres of water at 65 degrees C. Again very thin mashes like this convert quite quickly, 45 minutes is more than enough. Recirculated the first runnings, and once a few litres were in the stockpot turned on the heat. Hops were EK Goldings at 5.7%, about 50 grams at 45 minutes and another 20 at 3 minutes for about 27 - 28 IBU. After boiling placed the stock pot in a water bath to cool and then into the fermenter along with 9 or so litres of chilled water. The yeast was Wyeast Thames Valley, 1275. This beer is now on at Faulconbridge.