683 replies to this topic

[Poptop]

Ditto on the pils. I do like mixing it with two row or golden promise for the bulk of the grist bill.

 

What do you think this brings to the forefront?

[Big Nake]

I generally use pilsner malt for lagers and 2-row or pale ale malt or GP in ales.  I made a blonde ale last week where the base malt was 50/50 GP/Avangard pils.  For pale ales I might use a combination of GP and Wheat.  Also, Pils is not Pils is not Pils.  Barke Pils is probably the best pilsner malt I have tried.  I like Avangard and Best Malz too.  This Briess Pilsen malt that I got for $29 a sack was just fine but it was very different than Barke Pils.  The Barke Pils was much richer and deeper-tasting with a bit of that graham cracker, grape nuts kind of thing.  The Briess was more bland so I used it in styles that were meant to be very pale, light and inoffensive and I also mixed it with GP or Vienna or Munich 1 in a few batches.  

[HVB]

What do you think this brings to the forefront?

I have always like to blend my base malts since I first heard it on a can you brew a long time ago.  I find the Pils gives the beer a clean simple backbone and light mouthfeel and the two row or GP or even MO gives it a bit of character to go with a small amount of specilty malt.  Maybe in a side by side I would never be able to tell but I have blended for so long it is just what I like to do.  I think Pils and wheat 50/50 makes a great base for an APA as well, NE style.

[Poptop]

^^ great explanation drezz.  I guess it comes down to our comfort zones much like anything else we all do.  I've done some 5050 Pale/Pils and as you mentioned, I don't know if I'd be able to pick it out in a taste test.  But hey..... why not right.

[Stout_fan]

The brewday on Tuesday of the SAE-50 RIS went OK. Post boil was 27 Brix I think. I used a stick on thermometer on the output of my Illudium Q-36 Wort Modulator to gauge how fast to flow it through the counter-flow chiller. I have a brass 1/2" cross T to insert a real temp probe in there eventually. Instead of the 67 ish output, it splashed into the conical at 70 degrees. The cooling kicked on and dropped it to the setpoint within an hour. Then it kept chilling until I could get around to pitch the yeast. The cold basement kept the temps dropping and the heater kicked on and raised it right back to setpoint. It ain't super-fast. but it gets the job done.

 

The partigyle secondary was 10 gallons of 1.060 stout which went into two 6 1/2 gal better bottles. I hit them with US-05. I have 4 oz of raspberry extract kicking around and 8 oz of  Cacao nibs. The other one is getting 4 oz of coconut extract.

 

I still have some of the Palo-Santo shavings left from when we turned the tap handles for Sam. A batch has been sitting under Cheape Vodka for well over a year now. Thinking about throwing that into the RIS. I guess it is still good I probably ought to try it before I dump in into the conical.

 

The heater kept kicking on for a day and a half while the yeast was doing it's anerobic thing. You can tell as just the pump is running. I was getting a bit worried but midday on thanksgiving I heard the fan kick on signifying the system is now in cooling mode. So the yeasties are working hard. They have a lot of sugar to munch through.

Edited by Stout_fan, 29 November 2019 - 04:10 PM.

[Bklmt2000]

If my brewbag arrives on Tuesday as scheduled, I hope to get another brewday in on Wednesday to get better oriented with my new mashtun.

 

Looking to make an Oktoberfest-ish lager:

 

5lb pils

5lb Munich

0.5lb wheat

0.5lb C-40

 

to an OG of ~1.060 for 5.5 gal in the primary.

 

Magnum to bitter (whole) and a small 10-min addition of Hallertau (pellet) for ~30 IBUs total.  A fresh slurry of 34/70 will handle the heavy lifting in the primary.

[positiveContact]

what's the deal with the wheat?  I don't think I've ever put wheat malt in a lager.

[HVB]

what's the deal with the wheat? I don't think I've ever put wheat malt in a lager.

Back in the day it was said to help head retention... These days I add wheat to most things to use it up. Way overbought wheat!

[positiveContact]

Back in the day it was said to help head retention... These days I add wheat to most things to use it up. Way overbought wheat!

 

I always used (and still do) carafoam/carapils.  I like the body it adds without any crystal like flavor contributions.  that's not to say I don't sometimes use crystal or caramunich in my lagers.

[Big Nake]

I harvested some 1099 and I have my Aviator's English Ale (basically an ESB) coming up next.  GP, British Crystal, Torrified Wheat and then Nugget to bitter and three ounces of late EKG.  About 4.6%, SRM 9, IBUs maybe around 30 or so.  I plan to do that one day this coming week.  

[Bklmt2000]

what's the deal with the wheat?  I don't think I've ever put wheat malt in a lager.

 

A little bit of wheat malt goes into most of the grists I mash; started doing that many years ago, and it seemed to help head retention, so I kept doing it.  I don't get a "wheaty" flavor from quantities of a half a pound or less, and when I mash a grist that is composed of a lot of lower-enzyme malts, like a Munich-heavy grist for a doppelbock, I like the insurance that wheat malt gives, as far as adding extra enzymes to the mash.

 

Could all be in my head, and the wheat malt does nothing at all, but being a notorious creature of habit, I'm probably too set in my ways to change now.

[positiveContact]

A little bit of wheat malt goes into most of the grists I mash; started doing that many years ago, and it seemed to help head retention, so I kept doing it.  I don't get a "wheaty" flavor from quantities of a half a pound or less, and when I mash a grist that is composed of a lot of lower-enzyme malts, like a Munich-heavy grist for a doppelbock, I like the insurance that wheat malt gives, as far as adding extra enzymes to the mash.

 

Could all be in my head, and the wheat malt does nothing at all, but being a notorious creature of habit, I'm probably too set in my ways to change now.

 

I agree it's unlikely to have a big flavor impact at that level.  I wasn't aware that wheat had a higher diastatic power than lots of other malts but apparently it does:

 

Grain Type           Diastatic Power in Degrees Lintner

2-Row Pale Malt                                  110

6-Row Pale Malt                                  150

Highly modified Pilsner Malt                125

Malted Wheat                                      120

Vienna Malt                                         100

Munich Malt                                         70

Crystal Malt                                         0

Unmalted Wheat                                 0

Chocolate malt, roast barley               0

Unmalted Adjunct grains  (rice, corn)  0

 

http://www.picobrewe...e/diastatic.htm

Edited by Zsasz, 01 December 2019 - 10:43 AM.

[zymot]

Bottled my big ass brown ale this morning. I am looking forward to this one. I loved drinking the flat dregs from the bottom of the bottling bucket.

 

When you enjoy flat beer, you know the carbed version is going to rock.

[Stout_fan]

When you enjoy flat beer, you know the carbed version is going to rock.

Absa-fraggin-lutely!!!

[Big Nake]

I harvested some 1099 and I have my Aviator's English Ale (basically an ESB) coming up next.  GP, British Crystal, Torrified Wheat and then Nugget to bitter and three ounces of late EKG.  About 4.6%, SRM 9, IBUs maybe around 30 or so.  I plan to do that one day this coming week.  

I had this brew session today from about noon-to-4.  It was pleasant.  9 lbs of GP, 6 ounces of Simpson's Extra Dark British Crystal (178°L) and four ounces of torrified wheat.  I got A LOT of color from that six ounces of crystal and the wort was clear and beautiful.  The 1099 settled into the harvest flask like a champion and it came out in giant chunks.  I forgot how flocculant 1099 is.  Fermenter is in the fridge and I expect the fermentation to be relatively quick.  I plan to brew a lager on Sunday morning and this ESB can just finish up on the cool basement floor.  

[Big Nake]

I'm going to keep brewing with the 1099 and Diamond yeast until all my kegs are full.  This ESB with 1099 started actively fermenting in less than 3 hours and my guess is that I could take it out of the 62° fridge tomorrow.  I will send the current batch of lager (an American Lager) to the keg today, harvest the Diamond and use it in a batch of Bordertown Dark Lager on Sunday morning.  Then, late next week I'll use the 1099 again on a batch of MLPA.  For the 1099 I also have another pale ale planned and for the Diamond I have a pilsner and an amber lager planned.  Lots of brewing to do between now and the end of the year.  I also just checked my number of batches for 2019... 29 so far.  That will probably be 32 total, give-or-take.  

[Bklmt2000]

Saison/farmhouse ale on deck for Monday.

 

Bought a smackpack of 3711 back in May/June, but never got around to brewing with it until now.  Made a starter on Monday, which was pretty active by Tuesday morning.  Took it off the stirplate Wednesday night and it's settling out in my lagering fridge.

 

Still mulling over the grain bill and OG, which will include mostly Pils, maybe some Munich and/or cane sugar, likely some oats, and some C-40 and wheat malt. 

 

Hops will be Magnum to bitter and some EKG for a couple of late additions (15 min and flameout) for ~30-35 IBUs total.

[Poptop]

^^ 3711 is a true lover

[Big Nake]

Saison/farmhouse ale on deck for Monday.

 

Bought a smackpack of 3711 back in May/June, but never got around to brewing with it until now.  Made a starter on Monday, which was pretty active by Tuesday morning.  Took it off the stirplate Wednesday night and it's settling out in my lagering fridge.

 

Still mulling over the grain bill and OG, which will include mostly Pils, maybe some Munich and/or cane sugar, likely some oats, and some C-40 and wheat malt. 

 

Hops will be Magnum to bitter and some EKG for a couple of late additions (15 min and flameout) for ~30-35 IBUs total.

Brew it!

 

Another thing I overlooked... 1099 throws a smidge of diacetyl.  I have a kegged blonde ale with a bit of it so I'm allowing it to warm a little bit.  This ESB is fermenting nicely and I think I'll move it to a spot in my beer bunker (between two fridges where there is some heat from the fridges running) for the rest of the time so it dissipates.  It's not a D-Bomb but I picked some up in a sample of the blonde.  You know, it's always something.   

[Big Nake]

I believe I successfully drove off the diacetyl in this blonde ale.  I also made sure that this ESB was warmed up for a bit at the end of fermentation.  I may have fermented slightly cool which may or may not have produced more of it.  That said, I am retiring the 1099 when this ESB goes to the keg and pinch hitting is a fresh package of 1056 that was smacked yesterday and was rock hard in about 2 hours.  So water is filtered and grains are weighed out for a batch of MLPA tomorrow afternoon.  I have something like 7 or 8 recipes lined up for 1056 and the remaining batches of lager with the Lallemand Diamond.  Cheers brothers.