Hey, Let’s Make a Lager!
A few weeks ago, I recieved some sample hops courtesy of Exit 12 Brewery, and wanted to make something light-ish that I could drink while watching football.
I didn’t have a specific plan in mind, so I looked back at a previous brew I did, Vampire Dust. Initially, I thought it was a lager, but maybe not (I certainly didn’t lager with London Ale yeast!).
The recipe turned out as below. I was concerned with the bitterness of the beer, but we all know The IBU Is A Lie. I think it’ll be fine.
I had water set out from the night before and got started, but I saw some soapy-looking foam on the top of the first batch. Despite not tasting soap, I didn’t trust it. I dumped it and heated up my second batch of water. Ultimately, some sparge water came from the tap and was treated with Campden.
I mashed in without checking my HLT temp and found my mash temp to be down to about 140F, which is much lower than normal. So I heated up more water (which was going to be my sparge water) and added 2 gallons of 172-ish degree water to get the mash temp just up to 148F. I let it go for an hour and pulled a sample at the end to check gravity and pH. Gravity was 1.052 and pH was 5.5.
Boiled for 60 minutes with no issues, adding hops as scheduled above. Pulled a sample of wort at the end of the boil and began chilling and filling the carboy, which ultimately went into my keezer to chill more since groundwater is still a bit warm.
Went to check the OG… 1.056. This entirely baffles me, since I’m never that efficient. It’s making me question my thermometer. Presuming this beer finishes around 1.010, I’m going to end up with close to a 6% lager. Even more so, I’m going to check my thermometer. In addition, I may have mis-measured grain (or paid for an extra half pound). I checked the recipe with an extra half pound of pilsner malt and it bumps the 1.045 OG up to 1.048.
I decided that since W-34/70 tends to work well at room temperature, I’ll try my fermentation chamber that I’ve been building. I quickly added some styrofoam insulation to the top and door and got the peltier element running. Thinking that I might have to deal with issues of it staying a little warm, I didn’t add a temperature probe yet. I chilled the fermenter to 55F and move it to the chamber.
I learned that it isn’t working all that well. After seeing the temperature rise into the 60s F, I added some fans to try to help the situation. It didn’t.
Yes, I had a lighted fan 😎 
75… uhhh… 😕
Fast forward to Thursday, less than a week after the Saturday brew day. The airlock activity has ceased and the krausen has fallen. I pull a sample for a hydrometer and it’s 1.007. I taste the sample expecting a fruity fusely mess. Nope. It’s slightly fruity, but no fusels detected. I moved the fermenter into the keezer for lagering. My expected FG was 1.011, so clearly my mash temp was a little low… I adjusted the recipe to a light body profile and it dropped the FG to 1.009, so pretty close.
After lagering for a few days, I did pull another sample and it tasted a little green (acetaldehyde). It needs more lagering time than a week, but that’s expected.
After I removed the fermenter, I left the keezer on and put a temperature probe in through the door and left it for around 12 hours. Clearly I need to do some work on things, since it can only keep the chamber down to 68 🤷♂️.
I’ll need to do more work to do some better insulation – part will be an improvement in the sealing around the door, and I’m going to pull out the styrofoam and add better insulation that I have leftover from my office build project.
Review
Appearance: Hazy yellow with a fluffy white head
Aroma: Fruity, apple, grainy
Taste: Malty and fruity. Some apple and vanilla. Very restrained bitterness does not represent anything remotely close to the claimed 59 IBU.
Mouthfeel: dry, thirst quenching.
Overall: very easy to drink. Would prefer a tad more bitterness (the fl
Next version: I’m likely going to double-up on the bittering charge, as this just isn’t as bitter as I wanted. I like it, but it’s not what I really was aiming for. 🍻