Decided a while back to start brewing different styles and types of beer to my normal pale ales. Reason is to have a wee library of styles and to expand my skills/knowledge/pallette. So far I've done a few belgians, saisons, fruit beers, etc and now it's the turn of a lager. 4 weeks ago I picked up a smack-pack of Wyeast 2007 (Pilsen lager) and I've grown it up twice in a 2L batch each time. Should probably be about 2-2.5 packs worth of healthy fresh yeast. Lovely stuff.
Fermentation plan for this is to let the wort chill to 11c and pitch the yeast. Then I will leave for 2-3 weeks and then raise the temp to 18c for 2 days then drop it by 1c every day until it's at 2c then leave it for a month.
Anyway, recipe is fairly simple and is based on Jamil's "To George" lager recipe from Brewing Classic Styles. I thought his gravity was WAY to high and would have turned out a >7% lager so I dropped the starting gravity to 1056 meaning a 5.9% brew if all goes to plan.
6kg Pilsner malt
0.5kg Carapils
90 min boil
51g Saaz @ 60
61g Saaz @ 30
30g Saaz @ 10
30g Saaz @ 0
Protofloc, servynomes and WLN1000 @ 15 mins
I did an overnight mash to save time today as GP, etc was on. Sparged 1st thing and boil was going soon after. Ended up bang on 20 litres but I don't know the gravity as I broke my hydrometer. I always have a spare....went to get it....and the container was empty. Turns out I was using the spare! Anyway, I'm always inline with Beersmith so I'll have to assume it's in the region of 1056. I suspect it'll be slightly higher as my efficiency goes up slightly with an overnight mash.
Brew is currently at 19c which is as low as I can get through my chiller. It's in the ferment fridge chilling further and I'll pitch when it gets near 11c.
Here's some pics :
Running into boiler....it's almost clear!
After vorlof (spelling?) before sparge
Almost doen sparging
Scum forming
Boil on
The yeast - doesn't look much but it's a 5L flask!
Pre-chill hop soup
Break forming
Clumping together
**** photo - but this is whats left. Very effective filter!
Colour pic
Fermentation plan for this is to let the wort chill to 11c and pitch the yeast. Then I will leave for 2-3 weeks and then raise the temp to 18c for 2 days then drop it by 1c every day until it's at 2c then leave it for a month.
Anyway, recipe is fairly simple and is based on Jamil's "To George" lager recipe from Brewing Classic Styles. I thought his gravity was WAY to high and would have turned out a >7% lager so I dropped the starting gravity to 1056 meaning a 5.9% brew if all goes to plan.
6kg Pilsner malt
0.5kg Carapils
90 min boil
51g Saaz @ 60
61g Saaz @ 30
30g Saaz @ 10
30g Saaz @ 0
Protofloc, servynomes and WLN1000 @ 15 mins
I did an overnight mash to save time today as GP, etc was on. Sparged 1st thing and boil was going soon after. Ended up bang on 20 litres but I don't know the gravity as I broke my hydrometer. I always have a spare....went to get it....and the container was empty. Turns out I was using the spare! Anyway, I'm always inline with Beersmith so I'll have to assume it's in the region of 1056. I suspect it'll be slightly higher as my efficiency goes up slightly with an overnight mash.
Brew is currently at 19c which is as low as I can get through my chiller. It's in the ferment fridge chilling further and I'll pitch when it gets near 11c.
Here's some pics :
Running into boiler....it's almost clear!
After vorlof (spelling?) before sparge
Almost doen sparging
Scum forming
Boil on
The yeast - doesn't look much but it's a 5L flask!
Pre-chill hop soup
Break forming
Clumping together
**** photo - but this is whats left. Very effective filter!
Colour pic
