1D Helles Bels

Munich Helles (1D)
Based on Munchen Grobes Bier from "Brewing Classic Styles" Zainasheff and Palmer.

Info:

• Brewer: Ryan
• Mash: 2-step Decoction
• Date: 1/13/2008
• Size: 5 (and a bit) gallon post-boil
  

Grain Bill:

This is a bit lower than the recipe called for based on my previous experience with the Czech Pils. In retrospect I might have been getting higher efficiency because of the 10 gallon batch (the full 3 stage decoction probably didn't hurt either) because I was a little on the low side on this one - a little below style. Oh well.

• 8.9lb weyerman pilsner malt
  
• 0.7lb Munich
  

Yeast:

• Wyeast 2308 - Munich Lager™
• Starter made on previous day with light DME
• and (through fault of my own) 3944 - Belgian Witbier™
• Starter made on previous day with light DME

The Mash:

Mash schedule based on "German 2-Mash Decoction" in "The Brewers Companion" by Randy Mosher

• strike (acid rest)
  
• Added 150F water plus 2 quarts cold to hit 98F (1qt/lb total)
  
• rest 15 minute

• Protein rest
• Added 150F water to 125F (0.5qt/lb)
• rest 30 minutes

• First decoction
• thick 1/3 of mash removed
• raise to 156F over 12 minutes
• rest 20 minutes
• raise to boil over 20 minutes
  
• immediately return to main mash (we don't want the color here, just the malt)
• adjust to 150F
• rest 25 minutes
  

• Second decoction
• Remove thin 1/2
• raise to boil over 20 minutes
  
• immediately return to mash
• rest 30 minutes

• Sparge @180F

Right before the sparge we started the witt bier since apparently I have the sense of a snail and don't know when I should just slow the hell down. Ironically I was doing the witt because I had the yeast (why thats ironic will become apparent below - read on)

The Boil (90 minutes):

• 30 minutes naked boil (the wort not the players)
  
• 1.1oz Mt Hood (4.1aau) @ 60
• Total: 18 IBU(ish)

The Pitch:

• OG: 1.040 (low but close, we'll call it good enough - I knew it was a smidge low preboil, but figured I'd rather not risk changing the color/flavor profile by adding DME to adjust).
• Pitched 3944 Witt Beer starter
• Realized mistake
• Cindy made a new quick starter from some dry wheat beer yeast (see next blog post) while I
• pitched 2308 Munich Lager (sigh)

I think this may be ok, the wheat yeast is a low ester, and I'm fermenting it pretty cold so I'm hoping the lager yeast out competes. It had a nice big krausen by the next morning so its fermenting anyway. I was originally going to call this To Helles and back, but given this screwup I decided to change the name. How will it turn out? Well we'll find out I guess.

3B - Marzen

Info:

• Brewer: Chris
• Mash: 2-step Decoction
• Date: 1/13/2008
• Size: 6 gallon post-boil
  
• Note: I'm not as insane and/or anal as Ryan :)
• Note: I'm still without a hydrometer, so no OG measurement :(
  

Grain Bill:

• 6lb vienna malt
  
• 2lb munich malt
• 2lb pilsner malt
  
• 1lb cara vienna
  

Yeast:

• Wyeast 2308 - Munich Lager™
• Starter made on previous day by Ryan with light DME

The Mash:

• start
• 16qt @140
• settles @127
  
• rest 20 minutes
  
• first decoction
• pull 1/3
  
• heat to 160, rest 25 minutes
• then boil 25 minutes
• add back to mash
• settles @148, rest 25 minutes
• second decoction
• pull 1/4
  
• boil 20 minutes
• add back to mash
• settles @160, rest 50 minutes
  
• sparge
• 8qt @170
  

The Boil (80 minutes):

• Add 4qt to bring volume to 28qt (7 gallons)
• 1.5oz Mt Hood (4.1aau) @ 60
• 0.5oz Mt Hood (4.1aau) @ 15
• Total: 27 IBU(ish)
  

Background...

So, Ryan had the idea to become a certified beer judge, and shared the idea with a few fellow beer drinkers, which we of course jumped at. Part of studying for the test is knowing all the various styles and sub-styles inside and out. Somehow in a BJCP discussion, the notion of brewing all 28 styles came up as a way to study.

We all agreed.

After a few bulk grain, hop, and corny keg purchases, we were itching to go. The initial idea was to do all the brews in 2008, but brewers will be brewers... So we started anyways, using the pagan calendar and the the Winter Solstice the commence our endeavor. Given that in the first two weeks we've covered three styles plus an extra sub-style, the sky is the limit!

Check back periodically to see our progress. We'll be posting recipes and tips, as well as our trials and tribulations. Cheers!

26A - Metheglin (spiced mead)

Ryan made a yummy honey liquer, krupnikas, a couple of months ago. I'm trying to replicate that flavor in this spiced mead.

Ingredients:

• 60 grams dried mandarin peel (4 mandarin peels)
  
• 15 grams lemon peel (1 lemon)
• 4 cinnamon sticks, broken in half
• 8 cardamon pods, lightly crushed
• 7 whole cloves
• 1.5 nutmeg nuts, crushed
• 3/4 tsp. white pepper, lightly crushed
• 3/4 tsp. black pepper, lightly crushed
• 1 oz. ginger, peeled and sliced
• 1 gallon (12 pounds) wildflower honey from Millers Honey
• Yeast starter with Red Start Premier Cuvee yeast and yeast nutrient
  
• 1/2 gallon (6 pounds) clover honey from Costco
  

Simmer the dry spices in 1.5 quart of water until fragrant. Add ginger, simmer 5 more minutes, put aside.

I had a yeast starter I made a couple of days ago from the yeast residue from my last batch of mead. I took that out of the fridge to warm up.

Bring 4 gallons of water to 180 degrees. Turn off water. Add honeys and spice mixture. Stir. Let it cool down to 70 degrees, pitch the yeast.

OG - 1.103 (the floating thermometer was floating horizontally on top!). This is right near the top of the range for a standard mead - 1.120 would be a sack mead.
FG - I'm shooting for a semi-dry - 1.010 range.

This is probably going to be very slow - probably a couple of years before it is drinkable.

This should be very different than the other mead - the orange blossom is very light and delicate, while this is very dark, rich, and spicy. I plan on making the orange blossom as dry as I can make it and sparkling, while this one I'll try to leave a little sweet and probably do still. They should be interested to compare to each other.

24A - Traditional Dry Mead

A couple of weeks ago I made a traditional mead

Ingredients:

• 1gallon (12 pounds) orange blossom honey
• 1 pkg. Red Star Premier Cuvee yeast
• 1 tsp. yeast nutrient
• 4.5 gallons of water

This was my first batch of mead.

I made a starter a couple of hours ahead of time with the dry yeast, about a quart of water, and a teaspoon of yeast nutrient.

There seem to be varying ideas on the best way to make mead - some people boil the batch, some heat it to 160 degrees to pasteurize it, and some people don't heat at all (and somethings sulfite to kill any wild yeasts). I took the middle approach.

I heated about 3 gallons of the water to 180 degrees F and took it off the heat. I stirred in the honey and let it sit for 15 minutes. I cooled the batch to about 80 degrees, poured it into the primary, and pitched the yeast starter.

It took about 36 hours to be really active. Five days later I moved it to the secondary and saved the yeast sludge at the bottom to use as a starter for my next batch of mead.

I forgot to get the OG, but it should be about 1.085 based on the amount of honey which is at the very bottom of the OG range of a standard strength mead - any weaker and it would be a hydromel. I'm aiming for a dry mead, so my FG should be under 1.000 - maybe as low as .990. I'm probably going to do this as a sparkling, but it will be a couple more months before it is ready to bottle, and it probably won't be ready to drink until the end of the year.