Maggie Helles - Monday, Dec. 10, 2018
This beer replaces my Brown Porter which I can't brew because Fed-Ex has my supplies. Shipped Dec 4 and still don't have it. I am tossing my Helles wort on top of my SS beer. Either that, or do not brew. No starter, so here goes nothing. May as well as I have a spare carboy with no wine in it, so go for it. Anyway, I will see how this Helles goes as I am using a German Water profile I found off the internet.
Ingredients
13 lbs. UCM
19 g GR NB - 9.9% AA at 60 min.
30 g Hallertauer - 4% AA at 30 min.
30 g Hallertauer - 4% AA at 10 min.
30 g Hallertauer - 4% AA at 0 min.
WLP833 Slurry from my Storey Steamer
No washing of the yeast, just swirled around to get everything in suspension,
and dumped into a new carboy, aerated and that is it. Yes, the wort is not 52 F, but I can't get it down that low. Most likey 62 F, but fridge will be set to 52 F. A D-rest is more important now than ever.
Water Profile - German Brewing water page.
CA - 22
MG - 8
NA - 4
S04 - 31
CI - 39
PH - 5.30
3.4 ML Lactic Acid to mash
.4 ML Lactic Acid to sparge
O.G. - 1.054 - 84%
F.G. -
% -
SRM - 3.5
BU - 30
Since I am using all of the yeast, I can mash for 90 min and get an estimated gravity of around 1.052 - 1.054. More than enough yeast I hope.
BREW DAY NOTES
Mashing for 90 min. Kegging the SS leaving some wort behind to swirl around and into my sanitized carboy. Mash level was high for about 5 minutes and settled down after 15 min. Opened valve to around 2/3 full. I forgot to use the hop bags in the boil. But, this is the first batch that I could even taste a good noble hop aroma in the sweet wort sample. I think I will just toss them in the kettle in the future. Slurry pitched at 12 noon. The false bottom got most of the hops anyway. The lower part didn't have any more gunk on it than usual. No scorching, so no more hop bags.
FERMENTATION NOTES
Brew Day - Started to ferment at 5 pm. Nice. Looks like a NEIPA.
Dec. 11 - Going good. Acting like an ale with a big head of krausen on top.
Dec. 12 - Same, Krausen again in hose, acting like an ale, 3rd lager in a row.
Dec.13 - Same. Rotten egg still here. Started next day.
Dec. 15 - D-rest. Slowed down and it is day 5, so fridge off. Heater on later.
Dec. 16 - Almost done the D-rest. Leaving heat on until absolutely no activity.
Dec. 18 - Done. Turned wall heater off and will toss on bench for 2 weeks or so.
When taking off the thermowell I may as well sample it. No gravity
reading, just a taste to see if it is okay. Oh baby!!! Tastes great. On
bench now for 2 weeks or longer. It even has a Pilsner taste which I
never get with 2-row. Yes, things change as it ages and clears, but this
is the way to go with yeast. I know I can time it to keg on brew day.
Dec. 22 - Clearing slowly. Has a lot of trub at the bottom of the carboy, but that
what I am getting with all beers using the Robobrew. I don't think it
does anything bad to the beer. I do whirlpool after the chill for 45 min. Gotta get it in the carboy sometime, so RDWHAHB.
Jan 1st. - Kegged today. Okay beer. It has lost it's hop aroma and especially the
Pils malt taste which I knew it would using just 2 row. I do think I will
get back some of the flavour after it clears and carbs which may take
2 - 3 weeks by looking at it today. I lowered the BU to 25 and may go
even lower after that.
Jan 4 - Sampled 2 days after gelatin. Clearing somewhat. Taste is very light. Hop
bitterness is still there, a little high though. The hop aroma is low. Need to
fix that, but unsure if adding more hops late in the boil will fix that. I do
not want cloying noble hop taste as it sucks worse than if using US hops.
Jan 11 - Not that great of a beer. I now think that the water profile is not suited
to a Helles. A german pilsner, yes. This is thin tasting, not clearing and
has a water down taste too. Either brew a Pilsner or go with Storey
Steamer. I think Storey Steamer as it has lots of flavour from the
specialty grains which I like way more than this style of beer. Too bad I
have another keg of this stuff, but I do have a Pilsner fermenting away.
Jan 13 - Starting to clear, but the taste is still like a watered down Pilsner. Nope, not using this water profile again. It is not bringing out the malt or hops.
Ingredients
13 lbs. UCM
19 g GR NB - 9.9% AA at 60 min.
30 g Hallertauer - 4% AA at 30 min.
30 g Hallertauer - 4% AA at 10 min.
30 g Hallertauer - 4% AA at 0 min.
WLP833 Slurry from my Storey Steamer
No washing of the yeast, just swirled around to get everything in suspension,
and dumped into a new carboy, aerated and that is it. Yes, the wort is not 52 F, but I can't get it down that low. Most likey 62 F, but fridge will be set to 52 F. A D-rest is more important now than ever.
Water Profile - German Brewing water page.
CA - 22
MG - 8
NA - 4
S04 - 31
CI - 39
PH - 5.30
3.4 ML Lactic Acid to mash
.4 ML Lactic Acid to sparge
O.G. - 1.054 - 84%
F.G. -
% -
SRM - 3.5
BU - 30
Since I am using all of the yeast, I can mash for 90 min and get an estimated gravity of around 1.052 - 1.054. More than enough yeast I hope.
BREW DAY NOTES
Mashing for 90 min. Kegging the SS leaving some wort behind to swirl around and into my sanitized carboy. Mash level was high for about 5 minutes and settled down after 15 min. Opened valve to around 2/3 full. I forgot to use the hop bags in the boil. But, this is the first batch that I could even taste a good noble hop aroma in the sweet wort sample. I think I will just toss them in the kettle in the future. Slurry pitched at 12 noon. The false bottom got most of the hops anyway. The lower part didn't have any more gunk on it than usual. No scorching, so no more hop bags.
FERMENTATION NOTES
Brew Day - Started to ferment at 5 pm. Nice. Looks like a NEIPA.
Dec. 11 - Going good. Acting like an ale with a big head of krausen on top.
Dec. 12 - Same, Krausen again in hose, acting like an ale, 3rd lager in a row.
Dec.13 - Same. Rotten egg still here. Started next day.
Dec. 15 - D-rest. Slowed down and it is day 5, so fridge off. Heater on later.
Dec. 16 - Almost done the D-rest. Leaving heat on until absolutely no activity.
Dec. 18 - Done. Turned wall heater off and will toss on bench for 2 weeks or so.
When taking off the thermowell I may as well sample it. No gravity
reading, just a taste to see if it is okay. Oh baby!!! Tastes great. On
bench now for 2 weeks or longer. It even has a Pilsner taste which I
never get with 2-row. Yes, things change as it ages and clears, but this
is the way to go with yeast. I know I can time it to keg on brew day.
Dec. 22 - Clearing slowly. Has a lot of trub at the bottom of the carboy, but that
what I am getting with all beers using the Robobrew. I don't think it
does anything bad to the beer. I do whirlpool after the chill for 45 min. Gotta get it in the carboy sometime, so RDWHAHB.
Jan 1st. - Kegged today. Okay beer. It has lost it's hop aroma and especially the
Pils malt taste which I knew it would using just 2 row. I do think I will
get back some of the flavour after it clears and carbs which may take
2 - 3 weeks by looking at it today. I lowered the BU to 25 and may go
even lower after that.
Jan 4 - Sampled 2 days after gelatin. Clearing somewhat. Taste is very light. Hop
bitterness is still there, a little high though. The hop aroma is low. Need to
fix that, but unsure if adding more hops late in the boil will fix that. I do
not want cloying noble hop taste as it sucks worse than if using US hops.
Jan 11 - Not that great of a beer. I now think that the water profile is not suited
to a Helles. A german pilsner, yes. This is thin tasting, not clearing and
has a water down taste too. Either brew a Pilsner or go with Storey
Steamer. I think Storey Steamer as it has lots of flavour from the
specialty grains which I like way more than this style of beer. Too bad I
have another keg of this stuff, but I do have a Pilsner fermenting away.
Jan 13 - Starting to clear, but the taste is still like a watered down Pilsner. Nope, not using this water profile again. It is not bringing out the malt or hops.
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