Maggie Marzen - Monday, October 31st., 2022 ( more like an Altbier )

                                                    

 Ingredients

7 lbs. Pils 

3 lbs. Munich I

2 lbs. Vienna

2 ozs. Special III ( should of not used any of this malt )

2 ozs. Acid Malt

10 g Magnum at 60 min.

47 g Hallertau at 60 min.

35 g Hallertau at 5 min.

WLP830 German Lager ( make a starter on Oct. 17. ( 3 step starter with over build )

Yeast Specs - 56F to 64F

Step 1 - .75 L - use 72 g DME

Step 2 - 1.25 L - use 120 g DME

Step 3 - 2.25 L - use 216 g DME

Made the step 1 starter on Oct. 17.

Made the step 2 starter on Oct. 23.

Made the step 3 starter on Oct. 26

O.G. - 1.048

F.G. -

% -

SRM - 8.9

BU -    40

Water Profile - The Electric Brewery

MASH SALTS

Gyp - 1 g

 CI -   2.2 g

Eps -  2.2 g

BOIL SALTS

Gyp - 1 g

CI -    2 g

Eps -  2 g

LACTIC ACID IN SPARGE 

.2 ml

CA - 50

MG - 10

S04 - 70

CI - 70

PH - 5.42

Looks like my yeast starter didn't start. No foam, no bubbles, nothing. No change in the colour either. I will give it 2 days and check the gravity. 

                                                    UPDATE ON STARTER

Woke up to bubbles, no foam but lots of activity in the starter. I almost tossed it. So I am going to brew this beer on Halloween. Step 1 is done. The next 2 steps have to work right away or you have to switch recipes and leave this one for later. 2 hours later and it seems to be doing fine. I removed 1 L of starter to a mason jar and tossed the brew day starter in another mason jar for Oct. 31st.

                                                   BREW DAY NOTES

A non-eventful brew day. Everything went as normal as normal should. Have to clean up inside as it is raining out now. Wort SRM looks like a stout but it seems to be where a 9 srm beer should be.

                                                   NEXT DAY OBSERVATIONS

Not much to observe, no activity the next morning. It has been 26 hours now and it should be doing something. I realize it can take anywhere up to 2 or 3 days to get going. Come on, do something.

Next Day -  Pitched yeast on Nov. 1st at 6 am. It's alive. Finally got a good krausen on Nov. 3rd at 6 am. Now that took around 48 hours. Now get to work and make a great beer.

Nov. 3 - Going fine, finally. Came home after hockey and it is going real good.

Nov. 4 - Gone to Dorchester

Nov. 5 - Gone to Dorchester

Nov. 6 - Leaving Dorchester during the day sometime.

Nov. 7 - Turned off the fridge. 66F late that night.

Nov. 8 -  68F after hockey. Turned on fridge to get it down to 66F. Beer fart smell is evident now.

Nov. 10 - Slowed down a lot. Bubbling every 30 seconds. Not done yet.

Nov. 12 - Still bubbling every 30 seconds. If I need the fridge, I will toss on bench to make room

                for my next brew. I won't ramp down, just let it sit there for awhile. This is my Xmas

                beer so there is no hurry at all to keg it.

Nov. 13 - Same.

Nov. 14 - Moved it to the bench to make room for my brown ale today. Sampled this when I moved it.

                Well, no Pils malt taste, but no astrigent taste and no funny malt flavour as of yet. Bland?

                Yes, but that is not a bad thing. I have to wait for this to age and carb up. Beer tastes way

                different when it is carbed up. Hope it stays this way. Not really to my liking though. I

                should of gone with a Festbier, but this is fine as now I can brew a Pilsner. Yea, I guess 

                used too much Special III. As long as it is a clean lager I will be pleased with it.

                                                             On Bench

Finally getting around to kegging this on Nov. 23. In Pub room. Will transfer when clear, no hurry.

                                                          TASTE

The sample was very clean, but kind of roasty. 2 ozs. of Special III is the cause. Removed it for future Marzens. Other than that, yea, a real clean beer which I was all along looking for. 

Added gelatin on kegging day and tossed in the pub room. Takes my beer 7 days or longer to

clear. Brulosophy's beer takes 2 days. I don't know how he does it, unless he is fibbing.

Will transfer in a week or so and carb up. I currently have no homebrew ready to sample. (:

May sample today to see how it is clearing. Need to take down dead xmas lights. Not

buying any replacements, it will be a dark xmas here. It rained so I can do it this week. No

rain for a day or so and then wet snow/rain showers. Get r done.

Sample from the Pub Room Keg - Not clear yet. 48 hrs. like Brulosophy? Never seen it.

Still clean, but a little too much Special III. What's done is done I guess. I can transfer

to another keg anytime since I have all fridges on. DONE.

Carbing up now for 2 days, so giving it a whirl now to see how it is tasting. It is a lager

so it may need more time. I wish I didn't add any black malt. It isn't as dark as it seemed

to be. Nice colour and great head. Still too roasty but what is done is done. Move on...

Technically, this is a good beer. I have to start to really think about what I am brewing

for now on. Starting to mellow out now, but no, not ever brewing a Marzen again. It

is cleaner than my Xmas Helles though.