Maggie Helles - Monday, April 24, 2023 - Sulphur
This is a fast ferment to eliminate the dreaded diacetyl in lagers. Fermentation schedule will be down in my notes. This is what I am brewing a lot this year, so get it right. My notes from 2020 when covid hit when I made this same, exact beer. I did a D rest on Day 7. The beer was good. Repeat that...
IMPORTANT INFORMATION ON OBK
Their shipping is out of control. For years they were the cheapest around. Not at this time, actually by a long shot. Urban Winery in Guelph was $25 cheaper. I didn't go there because they were always more. Big difference. I am not going to use OBK any more. After this bag I am going to use Urban Winery for all of my homebrew purchases. Not sure what is going on with OBK, but they have priced themselves out of my pocket book. Urban Winery Pils malt went from $80 to $94. WTF? Even so, they are still cheaper than OBK because of shipping. I have to really shop around, but stores are closing just like in the states.
11 lbs. Pils Malt
6 ozs. Vienna
6 ozs. Munich I
40 g Hallertauer at 60 min.
WLP830 ( starter #1 )
I should be able to make a 3.25 L starter 3 weeks after brew day to get the proper amount of yeast cells with over build. Do this 5 times. This will get you to the fall, but only if it is good.
CA - 22
MG - 8
S04 - 31
CI - 39
PH - 5.30
Water Profile - 4 Dog Brewery
Mash Water - 6.5 gallons
Sparge Water - 5 gallons ( only using 2 gallons or less )
Mash
CI - 1.4 g
Eps - 2 g
3 ml Lactic Acid
Sparge
.2 ml Lactic Acid
Boil
CI - 1.1 g
Eps - 1.5 g
O.G. - 1.042 ( instead of 46. I did add too much water from the sparge, duh! )
F.G. - 1.008
% - 4.5
SRM - 3.4
BU - 18
I have to make a 3 step starter because of course it is 114 days old. All liquid yeast I get from OBK is old. I think I will switch to Excarpment Labs in Guelph. Cost is less than OBK because they raised their lager liquid yeast from White Labs to $16.00. Seems that everything is expensive from them.
500 ml starter on March 11
1 litre starter on April 9 ( pitched at 10 am )
3 litre starter on April 17 - ( cool in the house today, may take longer to finish )
I have plenty of yeast for the first batch.
Take out 1 L from the 3rd step for an over build.
STARTER IN FRIDGE ON APRIL 19
I removed 1 L for future a future starter. I should be able to do just a 3+ L starter for now on. I set or estimated the mill to a setting of .035. This is basically between .25 and .50. Kind of closer to 25 than 50. Stop a lot to take a look at it and use an empty pail every time you do that to take a good look at the crush. Had a hard time adjusting the mill. I was going the wrong way with the dial. Got it good now.
BREW DAY NOTES
I added too much sparge water to the robobrew. I was over 8 gallons. Still I think I didn't over sparge. Will see. Drained a gallon to the 7.5 gallon stage. Will test the gravity and taste the wort to see if it is astringent or funny tasting like my Blonde Ale. Next brew I will add my silicone hose to the robobrew tap and secure it up to the top of the robobrew where it can give me a better look at the level. I have about an inch or more of trub on the bottom of my carboy. First time for this much. Not sure why so much now after 5 years of using Mr. Robobrew. I did have some small bits from the early part of adjusting the mill so that may of got through the screens. I may start to use the big huge funnel with a screen to see if get some stuff. You do want some trub, just not an inch and a half though. Wort tasted fine though.
FERMENTATION NOTES
Next Day - Pitched WLP830 at 8 am. Won't see much until tomorrow sometime. 53F.
Day 1 - Not much going on. A little krausen on top and a little bubbling.
Day 2 - Good thick head of krausen. Seems fine. Waiting to do a d rest in about 5 days.
Day 3 - Thick head is still there and I see steady bubbling. No fart smell yet. 52 F. The
temperature varies upon where the temp controller is. 10C to 12 C. My STC100
is not an accurate measurement. Just hope the temp strip is doing it's job.
May 1 - D rest today. On the bench. Smelled a lot of beer farts, so it is definitely time for it.
May 2 - Still bubbling away but slower. 68 F. Monitor the temp to keep it at 68 F. When it
is done, shut heat off and leave it there until it hits 3 weeks or around there. Next
one will include ramp ups and downs.
Sampled a Smidgeon on May 4
Cleared up a bit. No sulphur smell in the sample. It is a real nice Helles. 2 weeks to go before kegging.
No off flavours. ( as of yet ) It really cleaned up itself considering it was a
sulphur bomb just a day or so ago. Now I can relax and keep brewing Maggie Helles
beers until I exhaust the yeast and then make a decision on what to brew. If this is any
indication of my beers, I think I will stick with WLP830.
KEGGED MAY 13
Done. Had a hard time with my best keg ( green ). The in would not stop leaking. Did not see any reason why it leaked. Put in a fitting in the gas input. I used an older poppet and it did work. I could of just put it in the corner and labeled it do not use. Fixed it. Not going to be the final keg any way. Beer is fine, way different than any Helles I have made. Slightly cloying but it is still in the fermenter and only 13 days into it. Gelatin tomorrow and we will see by next Friday how it is going to taste. Remember, this is the only style you are brewing this year. I can't see brewing something else that will turn out okay. The 2 kegs you are serving on July 21st have to be cleared and aged well.
GELATIN ON SUNDAY MAY 14
CARBING UP ON MAY 19
I think I have some sulphur in this beer. It is slowly coming out but will know more after the keg is carbed up. No wonder if I do because the d rest lasted only one day. For now on I am starting the d rest on day 4. Yea, it is coming out more in the pop bottles. Poop... Not a strong sulphur aroma, but it is there. It may get worse as time goes by from what I have read.
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