Maggie Helles - Saturday, December 2, 2023 - TOSSED - TOO MUCH SULPHUR
Almost the same recipe as the last one. Slight change in hops as an inventory adjustment. Brewday was Thursday, nope, changed it to Friday, nope, now changed it to Saturday. I got it in!! A lot of issues around here the last day or so, but I dam well got it in. I am going to filter this just after I keg it. Again, I won't get to age this that much but this is my last one and I really do not care what it tastes like, my last lager. I can still age it after filtering.
F.G. -
% -
SRM - 3.4
BU - 23
Last batch was only 1.044. I used too much sparge water, so watch it carefully this time. I had 2 - 3 L left over in Mr. Robobrew.
Heat up the mash water to 71C.
Mash at 66 C.
I mashed too low. Should of been 75C instead of 71C. For some reason it screws around with the enzymes in the barley. I switched to Celsius when I made my first lager. Dummy!! Pat Attention!!
Ingredients
11 lbs. Pils Malt
8 ozs. Vienna
8 ozs. CaraFoam
56 g Hallertauer at 60 min.
5 g Saaz at 60 min.
Biergarten yeast - 3.25 L starter with 500 ml over build. After evaporation left with slightly less than 3 L total starter.
I have the big mouth fermenter cleaned to use for this beer. I will do a ramp up for a d rest but will NOT do any ramping down. I will let it sit on the bench and keg from there when the time comes. If I am not making another one, I can let it sit longer. It all depends on what we are doing at the time.
MADE A 3.25 L STARTER ON NOV. 26
Glad we sit out hockey on Nov. 30. The starter is dark brown for some reason. Acting normal on the stir plate though. Busy trying to buy a truck right now, but still hope to brew this. No matter, I haven't milled the grains yet. I can make beer on Nov. 30 as the truck won't be certified until next Monday. Milled grains on Nov. 30.
YEAST STARTER IN 500 ML JAR ON NOV. 28.
I don't really have a lot of yeast slurry in the 500 ml jar or the actual starter in the 5 L flask. I hope it has enough to do the job. Making a 4 L starter for now on. I may have to do it in 2 stages. Fine, I have the smaller flasks to do it.
BREW DAY NOTES
I had a hard time dissolving the salts in the small pitcher. I will not heat them up next time and see if they dissolve any better. I will then use the microwave and try that.
PITCHED BIERGARTEN AT 9 AM DEC. 3
Later that day - Some activity around 6 pm. Kinda surprised by that.
Day 1 - Going good for a lager. Very slowly ramping them down. 52 F. Not touching it again. Leaving it there until I do a ramp up which will be around Friday, Dec. 8. I am going to just shut the fridge off and opening the door to let it get to hopefully around 66 F. Nothing I can do except to shut door and turning on the wall heater the day of the wedding. After that I plan on filtering this as I am short of time and not liking the taste of my lite beer when I use gelatin. I can filter this after xmas in one of the off days when the Juniors don't play. As far as making beer, I may skip it as I don't need it for New Years. Making another batch soon after though. We sit out at hockey on Jan. 2, so I can make beer then if I feel like it. Things will be back to normal around here by then.
D REST ON DEC. 8
Sat. Dec. 9 - 68F. Letting it finish there and age it until around Xmas or so.
Sun. Dec. 10 - 70 F. Turned off fridge. Activity is slow.
Mon. Dec. 11 - Still 68 F.
Tues. Dec. 12 - Ramping down 1C at a time.
Thurs. Dec. 14 - 54F. I will ramp down very slowly to avoid suck back. Will go
only to 50 F and leave it there until Dec. 18. Keg, cool and
filter around Dec. 22. Best I can do on short notice.
Kegged on December 20
Not as clean as the previous one and it was full of diacetyl. I assume this is as bad as it was. Will filter in a day or so but if any hints of that dreaded diacetyl I will dump it. This is my last lager for sure. Ingredients are just way too expensive along with shipping to beat a dead horse trying to brew the perfect lager. May try again sometime, but not in 2024. I am going to give UK beer styles a real good go and see what I get. No beer gas though as I have decided that I will save my money for ingredients instead of wasting it on that. Times have certainly changed since I bought beer gas on a regular basis over 10 years ago. I never thought about it, just bought it. Can't do that anymore.
UPDATE
Sampled on Dec. 22. No diacetyl yet. No gelatin and I am not using it. Almost clear so I just went ahead and carbed it up. Taste is slightly sweet with some bitterness in the end. So it looks like I have some beer for Xmas. Quite sick of buying it, want to drink my own beer for now on.
Update No. 2
Diacetyl. Now that didn't take long. Seem to get it when I carb it up.
FINAL UPDATE
I think the diacetyl is almost gone but was replaced with an unpleasant taste. I will leave it until I need the fridge for my Blonde Ale. Had a taste on Jan. 7. Starting to lose the off flavour a little bit. Not tossing it out just yet. Just before I tossed this on January 11, I sampled it. It has a strong sulphur taste. Makes me fart too. Hope I never get a beer like this again. Tossed out.
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