Stewart Line Pilsner - Nova Lager Yeast - Friday, January 12, 2024

Magster in 2017

Pay attention to the strike temp for your mash. You may be mashing too low.

First time using this yeast. Should of used it as soon as it was available which was maybe in 2022. When I asked a lot of questions about this yeast, I got many answers. Ferment this at 14 C - 58 F during the entire ferment until it is done. No D rest needed with this yeast. Okay, hard to get my head around that, but I will set it and forget it. I still want to ferment this for 3 weeks because it is still a lager and maybe that part is still true, even for this super lager yeast. Since this yeast costs $11 per sachet I will definitely wash this and save it to re-use it in further batches. Need to buy mason jars.

All set to go, OBK has sent my order and should get it this week. Brew Day ON!

They sent me LD Carlson hops which have an AA of only 1.8%. Lowest I have ever seen. Germany has had a bad hop growing season the last couple of years so I will have to get used to it. Surprised though.

                                                 Researching Nova Lager Yeast

After many You Tube videos and such I will just brew this and hope for the best. I will ferment at least 14 days and keg when it is absolutely finished. Wash the yeast and toss the jars in the fridge. Wait and see how this tastes first before going ahead and brewing another batch. I just want a nice lager with no sulphur or diacetyl. Maybe it won't be as crisp as other lager yeast, but if I get no lager off flavours that is enough for me. It has to taste good, that is the bottom line. Rack, filter etc... It has to be good a week later or even 2 weeks later. That seems to be when it all goes south. Tastes great when kegged and after that it sucks. Either oxidation, or just a regular timeline for beer to go south if it is at all. After 1 or 2 weeks after carbing up and it is still good, then it will be good to the last drop. I will do a closed transfer every time I keg beer. I have to find a way to transfer with regular hoses connecting to a quick disconnect. I have done it in the past. I think I used a smaller hose I use to filter my wine. Will check on it.

Ingredients for a Canadian Pilsner

Weyermann Pils - ( 95.7% ) 11 lbs.

CaraFoam Dextrine - ( 4.3% ) 8 ozs.

Magnum - 13.30% AA for 60 min. ( 21 g )

Hallertauer - 1.8% AA for 15 min. ( 40 g )

Hallertauer - 1.8% AA for 1 min. ( 40 g )

Nova Lager dry yeast - 2 sachets

O.G. - 1.046

F.G. -  1.006

% -      5.26

SRM - 3.2

BU - 36

Water Profile - The Electric Brewery

CA - 59

MG - 9

S04 - 93

CI - 63

PH - 5.30

I have never made a decent lager using his water profile and won't use it again.

Mash Water Volume - 5.50 gallons

Sparge Water Volume - 5 gallons

Mash

Gyp - 2.3 g

CI - 2.2 g 

Eps - 2 g

Lactic Acid - 2.2 ml

Boil

Gyp - 2 g

CI - 1.8 g

Eps - 1.7 g

Sparge - .2 ml

                                                                     BREW DAY NOTES

I am close to mashing too low. I may of mashed too low with my lagers, but I think I mashed at 152F. It all started with switching from F to C. Go back to F for now on. I am going to go ahead and ferment this as I went through my mash temps since it was only a few hours ago and I did mash at 69C which is going to get me at 149F according to the Promash Strike Temp calculator.

FOR NOW ON, ADD THE STRIKE TEMP TO YOUR LIST IN THE BREW BOOK

Day 1 - Not much going on.

Day 2 - 15 hours later is when it most likely started to go. I was sleeping.

                Smells fine, lots of hop smells. 58 F. A big thick krausen also. May

                have to switch to a blow off hose if it gets any higher. I didn't think I

                needed to do this since it is a lager. However, it is a work horse

                according to my research. 

Day 3 - Still going good. No blow off yet. Will let this finish at 58F.

Day 4 - Krausen falling now. Still somewhat active though. 17 days to go.

Day 5 - Active every 30 seconds or so. Yellow looking now. Still smell a

                strong hop smell which is fine. May as well wait this one out and let

                it do it's thing for another 2 weeks. Wish I had another carboy. When

                it gets almost done I definitely want to sample it for taste. Do not

               go out and buy any mason jars until you taste it. Even then, my 2

               lagers tasted great until I cleared them and that is when the god

               awful taste came out. I am filtering this batch just after I keg it.

                                                 SAMPLE ON JAN 22

Even though in the past my 2 lagers that sucked tasted great when I kegged them, I am going to sample this one today. I think I will toss this on the bench if it is done to just let it age for another couple of weeks. If good I will continue on making lagers, and if not, well, you know what to do. Good luck Jim... Not a Pilsner for sure. No Pils taste. Bitterness is there, not 36 though. I taste a small harsh taste which hopefully is just the hops. Would like to brew another one in the summer. I am going to toss the yeast trub in a gallon jug and toss it in the fridge. Not sure how long I can keep it like that. 

Keg around Feb. 5th or so, whenever it is quiet around here.

I thought about just making ONE style of beer and tweaking it so that is the best beer I can make. Well, that hasn't happened at all. Now though, I think I am finally making a decision on that beer. It is this one. Nova Lager yeast changed my mind. I haven't kegged it and cleared and carbed it yet, so the decision isn't totally made yet. I will know in a week. That way, I can wash the yeast only once and make a big starter with an over build. I can do all that, but I am sure there will be a few bumps along the way though. I think there is nothing like a good Pilsner beer all year.

                                                    TASTE ON KEGGING DAY

Seems fine. Not a lot of bitterness but it may change when filtered and carbed up later on. No off flavours yet but you never know. Definitely a better lager than my last 2 lagers. Must of screwed up the starters some how. Easy to do, just a bug that got in. They tasted weird though, not like an infection, just an off taste that I can't figure out. Hated them though.

                                                          CARBED 2 L BOTTLE

No ready yet. Has to age.

                                                        Carbing Up the Keg

Getting better every day. If you decide to brew lagers with this yeast, it has to be a lite beer. Nope, last one. 

                                            FINAL TASTINGS

Nope, this sucks too. Not really any off flavours, but just a shitty lager.