Random lager - or just a lighter dunkel?

So often in brewing I reach a point where I have a little bit of a variety of different ingredients. I had a bunch of munich and pilsner on hand but not enough to make anything for which I'd need a substantial amount of either of those. So I just threw a bunch of grains together: munich, dark munich, pilsner. And caramunich II and carafa iii for color.

I didn't intend to adhere to any specific style in brewing this beer, and in fact, I was deliberately avoiding a particular style. Nonetheless, it occurred to me later on that I had basically made another dunkel. This one is much lighter and less sweet, having a FG of 1.008.

It's a solid beer. Good color, good clarity and flavor.

This beer is the first one I've clarified with gelatin. I kegged it on July 11 and the next night I added 1/4 cup and about a teaspoon of gelatin to the keg. About 20 hours later -- obviously less than the recommended 24 hours -- I drew off a pint or two of yeasty clumpy beer and discarded it. From there on, the beer has cleared up quite well. I think I will use it on all pale or semi-pale lagers going forward. It seems to create clear beer much more quickly than my typical method, which is to let the keg sit in the fridge for awhile. But I can't resist drinking/sampling the beer, so the first half or 2/3 of the keg is cloudy and yeasty and not as good as the last 1/3, which is bright and delicious. But by then the beer is nearly gone.

I don't mind cloudy beer for pale ales and IPAs. The hops are so prominent that any protein or yeast in suspension is overridden. But I have found that lagers need to be clear in order to taste right. They need crispness that only comes from clear beer.

Flavor: caramel. Malt. Moderate sweetness. No hops. Lager tanginess and crispness.

Appearance: deep amber. Good clarity.

Overall: pretty solid beer for something that I just threw together. It's fairly dry, so it's quite drinkable on a hot day.

https://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/lager-37e65e

On another note, I really wish there were more "craft" lagers available to purchase. Right now it seems mostly what you see is IPAs, stouts, and sours. I think lagers are quietly making a resurgence though. For example, Stone, of all breweries, just came out with a pilsner. More and more you'll see them on the shelves. They're really delicious beers and are quite underrated.

I think someone looking to get into commercial brewing could carve out a niche by specializing on lagers. Sure, there are some that already do that, but the vast majority focus on ales. Which leads to a lot of "sameness." After awhile, an IPA starts to taste the same everywhere you go. Make it pale and use popular fruit-forward hops. That's the current trend. You see that everywhere and they taste the same. But you just don't see lagers all that much. A nice helles somewhere? Rare. A Vienna lager? Nope. A dunkel? What? The world of lager is vast and overlooked; that needs to change.

Update: This beer looking (and tasting) really nice on a hot day: http://imgur.com/93tWVH7.

helles version 2

Helles #1 turned out to be a disaster, due to brewer packaging error. All that research and waiting time for naught.

Before I realized a paper clip in the keg ruined that beer, I decided I'd give helles another shot, before perhaps just giving up on lagers altogether. So I brewed a very simple smash helles. Simply Rahr pilsner malt and hallertau hops.

After it was brewed, I dumped helles #1 and found the paper clip, which lifted my spirits, as I realized there wasn't a problem with my water or brewing process. Again I was encouraged when my dunkel turned out really well.

This beer was in the fermenter for about four weeks. Brewed on May 22; kegged on June 20. It stayed in the fermenter longer that I intended. I worried that that might have a negative impact on the beer. But I don't think it did. I tried a sample of the beer as it was being kegged (and thus warm and flat) and it tasted like warm, stale beer. That was concerning. But it tastes great now that it's cold, carbonated, and cleared up.

OG was 1.050, volume at about 5.25 gallons. Racked onto yeast cake that fermented the dunkel and helles #1. FG was 1.012.

I'm still trying to achieve something that tastes like Kansas City Bier Company helles or Weihenstephaner Original Premium. I'm not there yet. But this is a good beer. It reminds me of Gordon Biersch's Golden Export, which uses the same yeast and hops as mine (not sure what grain they use).

I've found that these beers just need to clear up to taste good. I don't really think there's any magic that happens with "lagering." Given time, gravity, and low temperatures, yeast, protein, hops, and other particulates will drop out of suspension, leaving behind a clear, crisp, clean, flavorful beer.

Clarity is important for this style of beer. In my opinion, a lager should be crisp, and it simply won't be crisp if it's hazy and yeasty.

Appearance: Very clear, but not crystal clear. Clearing with every pint drawn from the keg. Golden, with a faint haze.

Taste: Grain. Maybe a touch of astringency. Clean. No diacetyl, no off flavors. No hops. Except maybe a touch of a metallic hop flavor. NOT a paper clip this time. Grass. Hay. Bread. Little in the way of hop flavor. But there is a certain metallic flavor there. Incidentally, I had a miller lite in Myrtle Beach a few weeks ago. It tasted kind of like this beer. Not sure what to make of that. I'd be curious to find out what the PH of this beer is. It's got just the slightest touch of crisp, tanginess that a typical lager has.

Aroma: a hint of sulfur. grain. malt sweetness.

Overall, I'm pleased with this beer. I would definitely brew it again. I am fermenting these with a swamp cooler and ice bottles. I encourage anyone to give lagers a try.

https://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/munich-helles-version-2