Brew Day - Helles turned India Pale Lager

Using new brewing software and taking a break from homebrewing for several months can lead to mistakes. Today I intended to brew a Munich Helles, but I evidently forgot to specify the amount of Munich malt I intended to use, despite entering the malt into the recipe in Brewer's Friend. So the recipe thought my total grain bill was 8.5 and I was thinking it was 10. Brewer's Friend therefore was telling me to anticipate an OG of around 1.48-50. And ABV below 5%. Perfect for a Helles. I added 10 pounds of grain to my mash tun and started mashing. I then discovered my failure to enter the amount of Munich malt. Once I did, I saw I could anticipate a 1.060 OG and a 6% ABV beer. My last Helles ended up like this (more like a Maibock I guess). I had a dilemma: either brew a different style of beer, accept the beer as is, or dilute it. Diluting would have given me the desired OG and ABV, but I would have ended up with an extra gallon of wort. Rather than mess with that, I decided I would try an IPL, something I've never made before. IPL seems to be a fairly recent style, as until a few years ago hoppy beers (at least with American hops) were fermented with ale yeast and lagers tended to be less hoppy, malty beers. A crisp beer with pungent, fruity hops makes for a tasty beer.

I recall having fresh Alpine Duet a few years back and enjoyed the combination of Amarillo and Simcoe hops. I had these on hand (2016 crop) and decided to use them. I kind of regretted not making use of the 2015 Nelson Sauvin hops that have been in my freezer for about three years. Maybe that can be the next beer, assuming this one turns out okay.

I used the yeast from the gallon batch I made last weekend. The beer fermented by that yeast only attenuated to 1.018, from a starting gravity of 1.034. I assume the low apparent attenuation is due to my mash procedures and not the yeast, but I suppose I'll find out for sure in a week or so when today's beer should be nearing the end of fermentation. OG was 1.058-1060, pretty close to my target, but I was off on my volume for some reason. I ended at around 4.67 gallons. IBUs were off from my Brewer's Friend calculator, as the Alpha Acids in my hops were higher than the preset values in the software. But the wort sample I tried was not unpleasantly bitter. All in all, I think this will be a good batch of beer, to quote Don Osborn.

Brew day: hoppy helles / helles / German pilsner / starter

I read about Schlafly Brewing's Lunar Lager pack a month or two ago and was intrigued. The bottle designs are really cool, as is the packaging. Further, in recent years, lagers have become some of my favorite beers to drink. So I bought this variety pack and have sampled all of the beers. One - the Liftoff Lager - is a German kellerbier. I noticed when I poured out the beer that there was a significant layer of yeast at the bottom of the bottle. I've cultured up bottle yeast before (e.g. Chainbreaker Belgian yeast, Saison Dupont, etc.) and these have always been fun projects. It affords you access to a yeast you may not otherwise be able to obtain and it's also a means of obtaining yeast without having to pay for it at the homebrew shop.

So, I added some table sugar and water to the bottle and waited. After a few days, it had fermented the sugar water so I added more sugar and waited some more. Finally, last week I cooked down some solidified dry malt extract, decanted the sugar water mixture, and added wort and the yeast to a mason jar. It took a day or two to get started, but fermented out pretty well, and the yeast settled to the bottom. Schlafly told me via Facebook message that the yeast they used is WLP830 German Lager, which is apparently Wyeast 2124 or W34/70. I have used 34/70 before, so I was slightly disappointed to learn the yeast is the same strain I had used before (albeit from a different brand). I sampled the resultant beer. No apparent off flavors. Sweet, perhaps a little under-attenuated.

I figured the amount of yeast I had was too little for a full five gallon batch, so I decided I would try a one-gallon batch to step up the yeast again. I had purchased 10 pounds of Avangard pils malt recently, so I decided I would use that malt and make a helles. I came up with a recipe using the Brewers Friend iphone app (RIP Brewtoad), which is easy to use and had the added benefit of being free. This is my first one-gallon batch.

To further simplify things, I decided to brew in a bag and mash for 30 minutes instead of a full hour. I have used the BIAB method only one other time and it was a long time ago, so I needed to recalculate mash volumes. I ended up going with the same calculator I always use, but scaled down to one gallon. The spreadsheet told me to mash with a total of 2.4 gallons. I mashed for 30 minutes in the upper 150s/160. I aimed for about 152 but overshot.

I was concerned I might have too much volume, so I boiled for 15 minutes before starting the 60-minute boil timer. I started the timer and at the 20-minute mark (40 minutes remaining) I added .5 oz Hallertau Hersbrucker hops. At around 15 minutes I added just a pinch of Irish Moss. At flameout I added an additional .5 oz hops. I chilled to about 80, decanted the beer from the yeast, swirled it around, and pitched it. OG was way off from the calculated value. It was supposed to be 1.043 and I got 1.034. I did end up with extra volume (maybe 1.25-33 gallon) so I don't think I will attribute the lower OG to a reduced mash time.

The wort is very cloudy. Usually my beers are very clear going into the fermenter. This could be due to the shorter mash or the minimal amount of Irish Moss. Either way, I am anticipating a cloudy beer. And a watery beer. This low OG is going to make for a very low ABV beer. And fairly hoppy too. The wort tasted pretty floral and was not overly bitter. This beer so far is not quite turning out what I wanted it to be, but that's ok. Ultimately I'm building a starter for a five-gallon batch on down the road. Cheers!