Bayou Beer

All about beer brewing and drinking in South Louisiana.

2023 Bavarian Pilsner

September 2nd, 2023

Keeping with the German beers. I did after all buy an entire 55lb sack of Viking brand pilsner malt. It’s time to try a Bavarian pilsner. One of my favorite styles of beer to enjoy during the Fall. I really hope this Viking brand malt turns out to be enjoyable. It was significantly less expensive than other traditional German malts. Made in Finland. Guess we’ll see how well they do pilsner malt!

Recipe Details

Batch Size	Boil Time	IBU	SRM	Est. OG	Est. FG	ABV
6.5 gal	90 min	32.2 IBUs	4.4 SRM	1.049	1.011	5.0 %

Style Details

Name	Cat.	OG Range	FG Range	IBU	SRM	Carb	ABV
Bohemian Pilsener	34	1.044 - 1.056	1.014 - 1.02	30 - 45	3 - 7	2.2 - 2.8	4.1 - 5.1 %

Fermentables

Name	Amount	%
Viking Pilsner Malt	13 lbs	96.3
Carahell (Weyermann)	8 oz	3.7

Hops

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Form	Alpha %
Hallertauer Mittelfrueh	2.5 oz	60 min	Boil	Pellet	4
Hallertauer Mittelfrueh	1 oz	0 min	Boil	Pellet	4

Yeast

Name	Lab	Attenuation	Temperature
Saflager Lager (W-34/70)	DCL/Fermentis	75%	48°F - 59°F

Mash

Step	Temperature	Time
Mash In	152°F	60 min

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Hefeweizen for 2023

August 13th, 2023

It’s been nearly a year since I last brewed as best I can tell This is hard to believe. I could’ve sworn I brewed a beer in 2023 but who knows. Time flies when you have a family. In any event, I’m back for now. I bought a 55lb sack of pilsner from Morebeer along with several German base grains. A pound of Hallertau and a few different yeasts. I will be brewing at least 5 beers this year starting with this Hefeweizen.

I also bought a new malt mill from Morebeer. LA Homebrew closing has caused me to have to go back to milling my own again. I previously had the Jack Schmidt Maltmill. It still works, and is still heavy duty but never had a reasonable hopper. Rather than build one, I did the only reasonable thing, I bought a Barley Crusher mill with the 15 lb hopper. A much smaller mill but it got the job done really well.

The brew day went fairly well. I had to make a few modifications on the fly. The pre-boil volume and efficiency were coming in low, likely because I’m not in tune with the new mill yet. I supplemented with pilsner DME and modified the hopping time to ensure the bitterness came in right. Last thing you want is a bitter Hefeweizen. Currently cooling it down to 62F to pitch the starter I made.

I’ve been doing a mental toughness/discipline challenge known as the #75hard. It involves no alcohol for 75 days. I’m about 25 days out. So planning on having this guy done by then to celebrate finishing that. It’s also my wife’s favorite style of German beer. And this will be done for the September/October season when those beers are the thing. Really looking forward to it. And glad to be brewing again.

Update 8/19/2023

So fermentation went very well as best I can tell. Pitched after the wort sat in the tank for about 6 hours to let it get down to pitching temperature. Pitched the starter and it was rolling in less than 6 hours. The fermentation stayed pretty steady for about 5 days before starting to fall out of suspension. I’ve yet to take a final gravity reading as we’re at about 7 days. I am now doing something different, in addition to using the temperature controllers, I’m using wifi temperature/humidity sensors to monitor the temperature of my fermentation and kegerator at all times. I want multiple points of monitoring to ensure the temperature is accurate. Primarily because of carbonation issues in the past. The temperature to pressure ratio is important and can screw up flavor. But since they come in 2 packs, I’m also monitoring fermentation at all times. Hopefully the additional precision corrects mistakes I may not even know I’ve been making!

Update 8/20/2023

Fermentation is done. Final gravity is approximately 1.01. Original Gravity was 1.054. Banana esters and clove are fairly well balanced. I think this will be an excellent beer. Going to keg it today/tomorrow and setup a separate CO2 regulator from my standard manifold so I can maintain a high CO2 with this guy. It makes all the difference in these beers.

Update 9/2/2023

My wife is drinking this beer. She says it’s good but in a way that’s not impressive. I can’t taste it yet as I have another week on my alcohol fast I’ve been on for near 70 days. It smells fantastic. Clove, banana and bubblegum are all there for me. It’s carbonated appropriately. She’s telling me the clove flavor is harsh and unexpected. The Hefeweizen she typically likes apparently is less clove. I suppose I’ll know more next week when I can try it. I did however find a great article on Weizen beers that I wanted to post here for future reference. I suspect the clove phenols will reduce with a little age.

Recipe Details

Batch Size	Boil Time	IBU	SRM	Est. OG	Est. FG	ABV
5.5 gal	60 min	10.6 IBUs	3.5 SRM	1.052	1.013	5.2 %

Style Details

Name	Cat.	OG Range	FG Range	IBU	SRM	Carb	ABV
South German-Style Hefeweizen	71	1.047 - 1.056	1.008 - 1.016	10 - 15	3 - 9	2.2 - 2.8	4.9 - 5.6 %

Fermentables

Name	Amount	%
Pilsner (Weyermann)	7 lbs	58.33
Wheat Malt, Pale (Weyermann)	5 lbs	41.67

Hops

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Form	Alpha %
Hallertauer Mittelfrueh	2 oz	20 min	Boil	Pellet	2.8

Yeast

Name	Lab	Attenuation	Temperature
Weihenstephan Weizen (3068)	Wyeast Labs	75%	64°F - 75°F

Mash

Step	Temperature	Time
Mash In	153°F	60 min

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Festbier 2022

August 28th, 2022

So it’s about as late as you can push it if you want a Festbier for 2022 to drink in October. This year, similar to the International Amber Lager I brewed, I went back to the drawing board to try something new with the Festbier. In 2020/2021 I brewed a Helles type recipe I’d been formulating that was coming out quite nice and in the range of Festbier. This year I revisited the Brewing Classic Styles book on German Classic Styles – Oktober, Vienna, Marzen book, and located some notes online around Ludwig Narziss, and comments this legendary German Brewmaster made around the Festbier style of modern Octoberfest beer. I stumbled in to this wondering if I might add a grain that I quite like, Carahell from Weyermann. Apparently the answer is yes. So I came up with the beer below and brewed it today. Gravity and volumes came out right on. Will be pitching the starter tomorrow after everything cools to fermentation temperature.. One note I’ll make for myself is that this yeast was the last German lager yeast the Homebrew shop had. Likely the result of me being the last to brew their German lager for the Fall. So well see how it comes out! To me the most important part was that they had the Weyermann Pilsner which is very important and the Carahell. Not sure about the Briess Munich but I couldn’t find any negatives on it online. In such a small amount, I think it’ll be a non-issue.

9/22/2022

Fermentation went well. Cooled the wort and starter down to fermenting temperature at around 50F and pitched. Fermented over two weeks. At the end of the first week I start to gradually raise the temperature 2-3F daily until I get up to about 60F at the end of two weeks. Then going back the other way down to 40F and let it lager for about 2 weeks. Transferred the beer over the weekend and it’s about half carbonated at this point . Final gravity is approximately 1.012, it’s fairly dry but malty in the finish as expected with the Festbier style which is a large Munich Helles in a basic description of the beer. It’s extremely clear without fining. I expect this beer will be very enjoyable. I had the time to not rush any of the process and be more precise when brewing which is key to this sort of style.

Recipe Details

Batch Size	Boil Time	IBU	SRM	Est. OG	Est. FG	ABV
5.5 gal	90 min	21.6 IBUs	5.4 SRM	1.056	1.010	6.1 %

Style Details

Name	Cat.	OG Range	FG Range	IBU	SRM	Carb	ABV
Festbier	4 B	1.054 - 1.057	1.01 - 1.012	18 - 25	4 - 7	2.4 - 2.9	5.8 - 6.3 %

Fermentables

Name	Amount	%
Pilsner (Weyermann)	8 lbs	72.73
BEST Vienna (BESTMALZ)	1 lbs	9.09
Carahell (Weyermann)	1 lbs	9.09
Munich 10L (Briess)	1 lbs	9.09

Hops

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Form	Alpha %
Hallertauer Mittelfrueh	1 oz	60 min	Boil	Pellet	4.5
Hallertauer Mittelfrueh	1 oz	15 min	Boil	Pellet	4.5
Hallertauer Mittelfrueh	1 oz	5 min	Aroma	Pellet	4.5

Yeast

Name	Lab	Attenuation	Temperature
Munich Lager (2308)	Wyeast Labs	75%	48°F - 56°F

Mash

Step	Temperature	Time
Mash In	148°F	75 min
Mash Out	168°F	10 min

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International Amber Lager(Octoberfest Light)

July 16th, 2022

I don’t really know how else to describe this beer. I was reading through my Zymurgy magazines from the AHA competition winning recipes looking for something to brew. I wanted to do a German lager again but didn’t want to brew a bock or another pilsner or fest bier. It did cross my mind to brew a Oktoberfest but I’ve traditionally brewed those and not loved them. They’re just too heavy.

So I run in to the most boring names of a winning entry ever. Just straight up International Amber Lager. But the statistics of the beer seem like what I want, effectively a lighter malty German beer that’s different than what I’ve tried in the past.

Update August 2022

This beer came out as desired. Honestly I hadn’t thought about how dark 10 SRM would be but it was quite rich amber. The beer is quite malty, medium balanced, quite smooth, easy drinking. It has noticeable bready / caramel notes and I enjoy it. The gravity was on target and it’s quite clear. Will make a great Fall beer!

Recipe Details

Batch Size	Boil Time	IBU	SRM	Est. OG	Est. FG	ABV
6 gal	60 min	19.3 IBUs	10.5 SRM	1.052	1.011	5.5 %

Style Details

Name	Cat.	OG Range	FG Range	IBU	SRM	Carb	ABV
International Amber Lager	2 B	1.042 - 1.055	1.008 - 1.014	8 - 25	7 - 14	2.5 - 3.2	4.6 - 6 %

Fermentables

Name	Amount	%
Borlander Munich Malt (Briess)	10 lbs	74.07
BEST Pilsen Malt (BESTMALZ)	2 lbs	14.81
BEST Vienna (BESTMALZ)	1 lbs	7.41
White Wheat Malt	8 oz	3.7

Hops

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Form	Alpha %
Hallertauer Mittelfrueh	1 oz	25 min	Boil	Pellet	4.2
Hallertauer Mittelfrueh	1 oz	15 min	Boil	Pellet	4.2
Hallertauer Mittelfrueh	1 oz	5 min	Boil	Pellet	4.2

Yeast

Name	Lab	Attenuation	Temperature
Czech Budejovice Lager (WLP802)	White Labs	78%	50°F - 55°F

Mash

Step	Temperature	Time
Mash In	152°F	60 min

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American Pale Ale 2022 Edition of Hippidy Hoppidy

May 14th, 2022

So time flies when you’re raising kids I suppose. Between family and work, my beer brewing hobby hangs on by a thread! I still read books and occasionally go do some judging, of course I still drink commercial beer! But this is a digital journal for beer brewing, and I haven’t done that for a year. Until this past weekend. I suppose it’s the fact that it’s Spring and the Covid crazy is starting to simmer down in our society. Everyone appears to be coming outside again! So as part of Spring cleaning, I completely cleaned out and cleaned up the brewing cave. It’s really nice in there and everything was just waiting to brew a new beer! So that’s what I finally did!

This Hippidy Hoppidy beer is one that I did so well with years back when I was seriously brewing many times per month. People loved it and it did well in competition brewing winning medals at Dixie Cup, Red Stick’s Homebrew competition and some others that slip my mind. So in the interest of starting off with a great one, that’s what I brewed.

The brew day went well. It was May 7th and actually quite a beautiful day. Gravity appeared to be coming in a little low but I had DME and adjusted the hop schedule a little for balance. Original Gravity was around 1.051. I grappled with the refractometer a little and it even has me considering buying a digital refractometer. But in the course of researching it, I think I figured out what I was doing wrong.(hop particles interfering with readings) So I learned something new! A really great day brewing. Cooled to pitch temperature, pitched and added oxygen. Within hours it was visibly fermenting. Added dry hop after 4 days as it looked like it was slowing down on ferment. Final gravity a week later is around 1.0125 for approximately 4.9% ABV. Going to chill it down and take it off the hops/yeast. I’m doing this quicker than I did in the past. Testing a theory around spending too much time on the trub with this sort of ale.

Update 7/14/2022

This beer came out really great. Really nice to drink, lovely hop aroma. I think the alcohol is higher than 5% based on how it makes me feel after 3 or so. It may just be that I really enjoy it and drink it too fast.

Recipe Details

Batch Size	Boil Time	IBU	SRM	Est. OG	Est. FG	ABV
5.5 gal	90 min	43.6 IBUs	7.6 SRM	1.047	1.010	4.9 %

Style Details

Name	Cat.	OG Range	FG Range	IBU	SRM	Carb	ABV
American Pale Ale	10 A	1.045 - 1.06	1.01 - 1.015	30 - 45	5 - 14	2.3 - 2.8	4.5 - 6.2 %

Fermentables

Name	Amount	%
Munich Malt	4 lbs	44.44
Pilsner (2 Row) Ger	4 lbs	44.44
Cara-Pils/Dextrine	8 oz	5.56
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L	8 oz	5.56

Hops

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Form	Alpha %
Columbus (Tomahawk)	1 oz	10 min	Boil	Pellet	16
Centennial	1 oz	1 min	Boil	Pellet	10
Citra	1 oz	1 min	Boil	Pellet	13
Centennial	1 oz	10 min	Aroma	Pellet	10
Mosaic (HBC 369)	1 oz	10 min	Aroma	Pellet	12.3
Simcoe	1 oz	10 min	Aroma	Pellet	12.2
Centennial	1 oz	0 min	Aroma	Pellet	10
Citra	1 oz	0 min	Aroma	Pellet	13
Simcoe	1 oz	5 days	Dry Hop	Pellet	12.2
Centennial	1 oz	0 min	Dry Hop	Pellet	10

Miscs

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Type
Lactic Acid	15.00 ml	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Calcium Chloride	6.00 g	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate)	6.00 g	60 min	Mash	Water Agent

Yeast

Name	Lab	Attenuation	Temperature
Safale American (US-05)	DCL/Fermentis	77%	59°F - 75°F

Mash

Step	Temperature	Time
Mash In	152°F	60 min

Notes

Appeared to be missing on original gravity, compensated with a pound of DME which was too much. Really needed about a half pound. Ended up with 1.051 but compensated with a little bit longer hop steep over 190F. Should balance accordingly.

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Bavarian Pilsner 2021

August 8th, 2021

So it’s August and it’s time to get ready for September/October and Oktoberfest. A big hit from last year was the Bavarian Pilsner I built from zero using Designing Great beers. This year I attempted to brew it on a 12 gallon batch. There were adjustments due to the size but I ended up with a beer at 1.045 OG. This should result in an approximate and possibly a little more bitter version of last years beer. We’ll see how it passes muster with the neighbors. I have it cooling down to fermentation temperature and will pitch the yeast starters at the same temperature. This has pretty much been the way to go for a quality fermentation.

Update May 30, 2022

This one didn’t turn out well and was disappointing. Too bitter. I didn’t come back and add notes like I should’ve so I’m going off of memory. I remember due to time constraints, I was in a hurry and ran off quickly. Didn’t have an appropriate boil volume, tried to compensate by adjusting hop schedules and ended up with an unbalanced beer. Put an end to a run of very good pilsner brew days I’d had over the past several years. Honestly, it was purely a process issue for a style of beer I find is not forgiving to process issues. The previous attempts were successful because I was intentional in precision and hit everything just right. If there was a correction, I took my time. Oh well. I’m updating the notes now because I’m about to brew another Bavarian Lager or Oktoberfest type beer for Halloween 2022. I’ll get it right this time!

Recipe Details

Batch Size	Boil Time	IBU	SRM	Est. OG	Est. FG	ABV
13 gal	60 min	32.0 IBUs	3.8 SRM	1.048	1.011	4.9 %

Style Details

Name	Cat.	OG Range	FG Range	IBU	SRM	Carb	ABV
Bohemian Pilsener	34	1.044 - 1.056	1.014 - 1.02	30 - 45	3 - 7	2.2 - 2.8	4.1 - 5.1 %

Fermentables

Name	Amount	%
BEST Pilsen Malt (BESTMALZ)	22 lbs	95.65
Carahell (Weyermann)	1 lbs	4.35

Hops

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Form	Alpha %
Saaz	4.5 oz	60 min	Boil	Pellet	2.9
Hallertau	2 oz	60 min	Boil	Pellet	4
Saaz	1.5 oz	0 min	Boil	Pellet	3.8

Yeast

Name	Lab	Attenuation	Temperature
Bavarian Lager (2206)	Wyeast Labs	75%	46°F - 58°F

Mash

Step	Temperature	Time
Mash In	152°F	60 min

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Extra Special Bitter – ESB

April 6th, 2021

I’ve brewed quite a few attempts at English bitters like those I enjoyed when I spent a few days in London. It’s just a fine beer to enjoy with the Earthy/Floral UK hops along with the estery, English caramel malt profile that just goes down smooth with echoes of nuttiness or biscuit like flavor in the profile. I’ve gotten a few hints from Fuller’s brewers concerning brands of malts, color and hops but still didn’t get quite the profile I was looking for. I’m hoping this year with a couple of tweaks, I’ll finally get that profile I’ve failed to achieve all these years….

Update 4/24/2021

I need to post an updated recipe. I had to make a number of substitutions due to not researching what was in stock. Not a big deal. Biggest was Northern Brewer for Northdown. Brands of grains were different and the crystal was kind of a guess. However the beer had an OG right on target around 1.057 and a FG around 1.017. First impression was that it was sweet, it may have just been my pallet because the next sips were very nice. Bright, flavorful ale. Need to keg it with gelatin soon so it’ll clear out and carbonate. Should be an interesting beer to have around the house.

Recipe Details

Batch Size	Boil Time	IBU	SRM	Est. OG	Est. FG	ABV
6 gal	60 min	38.9 IBUs	8.0 SRM	1.057	1.018	5.1 %

Style Details

Name	Cat.	OG Range	FG Range	IBU	SRM	Carb	ABV
English-Style Extra Special Bitter	63 B	1.046 - 1.06	1.01 - 1.016	30 - 45	8 - 14	2.2 - 2.8	4.8 - 5.8 %

Fermentables

Name	Amount	%
Pale Malt, Best (Simpsons)	12.25 lbs	90.74
Crystal, Light (Simpsons)	12 oz	5.56
Barley, Flaked (Thomas Fawcett)	8 oz	3.7

Hops

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Form	Alpha %
Northdown	1.75 oz	30 min	Aroma	Pellet	8.5
Challenger	1.5 oz	30 min	Aroma	Pellet	7.5
East Kent Goldings (EKG)	1.5 oz	30 min	Aroma	Pellet	5

Miscs

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Type
Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate)	14.00 g	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Lactic Acid	8.00 ml	60 min	Mash	Water Agent

Yeast

Name	Lab	Attenuation	Temperature
West Yorkshire Ale (1469)	Wyeast Labs	69%	64°F - 72°F

Mash

Step	Temperature	Time
Mash In	154°F	75 min

Notes

The distilled water is actually 10 gallons of my Ascension parish well water. I need to add it to BeerSmith from my bayoubeer.com website.
Need a Simpson's Crystal around 40. 100 EBC. Simpsons was prescribed by the English Brewer. Said never Bairds.
The Crystal Light malt we use is closer to 100 EBC and never from Bairds- usually Simpsons.
For the hopping regime we add all aroma hops at the end of the boil before we then go on to a 30 min whirlpool rest.
Challenger and Goldings are correct but we also use the beautiful Northdown hop (6%AA)- each 33% split of the total late addition.

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Munich Helles March 2021

March 7th, 2021

So when I’ve brewed it’s usually spurred by running out of German lager on tap. My father-in-law, Louis deLatour, likes to talk about when he went to Germany as a very young man and all the time he spent in the various brew halls including the famous Hoffbrauhaus in Munich. This was post World War II as his father was a high ranking military officer and working in France as part of that post war effort. He’ll come over and tell me the same stories, but they’re great. If I have a German lager, he’ll give very honest feedback on it and compare/contrast it to what he had back in Germany.

So I use Lou as a bit of a Guinea pig with these lagers. Because he has no filter and can’t hide it if he doesn’t like a beer. He compares all German lagers to those of the masters. I refined down a winning Festbier with him and brewed it multiple times over. German pilsner was too bitter for him even though I thought it was awesome. (I also tested high quality commercial versions on him and he doesn’t like those either) Bavarian pilsner he liked better. That pils is more malty and less aggressive in the bitter. So now we’ll try Munich Helles. Even less bitter and more soft/balanced. I think this will be his jam, given the likes on Festbier and an ok nod for Bavarian pilsner.

I’ve strayed away from brewing the Helles, probably because I screwed it up bad a few years ago. Given my recent success with the Germans, it’s time to try again. I’m pretty confident that I’ve figured out all the kinks of the past. It’s really all about precision with ingredients, volumes and process.

This recipe is close to the Bavarian pilsner wort. Difference is that I’m using Vienna with the pilsner malt instead of Carahell. Also using a Munich Lager yeast. Subtle changes, but subtlety seems to really matter with the German lagers.

Brew day went well. Took my time an dialed in the calculations. Volume was spot on. Gravity was spot on. Currently cooling down the wort and the starter to pitch tomorrow morning.

Recipe Details

Batch Size	Boil Time	IBU	SRM	Est. OG	Est. FG	ABV
6.5 gal	90 min	32.8 IBUs	3.3 SRM	1.049	1.011	4.9 %

Style Details

Name	Cat.	OG Range	FG Range	IBU	SRM	Carb	ABV
Bohemian Pilsener	34	1.044 - 1.056	1.014 - 1.02	30 - 45	3 - 7	2.2 - 2.8	4.1 - 5.1 %

Fermentables

Name	Amount	%
BEST Pilsen Malt (BESTMALZ)	11 lbs	95.65
BEST Vienna (BESTMALZ)	8 oz	4.35

Hops

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Form	Alpha %
Saaz	3.75 oz	60 min	Boil	Pellet	2.8
Saaz	0.25 oz	0 min	Boil	Pellet	2.8

Yeast

Name	Lab	Attenuation	Temperature
Munich Lager (2308)	Wyeast Labs	75%	48°F - 56°F

Mash

Step	Temperature	Time
Mash In	152°F	60 min

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Janets Brown Ale

November 29th, 2020

With the death of Mike “Tasty” McDole, I realized I’ve never brewed Janet’s Brown ale. It’s a beer made famously by Tasty as a favorite of his late wife. I saw a lot of the good-bye tasty video from the Brewing Network honoring his life and thought it’d be nice to brew his beer. I tried as best I could to follow the recipe as published in Brewing Classic Styles with minor modifications to the chocolate malt addition due to availability. So I used lighter chocolate and midnight wheat as I know these together are typically something I prefer to straight 550L chocolate malt. Also had to use whole leaf Northern Brewer as it was all that was available. used some big hop bags. Smelled amazing.

The brew day went fine. Did it while putting up Christmas lights and really took my time for once. The gravity came through a little higher than anticipated at 1.068. Probably due to the extremely slow run-off of the wort. .03 points Doesn’t matter so much with the over 60 IBU’s in this beer. Cooled and pitched a few hours later. 2 packs of the Safale 05. The fermentation kicked off quickly and was very vigorous in less than 10 hours. Going to add the dry hop for 2-3 days and then keg with gelatin. Should be a great beer by the aroma and flavor of the wort.

Update December 8, 2020

This beer came out great at kegging. The aroma, the amount of chocolate and American hop character in resin, aroma and flavor is lovely. Great balance. I know a beer is great when I can drink a pint flat. Added gelatin to clear as it’s that Brown that isn’t opaque, but close. Looking forward to it being carbonated!

Update March 2020

This beer ended up being excellent. Just a real easy drinking brown ale without being over the top roasted like I’ve previously had happen. The hop profile compliments the malt nicely and just makes it a wonderful American Brown.

Recipe Details

Batch Size	Boil Time	IBU	SRM	Est. OG	Est. FG	ABV
6 gal	60 min	60.2 IBUs	23.3 SRM	1.065	1.014	6.8 %

Style Details

Name	Cat.	OG Range	FG Range	IBU	SRM	Carb	ABV
American Brown Ale	19 C	1.045 - 1.06	1.01 - 1.016	20 - 30	18 - 35	2.4 - 2.9	4.3 - 6.2 %

Fermentables

Name	Amount	%
Pale Malt (2 Row) US	11 lbs	72.75
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L	1.25 lbs	8.27
Carapils (Briess)	1.25 lbs	8.27
Wheat - White Malt (Briess)	1 lbs	6.61
Chocolate (Briess)	5.92 oz	2.45
Chocolate Wheat (Weyermann)	4 oz	1.65
Chocolate (Briess)	0 oz	0

Hops

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Form	Alpha %
Northern Brewer	1 oz	60 min	Mash	Pellet	9.3
Northern Brewer	2 oz	20 min	Boil	Pellet	9.3
Cascade	1.5 oz	15 min	Boil	Pellet	5.5
Northern Brewer	1 oz	10 min	Boil	Pellet	9.3
Cascade	1.5 oz	0 min	Boil	Pellet	5.5
Centennial	1 oz	0 min	Dry Hop	Pellet	10

Miscs

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Type
Calcium Chloride	10.00 g	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate)	10.00 g	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Lactic Acid	8.00 ml	60 min	Mash	Water Agent

Yeast

Name	Lab	Attenuation	Temperature
Safale American (US-05)	DCL/Fermentis	77%	59°F - 75°F

Mash

Step	Temperature	Time
Mash In	152°F	60 min

Notes

Used a Pale Chocolate Malt and a Midnight Wheat malt instead of Chocolate.

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Bavarian Pilsner October 2020

October 4th, 2020

Brewed the same pilsner I brewed back in March. It was the best lager I ever brewed. I feel like the precision around the process and extra care around the calculations was the difference maker. I’m optimistic I had the same experience today. Same recipe. A little low on the gravity at 1.046ish but with a target of 1.048 this is close enough. The volumes appeared to work out appropriately although the post boil volume was about a half gallon heavy. This probably is what caused the slight variation on gravity. We’ll see if it impacts the final product. Going to chill the wort and the starter overnight and pitch at 45F.

Update November 8, 2020

The final gravity was 1.0086ish per the calculator. Roughly 5% ABV. The beer is spectacularly clear, even before the refining agent that I put in the keg.(gelatin) It’s extremely bright and beautiful. This certainly confirms that all the precision around brewing this beer is what makes it a success. Amazing. I feel like 5-10 years ago I used to try to be precise in brewing this beer. But I can remember how I just didn’t have all the little things I have today in terms of knowledge, equipment and ability to adjust. Put it in a keg today and looking forward to enjoying it at Thanksgiving with the family.

Update November 27, 2020

This beer came out fantastically crisp, clear and clean. Everything you expect out of a good pilsner. Everyone in the family certainly enjoyed it for the holiday. I feel like it could be in my head but for whatever reason I suspect the slightly lighter gravity made a difference as I preferred the first batch earlier this year. Could just be expectations though. Either way this will be a great beer over the next month to compliment the Janet’s brown.

Recipe Details

Batch Size	Boil Time	IBU	SRM	Est. OG	Est. FG	ABV
6.5 gal	90 min	22.5 IBUs	3.8 SRM	1.048	1.011	4.9 %

Style Details

Name	Cat.	OG Range	FG Range	IBU	SRM	Carb	ABV
Bohemian Pilsener	34	1.044 - 1.056	1.014 - 1.02	30 - 45	3 - 7	2.2 - 2.8	4.1 - 5.1 %

Fermentables

Name	Amount	%
BEST Pilsen Malt (BESTMALZ)	11 lbs	95.65
Carahell (Weyermann)	8 oz	4.35

Hops

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Form	Alpha %
Saaz	2.25 oz	60 min	Boil	Pellet	3.2
Saaz	0.75 oz	0 min	Boil	Pellet	3.8

Yeast

Name	Lab	Attenuation	Temperature
Bavarian Lager (2206)	Wyeast Labs	75%	46°F - 58°F

Mash

Step	Temperature	Time
Mash In	152°F	60 min

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