Bayou Beer

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Tag Archives: wlp830

Doppelbock 2016 Edition

February 12th, 2016

Probably the final beer in my annual German series will be a very nice doppelbock. This is a re-brew of a beer that’s come out extremely well in the past. I’m really looking forward to fermenting it with two different yeasts. The 2015 edition of this beer got great marks at a few competitions but didn’t place. My thoughts on it were that it wasn’t quite aromatic enough in it’s malt profile. . So I’ll be adding some melanoidin malt to try and bump that up a little.

Update 2/15/2016

Brew day was a pain in the ass. Lots of wind made it hard to get to a boil. I’m going to have to invest in building a wind guard to fit on these keggles for 10 gallon batches. Gravity readings early made it seem as if I’d be high on gravity but ended up being around 1.074. So somewhat low for some reason but it tasted great and should be a fine beer. Pitching the yeast 24 hours later after it cools down to 50F.

Update 2/18/2016

Fermenting like crazy for the first couple of days. Still going now. Made a mess in the bottle of the chest freezer. Very thick smell of yeast character in there compared to the previous two beers on the yeast.

Update 2/28/2016
Final gravity on the 833 version was around 1.013 for an 8% alcohol beer. Final gravity on the 830 version was 1.016 for a 7.5% alcohol beer. Both taste like young doppelbock with my preference being towards the 833 version. The both need about 6 months to mature. I’ll carbonate these two, bottle them and put them in the closet until the end of 2016.

Update 1/30/2017
This beer was over-carbonated so it’s been hard to enjoy. I tend to believe this beer will behave similar to my previous years doppelbock and need another year to be worth drinking. Although I’ll have to let every beer rest before actually enjoying it. Or employ some strategy to reduce carbonation.

Recipe Details

Batch Size Boil Time IBU SRM Est. OG Est. FG ABV
5.5 gal 60 min 22.0 IBUs 20.8 SRM 1.081 1.022 7.9 %

Style Details

Name Cat. OG Range FG Range IBU SRM Carb ABV
doppelbock 5 C 1.072 - 1.112 1.016 - 1.024 16 - 26 6 - 25 2.3 - 2.6 7 - 10 %

Fermentables

Name Amount %
Munich Malt 12 lbs 61.54
Pilsner (2 Row) Ger 5 lbs 25.64
Caramunich Malt 2 lbs 10.26
Melanoiden Malt 4 oz 1.28
Special B Malt 4 oz 1.28

Hops

Name Amount Time Use Form Alpha %
Magnum 1 oz 20 min Boil Pellet 14
Hallertauer Mittelfrueh 0.25 oz 0 min Aroma Pellet 4

Miscs

Name Amount Time Use Type
Lactic Acid 15.00 ml 60 min Mash Water Agent
Calcium Chloride 8.00 g 60 min Mash Water Agent
Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) 4.00 g 60 min Mash Water Agent

Yeast

Name Lab Attenuation Temperature
Bohemian Lager (2124) Wyeast Labs 71% 48°F - 58°F

Mash

Step Temperature Time
Mash In 152°F 60 min

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Schwarzbier American Monchshof

January 31st, 2016

So continuing on my German beer series as I work my way through this sack of Weyermann pilsner malt I purhcased. Reusing my WLP833 and WLP830 yeast cakes from the German pilsner on this rather bold Schwarzbier recipe. Schwarzbier is one of my most nostalgic brewing beers as it was one of the first I brewed and shared at a festival. Most Americans have never had it and are shocked by the dark beer with the smooth character. This one should be a rather agressive cousin of Monchshof which is probably the most popular version of the style you’ll find in the United States today.

The brew day went well with the exception of gravity coming in a little high at 1.054. Did have some pump trouble which led to some higher than expected mash temperatures temporarily which could be the primary cause for this high gravity. It’ll probably have a higher finishing gravity as well but should taste perfectly fine. If it finishes as dry as originally expected I’ll worry it’ll be a little warm on alcohol.

Recipe Details

Batch Size Boil Time IBU SRM Est. OG Est. FG ABV
6 gal 90 min 26.9 IBUs 25.5 SRM 1.054 1.012 5.5 %

Style Details

Name Cat. OG Range FG Range IBU SRM Carb ABV
Schwarzbier 8 B 1.046 - 1.052 1.01 - 1.016 20 - 30 17 - 30 2.5 - 3 4.4 - 5.4 %

Fermentables

Name Amount %
Munich I (Weyermann) 6 lbs 45.96
Pilsner (Weyermann) 6 lbs 45.96
Carafa II (Weyermann) 4 oz 1.91
Carafa III 4 oz 1.91
Caramel Malt - 60L (Briess) 4 oz 1.91
Chocolate (Briess) 2.88 oz 1.38
Pale Chocolate Malt 2 oz 0.96

Hops

Name Amount Time Use Form Alpha %
Magnum 0.6 oz 60 min Boil Pellet 14
Hersbrucker 0.25 oz 10 min Boil Pellet 2.8
Hersbrucker 0.5 oz 1 min Boil Pellet 2.8

Mash

Step Temperature Time
Mash In 150°F 75 min

Notes

the crystal will end up being caracrystal from Briess. 55L

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German Pilsner

January 17th, 2016

I always love brewing lagers when it’s cold. Living in South Louisiana it just seems easier to manage lager fermentation when it’s cold and the beer will be ready in time to start the Summer. So…given that some of the 2016 Bayou State Circuit homebrew competitions are sporting German Pilsner I went with that one. I decided to do 10 gallons and vary the yeast. One will be the bock strain of WLP833 while the other will be WLP830 or simply “German Lager Yeast”. I chose to go with straight Magnum because in the past when brewing this sort of beer I got comments concerning the beer being too hoppy. I suspect this is due to judges being used to trying pilsners which were not fresh from shipping across the ocean. We’ll see! The grain bill was simply Weyermann Pilsner malt which is supposed to be great for this.

The brew day went fine although the gravity was coming in a little high so I adjusted with tap water. Pitched the yeast in the very yellow wort. Fermenting at about 50F. Hopefully it comes out great because the wort tasted very nice.

Following this I’ll be using the yeast for schwarzbier and finally doppelbock.

Update 2/6/2016
The WLP830 version ended up being the best pilsner I’ve ever brewed. Professional quality clear, crisp, refreshing and drinkable by the liter. Very delicate with a fine head. The WLP833 is also better than any other pilsner I’ve ever brewed before but just a tad less clear and not quite as spot on for pilsner as the WLP830. So next time I brew this beer it’ll be the WLP830 along with some other like WLP838 Southern German Lager for example.

Update 4/7/2016
So much to my disappointment this beer didn’t place with comments being it needed more bitterness. Scoring was 37 on the points scale which is a win and still the only 30+ pilsner score I ever received so I’m happy about that. Point of this update is next time add more hopping. Possibly a small late hop addition.(although topping up 10% with water probably dropped bitterness some also) It was also commented that the carbonation should’ve been higher for a pilsner. Perhaps that contributed to the lower perceived bitterness. Carbonation will be the next issue I tackle since my beer comes out the kegs perfectly carbonated by transferring via the beer gun appears to lose some of that. So this beer only needs a very minor recipe tweak and I need to tune my carbonation to bottling process.

Recipe Details

Batch Size Boil Time IBU SRM Est. OG Est. FG ABV
12 gal 90 min 35.6 IBUs 3.9 SRM 1.049 1.010 5.1 %

Style Details

Name Cat. OG Range FG Range IBU SRM Carb ABV
German Pils 5 D 1.044 - 1.05 1.008 - 1.013 22 - 40 2 - 5 2.5 - 3.2 4.4 - 5.2 %

Fermentables

Name Amount %
Pilsner (2 Row) Ger 25 lbs 100

Hops

Name Amount Time Use Form Alpha %
Magnum 2 oz 45 min Boil Pellet 12

Miscs

Name Amount Time Use Type
Lactic Acid 8.00 ml 60 min Mash Water Agent

Yeast

Name Lab Attenuation Temperature
German Bock Lager (WLP833) White Labs 73% 48°F - 55°F
German Lager (WLP830) White Labs 77% 50°F - 55°F

Mash

Step Temperature Time
Mash In 148°F 75 min

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All about beer brewing and drinking in South Louisiana.

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