West Coast Amber Review

Appearance: Deep amber red color, with off-white slightly tan head that persists very well. Low haze but not crystal clear. (Condensation obscures the clarity in the picture.)

Aroma: A balanced combination of fruity Cascade and Centennial hops with a toasty malt background. Hop aroma is not as intense as a good IPA.

Taste: Balanced toward the bitter side for sure. Fruity hop taste as well, but there's some decent sweetness and a hint of roast in there. Subtle malt flavors with a toasty-roast quality kind of hide behind the initial hopiness.

Mouthfeel: Moderate to heavy mouthfeel, low-moderate carbonation. Aftertaste is somehow balanced towards the malty side. Some alcohol warming as this is a "bold" full bodied and full-tasting beer.

Overall: A pretty hoppy beer with substantial malt character, some sweetness and fairly high in alcohol (7.4%). Pleasant, but perhaps best considered a sipping beer. Certainly good for the Fall weather. Reminds me of my Celebration Ale clone attempt but does not have as strong a hop aroma / taste. Also more alcoholic that the Celebration clone.

Czech Pale Lager

After hearing about this style on the Beersmith podcast recently, seeing that it was added to the BJCP guidelines, and wanting to brew a session strength beer for my next lager, I decided to brew a Czech Pale Lager (Style 3A). I saw this article on Brew Your Own magazine, which provided the recipe for this beer. Note that I used the "false decoction" method - my first ever decoction mash. Pretty sure I didn't quite do it right, but not surprised about that since it's my first attempt.

Recipe: Czech Pale Lager
Style: Bohemian Pilsner
TYPE: All Grain

Recipe Specifications
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Boil Size: 7.53 gal
Post Boil Volume: 5.88 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.25 gal  
Bottling Volume: 4.85 gal
Estimated OG: 1.044 SG
Estimated Color: 4.3 SRM
Estimated IBU: 38.1 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 77.5 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
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Amt                   Name                                     Type          #        %/IBU        
5.25 gal              Boston, MA                               Water         1        -            
7 lbs 8.0 oz          Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (2.0 SRM)            Grain         2        86.9 %       
7.0 oz                Caravienne Malt (22.0 SRM)               Grain         3        5.1 %        
6.0 oz                Wheat Malt, Ger (2.0 SRM)                Grain         4        4.3 %        
5.0 oz                Acid Malt (3.0 SRM)                      Grain         5        3.6 %    

0.25 oz               Magnum [12.20 %] - First Wort 60.0 min   Hop           6        13.1 IBUs    
0.75 oz               Tettnang [4.50 %] - Boil 30.0 min        Hop           7        10.2 IBUs    
1.00 oz               Tettnang [4.50 %] - Boil 10.0 min        Hop           8        6.4 IBUs     
0.30 oz               Magnum [12.20 %] - Boil 10.0 min         Hop           9        5.2 IBUs     
1.00 oz               Tettnang [4.50 %] - Steep/Whirlpool  10. Hop           10       3.2 IBUs
   
1.0 pkg               Saflager Lager (DCL/Fermentis #W-34/70)  Yeast         11       -            


Mash Schedule: 154F, Batch Sparge, Mash Out
Total Grain Weight: 8 lbs 10.0 oz
----------------------------
Name                    Description                                          Step Temperat Step Time    
Mash Step               Add 13.78 qt of water at 168.2 F                     156.0 F       45 min       
Mash Step               Decoct 3.67 qt of mash and boil it                   168.0 F       10 min       

Sparge: Batch sparge with 2 steps (Drain mash tun , 5.87gal) of 168.0 F water
Notes:
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http://byo.com/stories/issue/item/3244-czech-pale-lager-style-profile
5 g calcium chloride (CaCl2) to the mash
3 g CaCl2 to the sparge water.

Brewed on 11/1/15
Mashed in as usual, and hit my goal temp of 156F. After mashing for 40 minutes, pulled a thick decoction of approximately .8 gallons. I used a soup ladle to do so, and then drained some of the liquid out using a colander.

Put the decoction in my 5gal kettle, on gentle heat, and raised to a boil, stirring very frequently. Didn't check the temp of the main mash during this time. Boiled the decoction for 15 minutes.

The decoction definitely boiled off some liquid, and caused the grain husks to become a little more fractured, giving the mash a mushy texture. Also it seemed to get a little bit darker.

Immediately after the decoction boil.

After boiling the decoction, returned it to the main mash. Somehow, even after 5 minutes of rise time, the main mash was still only in the 160F range. Perhaps the main mash lost significant heat during the decoction?

Waited 15more minutes, then recirculated, added first wort hops. Added 2.5 gal of sparge water at 170F, waited 10 minutes, the collected batch 1. Repeated, collecting ~7.5 gallons of pre-boil wort.

I did notice a few dark-looking grain husks in the mash. Perhaps I got a little bit of scorching or darkening in the decoction. 

Pre-boil OG was 1.035, post-boil was1.045. Right on the projected numbers, but above the numbers in the BYO article.

Cooled to 80F, racked to carboy, and placed in freezer to get to 45F pitching temps.

Ack! The starter was getting a bit slushy with ice.... Not sure if / how much yeast survived. Anyway I just swirled it around to loosen things up, decanted, then pitched. We'll see if it works or if I get a nasty batch of infected crap. I would really hate for that to happen!

11/3/15 - Rumors of yeast's death were greatly exaggerated. Fermentation is apparently proceeding apace.


11/17/15 - Began diacetyl rest after 2 weeks of fermenting at 50F. After 3 days of rest, the beer will cool to 35F over 48 hours, then will enter a lager period of 3 weeks.

11/18/15 - Racked to keg and began force carbonation. Careful not to rack any of the sludge at the bottom of the carboy into the keg. Remaining lagering time will occur in the keg. Gravity was 1.016, for ~ 3.8% ABV. The sample was already tasting pretty good but did taste a little "green"