Smoked Helles + Oktoberfest Review

Reviewed by Club Members:

Oktoberfest

Feedback: Flawed. Fruity nose. Too sweet and thick body. Needs more bitterness.  FG too high. Score range 25-30. But some positive comments on the malt flavor, in the right direction.

For next time: Use C60 instead, proper yeast health / pitch rate, use less Vienna and more Munich malt.  Get full attenuation, and allow to lager longer. 

Smokey Helles

Feedback: Most people felt that the smoke had the appropriate intensity in the aroma and was well balanced with the rest of the beer, though a few people recommended I back off the smoke. Several people found the beer too thick in body and a little too sweet for the Helles style. Some tasters detected inappropriate esters, astringency at the end, or acidity. Recommended to let more pilsner malt character shine through.

Recipe and Process Improvements for next time:

1. Replace Munich mal with pils malt
2. Use less phosphoric acid in mash and sparge water
3. Use a short decoction to get fuller malt character
4. Proper yeast handling and allow the beer to sit on the yeast longer to attenuate fully and clean up esters etc.
5. I do not plan to back off the smoke for the next time since the intensity of the smoke worked for me and I think was fairly similar to the Aecht Schlenkerla smokey helles, which I was trying to clone. But I may back off on the smoke if necessary for competitive purposes.

Straight Lambic Review

Appearance: Quite clear golden color. A few little bubbles rising through the beer. Billowing white head on initial pour, but dissipates quite rapidly.

Aroma: Light sour funk aroma. Lemony and pithy nose, like lemon rhinds, with some grainy Cheerio-like aroma. No hop aroma.

Taste: Moderate sourness, slight acetic. No bitterness. Grainy quality shows up in the taste too. Very dry. I get no hop flavors. Tannic oak in the aftertaste.


Mouthfeel: Thin body, but oak tannins prevent it from being watery. Not highly carbed, but with the thin body the carbonation has a slight bite.

Overall: Fairly light and refreshing sour beer. The Cheerio quality is sub-optimal. Maybe it will age out. Would like a little more sourness and more lemony / fruity aroma.

Would really like to calibrate this against a few commercial examples to see how it's different and / or how the commercial beers are better.

Smoked Helles Brewday

BeerSmith 2 Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Smoked Helles 2018
Style: Munich Helles / Smoked
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (30.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 7.64 gal
Post Boil Volume: 6.51 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.50 gal  
Bottling Volume: 5.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.046 SG
Estimated Color: 6.1 SRM
Estimated IBU: 17.7 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 79.5 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt              Name                                             Type          #          %/IBU         Volume       
9.12 gal         Medford, MA                                      Water         1          -             -            
26.25 ml         Phosphoric Acid 10% (Mash)                       Water Agent   2          -             -            
5.50 g           Calcium Chloride (Mash)                          Water Agent   3          -             -            
3 lbs 8.0 oz     Smoked (BestMälz) (3.0 SRM)                      Grain         4          35.9 %        0.27 gal     
3 lbs            Munich Malt (9.0 SRM)                            Grain         5          30.8 %        0.23 gal     
3 lbs            Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (2.0 SRM)                    Grain         6          30.8 %        0.23 gal     
4.0 oz           Melanoiden Malt (20.0 SRM)                       Grain         7          2.6 %         0.02 gal     
1.00 oz          Tettnang [3.70 %] - Boil 75.0 min                Hop           8          13.1 IBUs     -            
1.00 oz          Tettnang [3.70 %] - Boil 10.0 min                Hop           9          4.5 IBUs      -            
1.0 pkg          SafLager West European Lager (DCL/Fermentis #S-2 Yeast         10         -             -            


Mash Schedule: 150F, Mash Out, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 9 lbs 12.0 oz
----------------------------
Name              Description                             Step Temperat Step Time    
Mash Step         Add 13.19 qt of water at 163.5 F        150.0 F       60 min       

Sparge: Batch sparge with 2 steps (Drain mash tun , 5.76gal) of 168.0 F water

Notes:
------
8/25/18: Rehydrated yeast in preboiled water at room temp. After a few hours, crashed to 35F.

8/26/18: Brewday. Mash temp was spot on at 150F. Preboil OG was 9.6B / 1.038 SG
Post boil OG was ~ 1.045, so pretty good.

Cooled to 80F with CFC, cooled wort pumped straight into fermenter. Placed in chest freezer overnight to chill to 45F.

8/27/18: Oxygenated ~30s, pitched yeast slurry.

8/29/18: Fermentation going well. Still going as of 9/1/18.

Lager fermentation schedule - pitch at 45F, hold 12 hours, ramp to 50F over twelve hours, hold 2 weeks, diacetyl rest at 65F for a few days, cool to 55F, hold a day or two, then crash to 35F for extended lagering.  

Oktoberfest Brewday

Recipe: Oktoberfest 2018

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 7.64 gal
Post Boil Volume: 6.51 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.50 gal  
Bottling Volume: 5.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.059 SG
Estimated Color: 8.8 SRM
Estimated IBU: 20.4 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 79.5 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt              Name                                             Type          #          %/IBU         Volume       
9.45 gal         Medford, MA                                      Water         1          -             -            
26.25 ml         Phosphoric Acid 10% (Mash)                       Water Agent   2          -             -            
5.50 g           Calcium Chloride (Mash)                          Water Agent   3          -             -            
5 lbs            Munich (BestMälz) (7.6 SRM)                      Grain         4          38.5 %        0.39 gal     
4 lbs            Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (2.0 SRM)                    Grain         5          30.8 %        0.31 gal     
3 lbs            Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM)                            Grain         6          23.1 %        0.23 gal     
8.0 oz           Munich 20L (Briess) (20.0 SRM)                   Grain         7          3.8 %         0.04 gal     
5.5 oz           Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM)            Grain         8          2.6 %         0.03 gal     
2.5 oz           Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM)            Grain         9          1.2 %         0.01 gal     
1.50 oz          Tettnang [3.70 %] - Boil 70.0 min                Hop           10         17.6 IBUs     -            
0.50 oz          Tettnang [3.70 %] - Boil 15.0 min                Hop           11         2.8 IBUs      -            
1.0 pkg          German Lager (White Labs #WLP830) [35.49 ml]     Yeast         12         -             -            
1.0 pkg          German Lager (White Labs #WLP830) [35.49 ml]     Yeast         13         -             -            


Mash Schedule: 150F, Mash Out, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 13 lbs
----------------------------
Name              Description                             Step Temperat Step Time    
Mash Step         Add 17.25 qt of water at 163.8 F        150.0 F       60 min       

Sparge: Batch sparge with 2 steps (Drain mash tun , 5.13gal) of 168.0 F water
Notes:
------

8/22/18: Made 2.75L starter w/ two packs yeast and used oxygenation wand. Started fermentation at 50F, then after two days moved to room temp. Cooled to 35F on brewday.

8/26/18: Brewed. Mash pH at room temp was 5.3. Mash temp was about 150.5F after 30 minutes of mashing.

Post-boil wort was around 6.5 gallons, at 1.062. I had boiled vigorously because I was over volume and under gravity pre-boil.

Chilled with CFC to 80F,  with cooled wort directly into the fermenter. Got about 5.25gal in the carboy, with a bunch of trub, so may end up slightly under 5 gal in the keg.

Placed carboy in chest freezer to chill to 45F.

8/27/18,  8am: Oxygenated wort for 60s, decanted most of the starter beer, and pitched.

8/28/18: By 8pm or so fermentation had started, some krausen was forming. Still going but slowly by 9/1/18.

Lager fermentation schedule - pitch at 45F, hold 12 hours, ramp to 50F over twelve hours, hold 2 weeks, diacetyl rest at 65F for a few days, cool to 55F, hold a day or two, then crash to 35F for extended lagering. Ramp temperature changes.

Smokey Porter 2018 Review

Aroma: Slightly acrid smoke aroma. Malty background, light sweetness. Hint of chocolate / dark roast. Hop aroma very low.


Appearance: Tan head with rocky texture, ok retention, dark black body.


Taste: Light malt sweetness, somewhat acrid smoke, moderate woody bitterness. It taste a little tart. Bitterness is moderate. Has kind of a woody note.


Mouthfeel: A little thin. Carbonation is low. Slight astringency at the end.

Overall: Ok but not super characterful. I'd like a little more sweetness, more body, and more complexity. Use more hops at the end. Perhaps use some Munich or Maris Otter malt, and higher mash temp.

Sour Solera 2nd Pull Tasting

Aroma: Sourness, lactic with vinegar notes. Lemony rind quality. Some light fruit esters, bretty funk. No hops, malt aroma is barely noticeable. As it warms a kind of woody aroma comes through.


Appearance: Golden yellow body. Haziness from yeast slurry. Fluffy white head with small bubbles immediately after pour, but dissipates after a few minutes.


Taste: I get the lemony rhind / pith quality at the start. Aftertaste is quite sour and has a bit of acetic harshness. It also has some woody / tannic quality in the background. Quite dry. Malt flavors barely there, covered up by the sourness.


Mouthfeel: Moderately carbed, somehow though it has a bit of creaminess in the texture.


Overall: A bit too harshly sour - too much viengar. I find the tannic quality a bit weird. Wish I could identify it more precisely. Will keep the solera going just as an experiment.

 

Czech Pale Lager Review

Appearance: Golden body with moderate chill haze, billowing white head with good retention and lacing.


Aroma: Grainy pils malt growing a bit more intense as it warms. I think some diacetyl is there as well. Light Saaz type hop aroma.


Taste: Again moderately pils-type grainy / malty character. Sweetness is low- just a hint, but fairly dry. Bitterness is moderate and well-balanced with malt flavors. I'd say it's a more balanced to the bitter than malty side but not by much. It has an earthy bitterness and to me a slightly minerally aftertaste.


Mouthfeel: Light body, moderate carbonation. Maybe slight diacetyl slickness in the body.


Overall:  Pretty good but may not be quite as good as my first attempt at this style. Probably it's key to use really fresh ingredients. In this case the pils malt was approaching a year old, so not optimal. But nevertheless this turned out to be a pleasant beer. Might give this low 30s.