It been a while since I blogged. Due to work commitments, brewing time has been non existent. That changed today with a quick cheeky lager. Here is the recipe;
Meadow View Lager
ager
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 20L (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 26.2L
Boil Gravity: 1.034
Efficiency: 70% (brew house)
STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.044
Final Gravity: 1.009
ABV (standard): 4.67%
IBU (tinseth): 40.91
SRM (morey): 4.15
Mash pH: 5.92
FERMENTABLES:
2.5 kg - Pale 2-Row (62.5%)
1 kg - Lager (25%)
0.5 kg - Munich (12.5%)
HOPS:
15 g - Magnum, Type: Leaf/Whole, AA: 15, Use: Boil for 60 min, IBU: 30.03
15 g - Magnum, Type: Leaf/Whole, AA: 15, Use: Boil for 10 min, IBU: 10.89
MASH GUIDELINES:
1) Infusion, Temp: 66 C, Time: 60 min, Amount: 16 L
2) Sparge, Temp: 75 C, Time: 15 min, Amount: 16.1 L
Starting Mash Thickness: 4 L/kg
YEAST:
Mangrove Jack - Bohemian Lager Yeast M84 x2 (Edit - that was a mistake, it was
M76 Bavarian Lager Yeast)
Fermentation Temp: 10 - 15 C
The thin mash was an experiment. I brought my mash tun from a chap on eBay - and he had said it benefited from a slightly thin mash, so I thought I'd give it a go. Certainly, the actual pre-boil gravity of 1.038 against 1034 predicted suggests it doesn't harm efficiency.
I used of Magnum instead of a more traditional German hops because I got some cheap hops (and yeasts, and a few other bits and bobs) from a home brew shop that was closing down. Magnum was one of them, so I wanted to give them a spin in something, and I have read about lagers that use them so it seemed like a good idea. They certainly smell fantastic. They are mainly a bittering hop, but I really liked their aroma.
The MJ M76 Bavarian Lager Yeast was one of the yeasts I got cheap - 50p a pack! I decided to use 2 and ferment at the bottom end of the recommended range. That is 9-14°, so I chose 10° as it gives me a bit of wiggle room.
Everything went really well. The brew day was worked around a day working from home, so things like mash times might have been a few mins over if I was in the middle of something. Which I was, a lot, but they were there or there about. One thing I did for the first time was to whirlpool the wort after cooling to try and gather the trub in the middle of the boiler and preventing its transfer to the FV. I am astounded how well this worked ~ the wort entering the FV was almost totally clear / bright. Now, if you don't do this, this trub falls to the bottom of the FV anyway, so you could argue whats the point? Well, I want to get into liquid yeasts / re-culturing yeasts from the FV trub, so the less muck in there the better.
The immersion chiller got the wort down to low 20's°, it was then put in the fermentation fridge, which was bringing it down about 2° an hour, so the yeast was pitched at 15.5° which means it will be around 10° by the time it has re-hydrated and got going.
I am now away for work for 3 days, so I'll just have to hope it starts and ferments away happily at this temp, as I won't be there to change anything!
