25 replies to this topic

[Big Nake]

The Glacies thread had me thinking about this and I know we talked about it in another thread. I am sneaking in a weekday brew and it goes like this:

Marzenbier

4.75 lbs Dingeman's Pilsner
4.75 lbs Weyermann Munich 2
2 ounces Special B
½ ounce Carafa Special 3
.55 oz Magnum 13.3% for 30 minutes
1 oz Tettnanger 3.9% for 10 minutes
S-189

OG: 1.055, FG: 1.012, SRM: 9, IBU: 28, ABV: 5.2%

I realize the Special B doesn't belong in there but I wanted to try to duplicate the color of Paulaner Oktoberfest Marzen which seems to have a sort of reddish-amber thing going on. I also realize that S-189 is probably not the first yeast to come to mind here but I'll say this: I sampled an S-189 beer of mine last night and there is plenty of European character to this yeast and I think it will be nice here. I made the water lean towards chloride to get that smooth, soft and malty thing going on. Mash is just about done. I'll post a pic when I sample it. Cheers peeps.

[Bklmt2000]

Workday brewdays are a thing of beauty.  Well played, good sir. 

 

The recipe looks good.  The Spec B will redden the beer a bit, and probably enhance the malt a bit too, but at 2 oz, I seriously doubt you'll get much, if any, noticeable flavor that screams out "Special B!".

 

And I think the S-189 should make a good Ofest.

[HVB]

Why not use a touch of midnight wheat instead of the special b? Beer looks tasty

[Big Nake]

Workday brewdays are a thing of beauty.  Well played, good sir. 
 
The recipe looks good.  The Spec B will redden the beer a bit, and probably enhance the malt a bit too, but at 2 oz, I seriously doubt you'll get much, if any, noticeable flavor that screams out "Special B!".
 
And I think the S-189 should make a good Ofest.

This is a very loose interpretation of a Oktoberfest/Marzen. We see such a huge range of these beers I feel like I could just call this a "smooth amber lager" and be fine too. There will be a reddish tint to this beer. The wort looked GREAT when going into the primary so I have high hopes.
 

Why not use a touch of midnight wheat instead of the special b? Beer looks tasty

I basically did that with the Carafa Special 3. I like MW but for a beer like this I like Carafa better. Here, the Special B and the Carafa will work together to get a very faint reddish tint. Remember too that 50% of the base malt is Munich 2 so there is color here for sure. I'll post a pic when it's ready... I think the color will be great.

[Poptop]

So as Mic suggested, the Vienna Lager I made last Sunday was so efficient that I made a Marzen instead With a mix of slurries; 34/70 and WY2000, this batch has hit 1.010 and tastes divine. I agitated both fermenters last night and increased the temp to 67. I'll keep it here until Sunday and then drop it down down down. I'm excited for this batch estimatine a 5.7% festbier.

[Big Nake]

So as Mic suggested, the Vienna Lager I made last Sunday was so efficient that I made a Marzen instead With a mix of slurries; 34/70 and WY2000, this batch has hit 1.010 and tastes divine. I agitated both fermenters last night and increased the temp to 67. I'll keep it here until Sunday and then drop it down down down. I'm excited for this batch estimatine a 5.7% festbier.

Dilly dilly!

[Steve Urquell]

Should be yummy.

[Poptop]

Dilly dilly!

This particular beer terminology is lost on me Brother Ken
 
 

Should be yummy.

I'm thinking you are 100% right I'll be glad to have 10 gallons through the Holidays

[Big Nake]

Behold the Marzenbier...

[Steve Urquell]

Behold the Marzenbier...

I'd hit it.

[pkrone]

Yeah, that looks really nice.

 

I made one this afternoon that was  61%dark munich/26%pale/8.7%melanoidin/2.3%carahell          22 IBU's of Mittelfruh for 60 min    2308 for yeast

 

Things went great until I decided to use some leftover dry ice to get the wort chilling at knock-out.  

 

 

Just after I took this pic I threw in another chunk and stuff just blew up and went everywhere.    I lost about 1/2 gallon of wort.   I just had to laugh at my monumental sticky mess I'd made.    It'll probably be my best beer ever...

[Big Nake]

All hell's breaking loose!

[pkrone]

It was crazy.   There was so much vapor in my garage that I couldn't see a thing.     I had to open all 3 doors to clear it out.    My neighbors probably think I'm starting a meth lab or something.  

[neddles]

Solid lulz. A few years ago my wife made a birthday cake for my son shaped like a volcano. We embedded a shot glass at the peak as the cauldron, filled it with boiling water, and then dropped in a pea sized piece of dry ice to make it erupt. Cant imagine 10 gallons of that. Good story.

Edited by neddles, 03 December 2017 - 08:48 PM.

[pkrone]

Spunded my beer today.   I think it's gonna be great.  (smiley face)

[Big Nake]

Spunded my beer today.   I think it's gonna be great.  (smiley face)

That sounds kinda dirty.

I may need some help on this. I did pick up a spunding valve type thing and it's sitting in my beer bunker. Do you have a link with some good info or would you share what you're doing? I think I'd like to try it.

[pkrone]

You know,  I've had great results not even using a spunding valve.   I'd prefer my beer to be a little over- than under-carbonated.    I have learned, however, that when I tap a spunded beer to always attach the tap first prior to attaching the gas line.   Twice I've blown beer back into my gas line due to a super fizzy spunded beer!     Fecking mess, for sure. 

 

So I brewed this lager Sunday.  I checked the gravity yesterday and it was 1.032 w/ an OG of 1.053.   I figured today would be in the ballpark for spunding and tomorrow might be a little late.  Like I said... I prefer to be over than under.  

 

Honestly, I've had trouble setting my valve so I don't use it much.    I did use in on my unitank beer just so I didn't completely overcarb it.   

 

It's easy, but it's all about timing.   My work gets in the way a lot.   But my spunded beers have this amazing, super creamy foam that lasts forever..

[Big Nake]

You know,  I've had great results not even using a spunding valve.   I'd prefer my beer to be a little over- than under-carbonated.    I have learned, however, that when I tap a spunded beer to always attach the tap first prior to attaching the gas line.   Twice I've blown beer back into my gas line due to a super fizzy spunded beer!     Fecking mess, for sure. 
 
So I brewed this lager Sunday.  I checked the gravity yesterday and it was 1.032 w/ an OG of 1.053.   I figured today would be in the ballpark for spunding and tomorrow might be a little late.  Like I said... I prefer to be over than under.  
 
Honestly, I've had trouble setting my valve so I don't use it much.    I did use in on my unitank beer just so I didn't completely overcarb it.   
 
It's easy, but it's all about timing.   My work gets in the way a lot.   But my spunded beers have this amazing, super creamy foam that lasts forever..

There was something in "the paper" about it and I only remember a bit of it. Something about putting the valve onto the "in" port when the beer is close to fully fermented, set the valve to "8 bar" (I remember that for some reason). But it seems like the timing has to be just so. If you do it too late, the beer would be flat... too early and the beer will either be too fizzy or underattenuated. At what temp do you keep the keg while it's "spunding" and how long does it take to go from "freshly-spunded" (I should say from the START of spunding) to "ready to drink". Mmm, learning some new brewing terms today.

[pkrone]

"The paper"...    Man, that paper(PDF) totally turned me off at first.   The tone of that thing to me read like, "If you don't do all this stuff just like we say, then your beer's gonna suck and you suck too for that matter."    That's why I didn't try the LoDo thing until a year ago. 

 

Yeah,  the valve should go on the "in" port if you decide to use one.   I spund the beer at its same fermentation temp and let it sit there for about 2 weeks, then put it in the fridge for at least a month or so.

[Big Nake]

"The paper"...    Man, that paper(PDF) totally turned me off at first.   The tone of that thing to me read like, "If you don't do all this stuff just like we say, then your beer's gonna suck and you suck too for that matter."    That's why I didn't try the LoDo thing until a year ago. 
 
Yeah,  the valve should go on the "in" port if you decide to use one.   I spund the beer at its same fermentation temp and let it sit there for about 2 weeks, then put it in the fridge for at least a month or so.

I agree that the paper had a tone to it and it truly turned me off. I had some contact with a number of those guys and some of it was fine and quite a bit of it was not good. I was always open to the idea of it (many here were not) but what I wanted to do was find my own way through it but when I talked with some of the GBF guys about it they were so rigid about everything. I mentioned a few things that I did with SMB, BTB, etc. and they basically just laughed at me when I told them about some of the steps I had taken. I haven't really had contact with them since.