BSB 2013 - Bohemian Pilsner

Our gracious sponsors for BSB 2013 provided an absurd amount of Saaz as well as a solid amount of Weyermann Pils Malt.

BSB 2013 - Bohemian Pilsner

OG 1.050/ IBU ~42/ SRM ~3/ ~41L

99.0% Weyermann Pils Malt
01.0% Weyermann Melanoidin Malt

1.5oz of Saaz @ 60 minutes
2oz of Saaz @ 30 minutes
2oz of Saaz @ 15 minutes
2oz of Saaz @ 0 minutes

Fermentis SafLager S-23

Brewed June 1st

Mashed in at 152F.  Mashed for 60 minutes before collecting 46L pre-boil volume.  Boiled for 70 minutes adding hops as scheduled above.  Forgot to add Whirlfoc at 5 min remaining in boil.  Gravity measured 1.050.  Chilled to ~80F.  Collected ~36-38L into two fermenters.

2  tsp Calcium Chloride, 1 tsp Epsom Salts, 120g Acid malt, added to mash for a pH of 5.55.  Final water numbers: 
Ca 44, Mg 9, Na 18, Cl 66, SO4  56

Update June 2nd 

Gave the fermenter a quick shake but most of the aeration was done yesterday while racking the beer to the pail.  Pitched two packets of S-23 @ 18c,  Fermentation freezer set to 16c (60F).

Update June 3rd 

Temperature set to 16c, freezer doing a decent job keeping thing cool.  Cool cycle does tend to over-cool a touch so the wort is bouncing between 15c and 16c.  Pils showing Krausen.

Update June 6th

Temperature steady @ 15-16c.  Pils is full steam ahead.  Will keep my eye on fermentation of the next few days, don't want to miss my chance at a diacetyl  rest.

Update June 9th

It would appear the fermentation is beginning to whine down.  I turned off the temperature controller to allow the wort to free-rise for a Diacetyl rest.

Update June 11th

Temperature has risen to 20c.  I sampled the wort and I like where this is heading.  Bitter and quite dry.  I am not getting any of the dreaded S-23 "Passion Fruit" nor Diacetyl.   FG reading 7% brix which corrects to 1.0137 (3.49°P), 74% attenuation. 

Update June 12th

Temperature down to 3.5c. 

Update June 13th

Temp probe removed from fermenter and placed in a jar of water which had been also sitting in the freezer, this allowed me to snap down the lid of the fermenter.  Not sure if this was necessary or not?  Going to be racking beer to carboy or keg for more lagering. 

Update June 18th

Racked to keg for further lagering.

Update 2 - Low Tech Helles

Helles brew day went into the books on Sunday past.  Full krausen within 36hrs.  Temperature holding steady at 12c/53.6F.  Starting to get the egg/sulfur smell :)

Update - Low Tech Helles

This morning I added the final volume to the starter.  After completing the first two steps, the starter was crashed cooled and decanted.  A final 2L of wort was added to the flask this morning.  The starter sits spinning on a stir plate.  The target cell counts is in the 400B ball-park.

I checked the gravity of the decanted spent beer, it had in fact fermented out to 1.008 (75% attenuated) which is bang on for WLP833.  It had that distinct sulfur/egg smell common to lagers.  I was a little concerned as I purchased this yeast on a clear out.  The best before date was Nov 11.  I have no idea what the real viability was so I assumed 10%.  Worst case, I'll end up with slightly more yeast then I bargained for which I understand isn't such a big deal for Lagers.

Tonight I crush my grain and prepare for tomorrow evenings brew-night!

Low Tech Helles - Brewing Soon!

Getting geared up for this weekend's brewday! I picked up a vial of WLP833 from BeerGrains which had been discounted on account of being past it's best before date.

In order to hit a suitable cell count, I opted to pitch the vial to a 1L starter which, as of last night, was stepped to another 1L starter.  Before brewing this weekend the yeast will get a final 2L step in hopes to pitch around 400B cells to my 1.050 Helles.

The recipe is based on "Chad's" internet famous 50pt Munich Helles Recipe.  Some substitutions have been made on account of inventory on hand.  Here's what I am running with:

Low Tech Helles