First Ag - Vienna Lager

[Steve]

One All Grain Vienna Lager now resides in my fridge. Thanks to Col for CRUSHING my grain and popping round for moral support (even though I'd actually just finished). Started at 10.00am mashed in with 13.5 litres water at 78 degrees. Came down to 68 after stirring in. (Need longer spoon - kept burning my fingers!). Stayed at 68 for 60 mins - perfect. Drained into keg and sparged with 14 litres of water at 80 degrees. Fired up the burner, brought to boil (after about 30 mins - it was windy!). Added 60gms Saaz at 60 mins, at 30 mins added 25gms Hallertaue Mittlefruh, at 15mins put the chiller in to sterilize, at 10 mins added 15 gms Hallertaue Mittlefruh. Turned boiler off, cranked up the chiller. It was down to 20 degrees in 20 mins. Hoiked the keg up on the BBQ with fermenter underneath. Put in me conical sieve, turned the tap on - hey presto 20 litres of fresh wort. The sieve caught all the hop gunk as my keg doesnt have a filter...topped fermenter up to 23 litres.... chucked in 2 packets W34/70. Put im to bed in the fridge at 10 degrees. Happily krausenen this morning. Absolute PIECE O PISS! No dramas, no hiccups. Finished at 3.00pm - total 5 hours for me first all grain. Very happy!
Cheers
Steve

P.S. Cheers also to Jay (manean) for selling me his decommissed gear and cheers to all you rabble for turning me from a kit brewer to partial to AG within a month! Excellent - pat yourselves on the back. My wife hates you all. :lol:

P.P.S. SG was 1060 before topping wort up to 23 litres. Cheerin

 

[Steve]

One All Grain Vienna Lager now resides in my fridge. Thanks to Col for CRUSHING my grain and popping round for moral support (even though I'd actually just finished). Started at 10.00am mashed in with 13.5 litres water at 78 degrees. Came down to 68 after stirring in. (Need longer spoon - kept burning my fingers!). Stayed at 68 for 60 mins - perfect. Drained into keg and sparged with 14 litres of water at 80 degrees. Fired up the burner, brought to boil (after about 30 mins - it was windy!). Added 60gms Saaz at 60 mins, at 30 mins added 25gms Hallertaue Mittlefruh, at 15mins put the chiller in to sterilize, at 10 mins added 15 gms Hallertaue Mittlefruh. Turned boiler off, cranked up the chiller. It was down to 20 degrees in 20 mins. Hoiked the keg up on the BBQ with fermenter underneath. Put in me conical sieve, turned the tap on - hey presto 20 litres of fresh wort. The sieve caught all the hop gunk as my keg doesnt have a filter...topped fermenter up to 23 litres.... chucked in 2 packets W34/70. Put im to bed in the fridge at 10 degrees. Happily krausenen this morning. Absolute PIECE O PISS! No dramas, no hiccups. Finished at 3.00pm - total 5 hours for me first all grain. Very happy!
Cheers
Steve

P.S. Cheers also to Jay (manean) for selling me his decommissed gear and cheers to all you rabble for turning me from a kit brewer to partial to AG within a month! Excellent - pat yourselves on the back. My wife hates you all. :lol:

P.P.S. SG was 1060 before topping wort up to 23 litres. Cheerin

P.P.P.S. Thanks to AndrewQLD for posting your recipe in the recipe section.

Will post pics of the proceedings tonight at home.

 

[bindi]

A lager for your first AG well done.

 

[Ross]

Fantastic work Steve :super: - Great to see so many giving AG a whirl in recent months, seems like the myth that AG is difficult/expensive is finally being disspelled :beer:

Looking forward to the pics...

Cheers Ross

 

[Steve]

Fantastic work Steve :super: - Great to see so many giving AG a whirl in recent months, seems like the myth that AG is difficult/expensive is finally being disspelled :beer:

Looking forward to the pics...

Cheers Ross

Cheers Ross n Bindi. It was an absolute breeze. Went like clockwork. Had it all set up under the carport. Had me camping chair, beer in hand - a very relaxing day! I was fairly beered up by the end of it though :lol:

 

[tangent]

from a kit brewer to partial to AG within a month!

^ now that's progression. That's how it should be done IMO. Well done! :beer:

 

[DrewCarey82]

Nice work Steve.

 

[PistolPatch]

Great pics Steve. That little apprentice of yours looks a little too keen on brewing beer :huh: Better keep your eye on that one!

Good to hear it all went smoothly too. Can't wait to hear the results as I've had my eye on that recipe.

All the best,
PP

 

[Mr Bond]

Great pics, top work. :excl:
ONYA
Now is the hard part, ferment, CC, bottle condition,Waiting.Waiting

And then......
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:chug:

 

[Pumpy]

Steve I love pics remember doing a Vienna lager cloudy as hell but tasted fantastic

well done


pumpy

 

[matti]

Fantastic Steve.
Wonderous feeling to see it all go well and you will no doubt appreciate the drop.
Only drawback is the small amount 23L LOL
Matti the Swede

 

[Steve]

Yeah Pistol...hes sometimes a bit too keen - his first word was beer!
Bralover - im not the most patient person in the world...but I'm getting the hang of it.
Thanks Pumpy - why was yours cloudy?
Swede - wont be long until im doing double batches - I can see its inevitable.

One thing I have learnt out of this is that once you see someone actually doing it - it all falls into place and you think - oh my god - how easy is that. Then once you have got it right (the steps) in your head its just like anything else the only way I got it right it my head is by asking questions, reading, watching. Ive told you guys before that probably 12 months ago I would know how to do an AG in my head but because I didnt have the equipment I just havent. I think I also might have mentioned I dont have the inclination to do AG - well - thats out of the window...even now I want to go home (stuff work) and do another. Its great to put into practice what ive learnt. I dont think I'll be doing one every weekend though like I normally do with my ESB 3kg Tins and Grumpys kits. I was also amazed that it actually only took 5 hours, the same amount of time I took on my first couple of partials a couple of weeks ago.

Cheers - glad you like the pics
Steve

 

[Steve]

SG 1060 - down to 1014 in 7 days!. Now at room temp doing its rest for 48 hours. Will then rack and cc....tastes bloody beeeeewwwwdiful! Verry happy
Cheers
Steve

 

[DrewCarey82]

Congrats Steve, looks like a job well done.

 

[Aussie Claret]

Steve,
Congratulations, just take care as I notice from the photo's that you seem to have the kettle open when chilling and also when pouring into the fermenter, you are running the risk of possible contamination from wild yeast and possible infections. It may be better to cover on your next attempt, sorry don't want to sound negative but better than losing a batch.
Cheers
AC

 

[hupnupnee]

Great job mate,

Did u feel like just drinking it all straight ouj of the fermenter. I know i did on my first.

 

[PistolPatch]

Steve, listen to AussieClaret - he has vast experience in infected beers - lol! Just giving him a ribbing. Aussie brews very good beers, but...

He did get one infected one and he had the audacity to try and get me to taste it on Saturday. Without prior warning, he raced off to one of his billion fridges (7 walls away, mind you) and poured me a glass. I could actually smell him coming back so I knew something was up.

He said, "Pat, I'm not going to taste this one as I think it's infected. Do you want to try it?" When he saw me dry retching with 2 fingers up my nose, he quickly realised that my answer was, 'No. You can go and...' I suggested he send it to my old college, Orange Ag, and they could use it in their yearly Iron Man Competition, just after the cold meat pie and soap section.

So, Aussie's point is quite valid especially as he brews outside. I think he's become a little paranoid though as, after a few beers on Saturday, he started talking about how to drip feed no rinse steriliser to his garden reticulation system. (He didn't really - I just made that up.)

One other point. You say it tastes, 'bloody bewdiful,' already. This is great news! From my very limited knowledge and further limited experience, I reckon, if it tastes good from the fermenter, then you're only going to get happier. So once again, good on you.

Sorry for throwing in the above, which is largely fictitious but I thought it would make a great bedtime story for your little apprentice brewer - lol

PP

Whoops! Better send Aussie a PM!

 

[Steve]

Just an update on this, my first AG. Now this is a big call but IMHO it has to be the best and tastiest beer I have ever made. Very happy indeed, unfortunately only a couple of longnecks left. If you havent dont a vienna lager I highly recommend it. I used Andrew QLDs recipe in the recipe section. Below is taken from the BJCP guidelines and again IMHO I reckon i hit the nail right on its head.


3A. Vienna Lager
Aroma: Moderately rich German malt aroma (of Vienna and/or
Munich malt). A light toasted malt aroma may be present. Similar,
though less intense than Oktoberfest. Clean lager character, with no
fruity esters or diacetyl. Noble hop aroma may be low to none.
Caramel aroma is inappropriate.
Appearance: Light reddish amber to copper color. Bright clarity.
Large, off-white, persistent head.
Flavor: Soft, elegant malt complexity is in the forefront, with a firm
enough hop bitterness to provide a balanced finish. Some toasted
character from the use of Vienna malt. No roasted or caramel flavor.
Fairly dry finish, with both malt and hop bitterness present in the
aftertaste. Noble hop flavor may be low to none.
Mouthfeel: Medium-light to medium body, with a gentle creaminess.
Moderate carbonation. Smooth. Moderately crisp finish. May have a
bit of alcohol warming.
Overall Impression: Characterized by soft, elegant maltiness that dries
out in the finish to avoid becoming sweet.


Cheers :beer:
Steve

 

[Voosher]

Just an update on this, my first AG. Now this is a big call but IMHO it has to be the best and tastiest beer I have ever made. Very happy indeed, unfortunately only a couple of longnecks left. If you havent dont a vienna lager I highly recommend it. I used Andrew QLDs recipe in the recipe section.




Cheers :beer:
Steve

Are you trying to tell me you lagered this beer for 90 days Steve?????
That's what the recipe says :excl:
The way you turn 'em 'round it'd be lucky if it got 9 days. :lol:


Sorry about the cheek. Glad to hear the results. Can't say I'm surprised. About once a month I brew a kit for a mate. God they taste awful. Comparitively. :beer:

 

[Steve]

:lol: I think I managed to hang out for a two week cc'ing.

Cheers
Steve

P.S. I do have 3 longnecks in the vault which will be drunk in about 3 months time