First Wyeast Brew + First Wort Hop!

[SJW]

Well thanks for all the advise on getting the Wyeast Czech Pils yeast started. I did a Pilsner Urquell clone on Saturday and it went great. I had 100 grams of Saaz for bittering so I chucked 50g in as first wort hop & 50g in for the 60min boil, then another 50g for 10min. (total of 40 IBU's for 28 litres). I stepped the yeast up twice and pitched about 1 litre of active yeast and I pitched it at 20 deg C. There was action with the airlock from the start but after about 5 hours this big wicked thick, snow white krusen was starting to for so I chucked it in the fermentation fridge @ 9 deg C. So with 75% eff. 6500g of Czech Pilsner malt and way too much Carra Pils/foam, 650-700 grams, and a very wet/cool (65-62 deg C) mash I think it should come out fine. I also did a protein rest @ 50 deg C for 20 mins then mashed for 1 hour. OG was 1.060.
I will wash some of the primary yeast cake for later use and pitch a nice Vienna on the racked yeast.
Thanks for the help with the Wyeast threads.

STEPHEN

 

[joecast]

looks great SJW. how long do you plan for primary/secondary?
joe

 

[SJW]

I checked the gravity last night, after 24 hours, and it had dropped 9 points to 1.051, so that dis-proved the theory "that if you wait for the wort to show signs of active fermentation prior to reducing to lager ferment. temps. it will finish within 24 hours". As this is exactly what I did and it only dropped 10 points in the first 24 hours.
Anyway back to your question I will leave in primary untill the krusen starts to drop, about 10-14 days I hope, then will rack for 2 weeks min. But this time I will not rack in the fridge at 0 degC as I am unsure that it makes that much diff. I will soon find out.

STEPHEN

 

[warrenlw63]

Stephen,

Don't want to tell you how to suck eggs, however all that CaraPils (700g?) is going to leave you with a very sweet beer. CaraPils is basically crystal malt and should be used sparingly. It will most likely lead to a high finishing gravity. I would have kept it to about 200g at the very most.

Warren -

 

[SJW]

I thought that would be the case Warren. That was a good lesson in taking more care when weighing out the grain. By the time I looked back at what I was doing it was too late and about 700g went straight in.
Live & learn I guess.

 

[SJW]

I was just reading the specs. on Carapils and it says that it does not alter the color or flavour of light beers. So I am looking forward to trying this one and finding out. I must say that it did not taste too bad at 24 hours into the ferment when I checked the gravity, a bit sweet still but that is expected at 24 hours.

STEPHEN

 

[warrenlw63]

Stephen,

One thing I can guarantee you won't have to worry about...

A headless beer.

Warren -

 

[SJW]

Just to follow up about Carapils. I went thru some old recipes the other day and it just so happens that the best beer I ever did was a Bock that had 1.2kg's of Carapils in it. And it was a great great beer. So go hard with the Carapils.

STEPHEN

 

[Jim - Perth]

Stephen
Bock is a slightly different kettle of fish to Czech pils.
Good luck
Jim