Lager Recipe

[Damian44]

Hi peoples. I'm soon to do my 1st AG Lager, and have a few questions about the recipe below.

1. As I'm doing only 1 Lager this year id like to do a double batch (44L or 11.9 Gallon). Regarding the yeast. Mr Malty says ill need 2 vials or packs with a 14L starter. But from what i can gather from the Wyeast yeast calculate if i make a 2L starter and add that to a 4L starter that should get me close to 12 (million cells/ml)?

2. What the hell does Flood sparge of 45 minutes at 77 C mean?

3. Any advice about the recipe or things to watch out for doing 1st Lager would be appreciated?



Notes: Category: 07. PALE LAGER
Style: North German Pilsener
Recipe Name: North German Pilsener # 2004
Brewer's Name: Ray Mills
Brewing Method: Mash
Starting Gravity: 1.050
Ending Gravity: 1.012
Alcohol (w/w%): 5%
Bitterness (IBU): 38.5
Colour (SRM): 3.6
Specification Comments: This beer should be a nice clean bitter Pilsener (a little more bitter than a normal Pilsener)
Simple to make and great tastes
Size of Batch: 22
Batch Size Unit: Liters
Extract Efficiency: 65%
Fermentables: 5.10 kg German Pils Malt
.28 kg Cara Pils
Hop Additions: 22 grams Perle 9.4% AA 90 minutes boil
25 grans Tettnanger 4.7% AA 20 minutes
17 grams Tettnanger 4.7% AA 5 minutes
Wort Preparation: Single infusion mash at 67 c for 90 minutes
Flood sparge of 45 minutes at 77 C
Boiling and Cooling: boil for 90 minutes
Yeast Information: White Labs WLP 800 Pilsener Lager
Make a starter
Fermentation Details: This is important
Ferment at 10 - 12 C for 18 days
Rest at 20C for 5 Days
Rack to secondary fermenter and lager for 4 - 5 weeks
Bottle keg as normal

 

[Bribie G]

The 'flood sparge' sounds like what we call 'mashout' where the mash is raised to the temp that stops the enzyme activity and gives better efficiency in rinsing out the fermentable sugars from the mash due to the higher temperature.

As a first lager AG exercise, the infusion mash sounds fine, assuming that the malt is a well modified one not needing any 'rest' steps. I take it you will be using Weyermann Pilsner Bohemian Malt? http://www.craftbrewer.com.au/shop/details.asp?PID=795

Sounds like a yummy drop, although with the Perle and the Tettnang it's going to be German. ACHTUNG :beerbang: and not so much a Pilsener Style. I'm also going to get into my first real AG lagers this winter and will attempt a few single infusion brews before I get into the black arts of decoction mashing h34r:

 

[mika]

Due to the length Im guessing Flood Sparge = Fly Sparge. I wouldn't worry, you can batch sparge if you want.

I haven't seen the WYeast calculator, but usually going from 2L to 4L wouldn't give you significant yeast growth to warrant it I would have thought. For this large a batch you'd be looking at 4L as a minimum size starter and you still might want to pitch warm and ramp it down, or do a bigger starter. 14L sounds a little OTT, but the calcs are based on best practice. Aeration would help a lot as well. Lagers are really not all that difficult to brew, like any beer it's all in the ferment. Due to the fact you've got basically nothing to hide behind (malt wise) fermentation issues stick out like a sore thumb.
Still, don't be discouraged. If a 4L starte is all you can manage, go ahead and give it a go, it'll still be a better than a can of goo

 

[BoilerBoy]

The only thing I would alter would be the the amount of carapils, 280g is over 5% of the grain bill I have found from past experience it makes it far too chewy and can effect the desired crispness, I would at least halve it (IMHO).

Nice bitterness, Perle & Tettnang - lovely.

Cheers
BB

 

[Damian44]

Thanks guys. I'm actually using Joe White Pils malt. Would this benefit from a protein rest?
Ill lower the Cara Pils and just to a normal mash out.
I used Pils malt for the 1st time in my last batch and noticed a lot of foam build up while waiting to reach the boil. Is it always a good idea to skim this off?
TYVM Damian

 

[Damian44]

Ive scaled the recipe to 59L. When i convert the recipe i come up short in the IBU's. I copied the recipe exactly and in both Tinseth and Rager i come up 4 IBU's short.
I didnt have enough Tettnang so i subed some of the 20min edition with Sazz.

Amount Item Type % or IBU
13.00 kg Lager Malt (2.0 SRM) Grain 95.59 %
0.60 kg Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 4.41 %

96.00 gm Pearle [5.80 %] (90 min) Hops 28.2 IBU
17.00 gm Saaz [4.00 %] (20 min) Hops 1.2 IBU
55.00 gm Tettnang [3.90 %] (20 min) Hops 3.7 IBU
45.60 gm Tettnang [3.90 %] (5 min) Hops 1.5 IBU

3.12 tbsp PH 5.2 Stabilizer (Mash 60.0 min) Misc
3.12 items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 min) Misc
3.12 tsp Yeast Nutrient (Primary 3.0 days) Mis

Pilsner Lager (White Labs #WLP800)