The Ides of Marzen, aka Malty McMaltface.
(~Marzen)
22L
OG = 1.056
FG = 1.012
IBU = 23
EBC = 21.5
(5kg grain)
2.4kg Munich (Viking)
2kg Vienna (Viking)
0.25kg Biscuit (Ding)
0.2kg Melanoidin (Wey) —>> had to sub for 0.36kg Aurora (Gladfields)
0.15kg Aromatic (Ding)
20g Tettnanger (4.8%) + 10g Saaz (4.6%) @FHW
10g Tettnanger +15g Saaz @20mins (cubed)
CaSO4 & CaCL2 additions to target 56ppm Ca, 55ppm SO4, 80ppm Cl2,
plus a little extra CaCl2 in the boil.
Mash: 55/65/72/78 for 5/60/20/5, then ~90mins boil.
to be dumped onto a S-189 yeast cake (3rd fermentation), fermented ~16°C.
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Unfortunately i discovered i’d run out of Wey Melanoidin, then remembered i’d picked up a little freebie of Gladfields Aurora from a Merri Mashers gathering months ago (big thanks to MM & Dermott at Beer Co!). Apparently it’s meant to sub for the Wey melanoidin at a ratio of 1:1.8, so i ended up using 360g Aurora instead of the intended 200g Wey Melanoidin.
Also discovered i’d run out of MgSO4, so i increased the CaSO4 a bit to compensate. I generally prefer to add a little Mg for yeast health but hopefully this won’t make a big difference, especially considering the yeast is already ~ at full population.
This beer is (obviously!) intended to be super, super malty (but still have a balanced & dry finish). I went through a few different iterations, mainly blending the Munich & Vienna more equally with Pilsner. I ended up going with this version to see how pushing the maltiness so heavily goes. Quite likely it’ll be more balanced with the pilsner, but i’ll see how this one turns out. The 1/3rd Pilsner version will probably be the next version to try (next winter). Also, the mash schedule was abbreviated due to lack of time. The 65°C step was intended to be split between 63°C and 66°C. I’ll probably consider doing it for the next one, depending on how this one turns out.
I'm really keen to see how this goes, as the basic idea of a strongly malty lager, that's got a dry finish & not high in alc%) sounds great to me. I was a bit surprised to see how few Marzens there are out there - i would've thought a big malty lager would be more popular. Maybe Marzens tend to get "skipped" in favour of Bocks or something Or maybe i've simply been unable to find where everyone raves about their Marzens
Anyway, hopefully it turns out as well as i hope!