What’s Brewing? – Celebration Lager

 What's Brewing?  No Responses »
Jul 242010
 

Brewing today and I’ve been asked to brew a beer for the upcoming wedding of my fiancées sister, as neither of the couple are really beer drinkers I’m thinking light, fruity, crisp, refreshing… something between a Knappstein and a Mac’s Hop Rocker.

New Zealand hops seem like a no brainer for this one – Nelson Sauvin and Riwaka flowers should do the trick.

A simple grain bill, mostly Pilsner malt with a touch of crystal malt for colour and subtle flavour.

A nice lager yeast, it just so happens I have a smack pack of Wyeast 2124 sitting in the fridge that should do nicely.

So, the recipe:

23l Batch

5kg Weyermann Pilsner
0.4kg Weyermann Carahell

Single Infusion, Batch Spage @ 68 deg C for 60 minutes

90 Minute Boil

22g Nelson Sauvin Hop Flowers (11.4%AA) @ 60min

15g Nelson Sauvin Hop Flowers (11.4%AA) @ 15min
15g Riwaka Hop Flowers (5.4%AA) @ 15min

15g Nelson Sauvin Hop Flowers (11.4%AA) @ 0min
15g Riwaka Hop Flowers (5.4%AA) @ 0min

Ferment something like:

10 days @ 10 deg C
1 day @ 14 deg C (diacetyl rest)
20 days @ 0 def C (lagering)

A bit of an experiment but on paper it looks delicious! I just hope I can resist drinking it until the wedding in October!

What’s Brewing – Dunkelweizen

 Homebrew, What's Brewing?  No Responses »
Apr 252010
 

Just mashed in for what will be a late night brew session. It’s time for a Dunkelweizen.

Not having brewed one before I checked out The Jamil Show archives and found their Homebrewing Dunkelweizen episode which contains a pretty good description of the style and a good sounding recipe.

A little bit more research revealed a tip from experienced home brewer Tony over at www.aussiehomebrewer.com advising to drop the Munich malt and instead use around 60% dark wheat for the “true dry maltiness character” that’s part of the Dunkelweizen style.

Although this advice seems to contradict at least the BJCP style guidelines which specifically mention the flavours that Munich malt imparts on the style I’ve decided to give it a go regardless (who needs style guidelines anyway, this one isn’t for competition it’s for enjoying). So, here’s what I’ve ended up with:

60% Weyermann Dark Wheat
33% Weyermann Pilsner
3% Weyermann Carawheat
2% Weyermann Carafa Special II
2% Weyermann Caramunich II

90 minute boil, 25g of Hallertau Pacific Flowers at 90mins (16 IBU).

And, becuase I love it, I’m using Wyeast #3056 – Bavarian Wheat Blend.