Modern Homebrew Recipes (33 page)

Variations:
I’ve made this as a 1.070 foreign stout as well. The most interesting thing I did with one batch was to turn it into a chocolate imperial stout for a retirement party. Someone asked for a beer similar to Southern Tier Choklat, so I decided to play with flavoring an existing beer rather than brewing a new one. I soaked 4 oz (113 g) of cocoa nibs in crème de cacao, dissolved some Penzey’s Dutch cocoa in crème de cacao, let both steep for several days, and then strained. I blended that with the beer, and also added a small bottle of chocolate extract and a splash of real vanilla extract. I stirred in about 8 oz (227 g) of lactose, too. It was a very chocolate beer, and worked amazingly in vanilla stout floats. I think a bottle of Godiva chocolate liqueur would also work well, as long as it’s the clear version not the one that’s milky like Bailey’s Irish Cream (I think anything like that would curdle in the beer). At the brewery, Jay also ages his in a bourbon barrel. Be careful with any wood aging since there is a lot of dark malt, and the tannins from the wood can add astringency.

THE DIRTY DOZEN

As a contrast to the previous recipe, here is an Imperial Stout with a complex grist; there are twelve different components in the mash. Many imperial stouts have tremendous complexity and this is one way of getting that character.

Style:
Imperial Stout (Classic BJCP Style)

Description:
A stronger, chewier, more intensely flavored imperial stout that derives its layers of flavors from a complex list of ingredients.

Ingredients:

Water treatment:

RO water, no acid added

1 tsp CaCl
₂
in mash and 1 tsp CaCl
₂
in boil

Mash technique:

Step mash, mashout, dark grains added at
vorlauf

Mash rests:

131°F (55°C) 15 minutes

144°F (62°C) 50 minutes

158°F (70°C) 50 minutes

170°F (77°C) 15 minutes

Kettle volume:

8.5 gallons (32 L)

Boil length:

90 minutes

Final volume:

6.5 gallons (25 L)

Fermentation temp:

68°F(20°C)

Sensory description:
Deep toasty, bready, and malty base with strongly roasted flavors, moderately high bitterness, and a light fruity background. Rich and chewy body, with a malty, roasty finish. Spicy, earthy hop character. Ages well.

Formulation notes:
A beer designed to age. Has high hopping and alcohol with significant dark malts. Uses a very malty base similar to some Belgian beers. The strong roast and deep caramel flavors have to punch through the rich bready, toasty, malt base. The flavors need some time to meld and the alcohol needs to mellow a touch, so age this one for at least a year.

Variations:
For an even richer malt base, this beer can be decocted using similar rest temperatures. Dry hopping with varieties known for a tropical fruit character might add another layer of complexity.

7. LAGER RECIPES

“Some British drinkers think, wrongly, that lager is not beer.”

— Michael Jackson,
Michael Jackson’s Beer Companion

I don’t make lagers too frequently because they require significant time investment after brew day, and I have to plan my equipment availability carefully to maintain temperature control throughout the entire process. When I do make a lager, I really want it to have that clean flavor profile and smooth mouthfeel so characteristic of the style. There is nothing more disappointing than a lager that has been rushed through so fast that it has a rough profile, sulfury flavors, or a green beer
¹
taste. I can forgive a big ale that is served too young more so than a lager, because the brewer has finished with the ale; it’s now only a matter of cellaring. But a young lager is incomplete, and the brewer has not finished his job. Don’t go to the trouble of brewing a lager if you aren’t going to follow proper lagering practices, as a large portion of the character of the beer comes from the storage process.

The process for brewing a lager is not the same as brewing an ale except using a cooler fermentation temperature. There is more to the overall process, and some additional brewing considerations that must be taken into account. Before we get to the recipes, I want to summarize my method; it works for homebrewers and uses some more traditional techniques. After that I’ll contrast my method with modern German commercial lagering practices, which may contain some steps you’ll want to incorporate into your method. The recipes in this chapter generally use the first method, but feel free to adjust them accordingly if you’re more comfortable with something closer to the second method.

When I brew a lager, I always make a large yeast starter (1–2 L, typically), use oxygen, and typically pitch on the cold side, maybe 46–48°F (8–9°C). I take care not to have the starter at a temperature warmer than the wort, since this can shock the yeast. I usually ferment at 50–52°F (10–11°C) in a carboy. When the
kräusened
has fallen, I rack to a keg, and start lowering the temperature by 1–2°F a day (0.6–1.1°C). I lager at 33°F (1°C) for 1 week per 1°P of starting gravity (a traditional German method). I use a pressure-activated relief valve on the keg to keep pressure from building up. When lagering is complete, I check the clarity and fine with gelatin if necessary before racking to a serving keg (where I typically force carbonate the beer). Most of the time, the extended lagering period has caused the yeast to naturally flocculate, and I just carefully rack without fining.

Modern German commercial breweries use an accelerated lagering process for economic reasons, which is performed in a cylindroconical vessel that is used for both fermentation and conditioning. Pitching occurs at 43–45°F (6–7°C) and the temperature is allowed to rise to 46–48°F (8–9°C) during fermentation. After two days at the highest temperature, the beer is slowly cooled to 37–39°F (3–4°C), then transferred to another vessel. At this point, the beer still has about 1–1.5°P (4 to 6 gravity points) of extract remaining. The beer is
kräusened
with 5–10% actively fermenting yeast at low to high
kräusen
(the percentage is measured by volume of green beer), and then slowly cooled and lagered at 30°F (-1°C) for at least a week (but less than 5 weeks). This process can also be performed without cooling the beer before racking; an optional diacetyl rest may be added if necessary. Either way, the process involves careful temperature control and measurement of gravity during the fermentation process.

Kräusening
the beer improves the flavor and foam, helps the beer attenuate, and speeds the conditioning process by cleaning up the fermentation byproducts faster. When conducted in a closed vessel, it can also carbonate the beer.
Kräusening
is a very common practice in modern German breweries. At the homebrew scale of approximately 5 gallons (19 L), 5–10% of the volume translates to 1 to 2 quarts (roughly 1 to 2 L) or the size of the original yeast starter I recommended.
Kräusening
might seem like repitching your yeast, but be sure to separate out the primary fermentation yeast first (and possibly repitch it into a new batch of beer).

I have a few tips for brewing lager beers based on my experiences as well as my personal preferences:

•
Yeast strain selection
– I’ve seen a lot of otherwise good beers hobbled by a poor choice of yeast. I don’t like strains that produce a lot of sulfur; they tend to make the beers, well, stink. It’s best to avoid known large sulfur producers.

•
Cooling to lager temperature
– You need to slowly reduce the temperature of your beer after primary fermentation so that you don’t crash the yeast. A sudden cold temperature shock can stun the yeast and cause them to flocculate; they can’t do their job lagering if they’re lying dormant on the bottom of the fermenter.

•
Lagering temperature
– Lagering works much better at colder temperatures. It makes a huge difference in how long it takes to lager a beer at 32°F (0°C) than at 38–40°F (3–4°C), and it seems to produce a noticeable difference in smoothness. A good target range for lagering is 30–33°F (-1–1°C).

•
Pressure relief
– Allow pressure to escape during lagering to vent sulfur and other scrubbed-out volatiles. If you are using a carboy, use an airlock; if you are using a keg, vent it regularly or use a pressure-sensitive relief valve.

FIXING A SULFURY LAGER

If you do wind up with a lager that has too much sulfur in it and you need to serve it soon, you can scrub the sulfur out of the beer using CO
₂
. Chill the keg, carbonate it well, then warm the keg (for me that means putting it in a chest freezer with a temperature control, then removing it). Rapidly release the gas from the keg. Repeat this process three or four times. The escaping CO
₂
will take some of the sulfur with it. Even doing this just once can improve your beer.

The following is a broad collection of some of my favorite lager styles from around the world. OK, maybe not from
all
around the world; this selection does have a strong emphasis on German styles (but for good reason).

•
Dark American Lager
– Wait! Don’t skip over this one. My version has cranked the flavor up about as high as you can go while staying within style. It’s a very drinkable, roasty, smooth lager with low bitterness and a dry finish.

•
Nothing but Vienna
– A SMaSH beer with Vienna malt and Sterling hops. Want to see what Vienna malt tastes like? Here you go.

•
Mexican Vienna
– The Vienna style was carried into Mexico by immigrants. It changed a bit (OK, a lot) over the years, but retains some tie to its original roots in this amber adjunct lager.

•
Czech Dark Lager
– Just added to the BJCP Style Guidelines, this old style is finally getting some respect. I show my adoration with two different recipes for what the Czechs call
tmavé pivo.

•
Dunkel
– How do you go all-in with malt on a dark lager from Munich? Load it up with dark Munich malt; then decoct it.

•
Helles
– How can a style so simple be so hard to brew? It’s hard to find good examples, but you can produce a great version of this golden lager from Munich if you’re willing to use good quality ingredients.