My blogging tends to wax and wane with my brewing, and since I am blogging I must have started brewing. Yesterday was my first brew day of 2011. With the nicer weather I got out on the deck and got the brewing equipment all set up. (It occurs to me just now as I am writing that I forgot to empty the spent grains from my mash tun, dammit!)
It was a day of firsts as a matter of fact. I brewed my first lager yesterday. I am not a very big lager fan. I usually prefer ales, but I really like maibocks. A maibock is a helles lager brewed to bock strength. So it's as strong as traditional bock but is lighter in color and with more hop presence. It is a fairly recent development compared to other styles of bock beers, frequently associated with springtime and the month of May. Color can range from deep gold to light amber with alcohol content ranges from 6.3% to 7.4% by volume. The flavor is typically less malty than a traditional bock, with a mild spicy or peppery quality from the hops, increased carbonation and alcohol content.
My grist bill was simple with 13# of pilsner malt and .5# of CaraHell malt. In brewing this I did a step mash for the first time. I did a 20 minute protein rest at ~122°, a 30 minute beta amylase rest at ~148° and a 30 minute alpha amylase rest at ~155°. I skipped the mashout because I briefly considered topping the mash with more malt and doing a Belgian tripel as well, but changed my mind as it was getting later in the day. I added 1# of rice hulls to avoid a stuck sparge and it's good that I did because my ghetto/DIY grain mill still grinds too fine. I got about 70% efficiency but I used a bit more water than I should have with the step mashes. This means I came in about 5 gravity points lower than I had planned, so a long boil and a half pound of DME got me up to 1.062, just a tiny bit lower than I planned. This should put it at about 6.3% ABV, so it will still be within the specs for the style.
I did a 90 minute boil as you should when using pilsner malt. I added 5 drops of Fermcap-S at the start to help avoid boil overs. It did pretty good until I walked away with about 10 minutes left to get the carboy ready. A tiny boil over happened as soon as I turned my back. Hops additions were fairly simple. I used 1 oz. Mt Hood (5.2 AA) for the bittering charge for 60 minutes. I used 1 oz. Hersbrucker (3.5 AA) for aroma and flavor additions for 30 and 15 minutes each. I also added Irish moss at 15 minutes remaining to help with clarity. Cooling went quickly, getting it down to 75° within 25 minutes with my immersion chiller. I then transferred to the carboy and stuck it in my fermentation fridge that has a temp controller set at 54° (thanks for the controller for Xmas mom!) for final cooling over night.
This afternoon it was at a nice 55° so I pitched 3 packets of Saflager 23 dry yeast and shook the hell out of it to aerate it. Hopefully it will be bubbling nicely in the morning. When it's done in about 6 weeks I plan to keg it up. In the meantime I have 7# of pilsner malt and am itching to get a Belgian ale going as well. I think I need a 2nd keg...
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