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Quick and diry guide to fermenting fruit - cider and wine
Brewed a year ago and lagered. Time is coming to brew it again!
Märzen is traditionally brewed in March because that's what märzen means!
But we don't need to be overly prescriptive, that's no fun!
I'm mostly just jealous because I didn't get to it this year.
That's why I was calling it Märzenfest half year ago. Apparently, or at least the books say so, they were brewing this all winter, for same reasons I do this. But sure, the later brews were probably the ones that mostly survived the thrist period.
But we don't need to be overly prescriptive, that's no fun!
That doesn't sound very German of you. :P
But doesn't it get bad after a year?
It gets better! That's why they call it lager.
Ales get better with years passing too though.
Alcohol does not go bad usually. If under 5 percent mother of vinegar can turn it, that bitch.
I have over 15 gallons of vinegar, good stuff but I wanted the alcohol.
Looking nice! Tell us more about the beer
Oh, I looked up what we did last year and...
It's triple decoction lager actually!
2.5 kg Pale Ale (Simpsons) 2.0 kg Munich Malt (Ireks) 0.5 kg Crystal Oak (Ireks)
Then the sequence:
30 L kettle, no external heating for whole volume. Mash-in 35C water. After 20 min, take 1/3 portion, heat in 10 L kettle to 65 C on induction hotplate, wait for a negative iodine-test. Boil 45 min, mostly without mixing.
Return to mixture, wait 20 min. Take 1/3 portions, heat in 10 L kettle to 65 C on induction hotplate, wait for a negative iodine-test. Boil 45 min, mostly without mixing.
Return to mixture, wait 20 min. Take liquid, boil 45 min, return.
Then sparging.
Boil for 1h, Perle hops (6 AA%), 29 g at start, Tettnanger hops (2.4 AA%), 24 g at -15 min
LAG101 yeast (German lager strain, captured in expedition to Bayern), fermented at 10+-2 C (non-heated building part with a tiny 200W heater) for about 3 weeks, then diacetyl rest at RT for about a week (feeling lazy), then bottled with light sugar priming, and into a fridge.
OG 1069 FG 1012
Profile is what we could expect from an Oktoberfest, malty body, mildly bitter with pronounced hops aroma.
I must say, it was totally worth it (and done with simplest kitchen tools and a bottle of some veterinarian drug containing iodine). With lager profile as blank canvas, this process is pretty much a show-off of what people should be really doing to make them lagers interesting.
Great work on doing a decoction mash. Im far far too lazy to ever do that. Do you think it benefited the beer?
Absolutely, it is very hard to miss. And it is easier than infusion the way people do it usually, just takes way more (passive) time. Equipment-wise, having nothing is default too, which is nice.
I will brew this Friday. After deciding what I will do bit wild experiment with grape juice, cherries and some classic leftover ale. I will add only basic hops so the fruits came out bit stronger (SAAZ for flavour and some leftover bitter ones).
Tbh I never tried intentionally age beer that long usually it is some forgotten bottle found and I am bit surprised if it's good.
So where is one to get good bulk prices on barley or malted barley and hopps?
1.50 a pound for malt is too much. Agric. Feed stores are 20 bucks for 50 lbs but idk if they spray chemicals on that barley.
Yes I know malting is tough, putting in a woodstove I was going to go old old scholl with some racks over it.
Direct buy grain from farmers. They often dump and compost the stuff, seriously, while children in Africa, you know, but shipping is often more expensive and processers have minimum amounts, farming is no charity (it really is, at prices we pay for food). You can get super easy and ethical deals. And they'll tell you what they did, if you are friendly enough, I guess. They also might even malt it themselves, lots of folks do it anyway for various reasons (moonshine).
Hops are hard though. Like all spice, they are either premium quality, or useless. And demand is higher than supply globally. But I'm pretty sure there are local substitutes everywhere, it might deviate from what we call beer, but what the heck why not?
Thanks!
There have been quite a few other herbs that have been used in Brewing before. Iyy is one from circa 1st millenium, the one that is used in abstinenth has been another.
I have a lot of yarrow growing wild, I think that might even be good. Burdock root has an interesting taste. I am not so delicate that I cannot experiment and not enjoy something that is less than it would be if hops.
I dropped some artemisia into meed and after a year oh the smell is otherworldly. I'm waiting for bottling day eagerly.
Really? How would you describe the smell otherwise than out worldly? In a good or interesting way at all?
I know when I put burdock root in a ferment which was not barley-based but maple syrup, it had a really good and interesting complex test, maybe not best for maple syrup wine, I know it is pickled in other places of the world like Japan
It's something similar to smell of tarragon infused water, but more complex and powerful. But without tasting I can't really comprehend it.