Summary of German inspired Changes

[Brody]

So as you guys know I'm new to the lager world and ironing out some process changes for my next Pils & Helles attempts. I wanted to summarize my game plan so far for any more feedback:

1) Concerning pH: I plan on mashing at 5.4 and acidifying the wort to 5.2 at the end of the boil. Previously I would simply mash at 5.3.

2) I plan on skimming the krausen by popping the top on my corny and using a sanitized stainless spoon to remove it.

3) I plan on minimizing O2 during cooling, crash the wort to fermentation temperature, rack off the trub, pitch, then oxygenate.

4) Concerning the Mash: Using 90% Weyerman Pilsner and 10% Carahell I will dough in at 95f. Here I will adjust the pH and then using direct heat (propane burner on a Blichman Boilermaker) I will heat the mash up to 145f for a 30m Beta rest. Next I will fire the mash up to 158f for an hour long Alpha rest. Finally, I'll raise it to 175f for a 10m mash out.

5) I plan on using a FFT for the first time.

All this sound good or are their some adjustments you would recommend? Haven't covered fermentation/conditioning/lagering yet which I will in a bit.

[Techbrau]

I think you're using way too much carahell. Start with 3% and adjust from there.

[Roachbrau]

On #2, an alternative way (if you want to ferment 5 gals) is to fill the keg completely, then hook up a blowoff tube to the gas fitting to blow off the krausen. I just tried this for the first time, it worked great. Then when it's almost finished fermenting, unhook the tube and allow it to naturally carbonate!

[Bryan R]

So, my 2 cents.

1 what are you making? If helles, I would do 97/3 and start here as Tech says. If pils, I may or may not drop all carahell completely.

Acidification...5.4-5.6 should work for the mash 5.1ish with 10 minutes left in the boil works.

I would stop in the 130's for a little bit

Be very cognoscente of your hoping rates and formulas.

Your alpha rest is too long, infact I may just reverse them.

EVG is your friend.

The key is not just picking numbers, but understanding what the numbers mean. Why would one chose 5.4, and then adjust lower, or why a rest is at a certain temp. Thats the key to all this!

Good luck, and great job.

[Brody]

Concerning the Grain Bill: Actually it looks like I misspoke, I meant 10% Carapils/Carafoam not Carahell (based off Nico's comment on the Foam thread). But I may revert to the original 97% Weyerman Pils, 3% Carahell plan. And maybe afterwards sub in some carafoam and see if I like the impact.

Concerning Removing the Krausen: Filling the keg completely and allowing for blowoff sounds like a good idea, maybe less chance to introduce O2 or anything wild in the air.

Oh, and Helles to start I think but I'm going to tackle both hopefully pretty close together.

Hopping I'll touch on soon when finalized along with fermentation plan.

What's EVG? (EDIT: Nvm, just caught it... attenuation)

Alpha rest I stretched out since I think I read somewhere that extending it to 45-60m was good for foam. I had thought about a 10m rest at 135f based on the Weyerman Pils Kolbach but keep going back and forth. I don't have any lot specific analysis atm but I'm going to try at the LHBS.

Yup, the understanding of it all is what I'm trying to drill more into. I have this spreadsheet broken out into 6 categories where I'm keeping all my notes and linking sources.

[Weizenberg]

If you want body then a 60 minute pause at 70-72C is recommended. It has a very positive impact on mouthfeel.

Carapils is special. I'd go with 10% Carapils and 3% Carahell. Know your malts!

You don't need to scoop the foam every day. Usually this is done a day or two before the beer goes into the lager tank. You don't want the resins to collapse and end in your beer which can create off flavours.

Be careful with your acids. Your sparge water should be at
pH 6. Sparge should take about 120 minutes. Run it very slowly.

All of this are actually just solid brewing practices.

I'd avoid mumbo-jumbo like dry hopping and throwing all sort of junk into my kettle (whirl flick and yeast nutrients). These are not used in any German brewery.

Why people add all this nasty stuff but expect a German beer to come out at the other end is a mysterious. The same goes for the grain bill. Stick to 10% carapils and 3% carahell unless you can work with your own malt.

[pietro]

I might have missed this from another thread, but why ferment in cornies? Pressurized ferment?

[Brody]

A few reasons:

No risk of breakage (I've seen people crack glass carboys and somehow got a hole in a plastic better bucket)
Easy to clean and sanitize - I can get my whole arm in their unlike glass carboys and they won't scratch like plastic buckets/carboys
2 easily fit in a small chest freezer for temperature control
You can hook up a jumper for O2less transfers from keg to keg (can shorten a diptube with a hacksaw when you want to leave stuff behind)

[Bryan R]

Well most of the guys using them are also using spundling valves for natural carbing as well.

[pietro]