Batch #29/30: Pils/Koslch

Another brewday, another 10 gallons. Also my first try at a lager, with a Kolsch as "insurance" in case the pils doesn't work out. It wasn't the smoothest brewday ever, but it was much better than my last brewday from hell.

Recipe

Grain Bill

14#, 10 oz Durst Pilsener (ran out)
6 oz Crisp Maris-Otter (meant to grab Munich, took wrong bucket)

Hops

Pils:

2.5 oz US Hallertau Leaf hops (2.8% AA) @ 60 min
1 oz Saaz Leaf (2.5% AA) @ 45 min
1 oz US Hallertau @15 min
1 oz Saaz @5 min

Kolsch:

2 oz US Hallertau Leaf (2.8% AA) @ 60 min
0.5 oz US Hallertau @15 min

Yeast

Pils: 2 quart starter of WLP802 Czech Budejovice
Kolsch: 1 quart starter of Wyeast 2565 Kolsch

Mash

40-60-70 schedule, 30 minutes at 40, 40 minutes at 60, 20 minutes at 70. Lower temperatures were missed a little bit: 40 was 45, 60 was 59.

Vitals

Pils:

OG: 1.052
FG:
Calculated IBUs: 44
Carbonation:

Kolsch:

OG: 1.044
FG:
Calculated IBUs: 25
Carbonation:

Timeline

Brew day: January 31, 2004

9:50 am: Mash-in @111-113F (44-45C)
10:20 am: Add boiling water to raise temp to 135F, then direct heat to 140F.
11:00 am: Temp dropped to 138F, start heating to 158F.
11:34 am: Reached 158-159F, begin rest.
11:54 am: Transfer to lauter tun.
12:00 pm: Vorlauf.
12:05 pm: Begin sparge. (Stuck twice, at 12:13, at 12:23)
12:38 pm: 6 gallons in the 6 gallon pot, some in 10 gallon. 6 gallon pot on to boil.
12:45 pm: Ran out of sparge water about 2 gallons short of volume. Pretend I'm batch sparging and let it run.
12:49 pm: Lauter tun runs dry, aonly a quart or so short of volume.
1:11 pm: 6 gallon pot SG 1.048 (Pils)
1:15 pm: 10 gallon pot SG 1.038 (Kolsch)
1:38 pm: Swapped about 3 quarts of liquid between the two pots, and added a little under a quart to the 10 gallon pot.
1:40 pm: Pils boil starts
2:00 pm: Add Pils bittering hops (1st Hallertauer). Kolsch boiling.
2:15 pm: Add Pils 1st Saaz.
2:20 pm: Add Kolsch bittering hops.
2:45 pm: Add Pils 2nd Hallertauer (and Whirlfloc tab and siphon tube).
2:55 pm: Add Pils 2nd Saaz.
3:00 pm: Begin Pils rack+chill.
3:05 pm: Add Kolsch aroma hops (and Whirlfloc tab and siphon tube).
3:13 pm: Pils racked.
3:20 pm: Begin Kolsch rack+chill.
3:39 pm: Kolsch racked (a little hard starting the siphon due to leftover Pils wort).
3:55 pm: CFC cleaned and stowed. Pils OG 1.052, Kolsch OG 1.044.
4:00 pm: Pitched yeast.
4:10 pm: Kolsch resting in computer room (60F +/- a couple), Pils in basement (mid-high 40s).
4:35 pm: Kettles cleaned and stowed.

2/9: Took hydrometer sample of Pils. It is already very clear, and tastes crisp and malty. SG 1.016. It needs a little more lagering clearly, but the results are very good at this stage.

2/13: Transferred both to keg/secondary, Kolsch S.G. 1.010.

Tasting notes

Batch 29 (pils):

3/17/2004

First glass from the tap, very lightly cloudy. Carbonation low, only from keeping keg sealed during high-temp "lagering" (45-55F). Relatively clean and crisp, with a spicy, earthy hop character and light hop aroma. Quite good and drinkable, but will definitely improve with time.

Batch 30 (kolsch):

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