Sunday, February 9, 2014

Third times the charm?

My personal favorite beer is Negra Modelo.

So of course that is what I want to be able to make for my third attempt.  Like the first batch this one was built as a partial mash, or mini-mash.
The grains used were:
1 3/4 lbs  German Pilsner Malt
1 lb Vienna Malt
6 oz Crystal 60L Malt
4 oz Caravienne Malt
3 oz Chocolate Malt
I steeped these for 45 minutes at 155-160 degrees, placed the bag in the strainer to drip out and then poured about a gallon of 165 degree water slowly through the bag, let it drip out and then discarded the grains.
I added 5 lbs Extra Pale Extract and a 14 oz Dry Sugar Alcohol Boost (55% maltose & 45% glucose), once it came to a boil.  Returning to a boil I then added 1 oz Hersbrucker Pellet Hops and 1/2 oz Tettnang Pellet Hops and 45 minutes later another 1/2 oz Tettnang Pellet Hops for the final 15 minutes.  At the 45 minute mark I also added a yeast fuel capsule.  15 minutes later (total of 60 since adding the first hops) was the rapid cool down and then the transfer to primary fermenter (with rudimentary splashing to add oxygen) and added water to make 5 gallons (actually went to about 5 1/4 gallons).  The OG at this point is 1.057 (which depending on FG should put it between 5.5% and 6.25% alcohol).

Everything I read spoke of the greatness of pitching liquid yeast so I did.  I sorta guessed here because I wasn't sure which was best.  I used a South German Lager WLP838
Pic of YP838which I found out today produces a slight sulfur smell.  (My wife and kids were not happy with the new aromas I brought to the house, haha)
Fermenting kicked off around 24 hours and is going well.  I plan to do a secondary fermentation on this batch, so I will post again about that later.

2 comments:

  1. Did this seem easier after doing the whole grain batch?

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  2. Very cool! I actually made my own yeast starter for this last batch I made and I gotta say that I will probably never just pitch dry yeast straight from a packet again. I love your blog, Bry, your progress is outstanding. Keep it up, man.

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