Today's Brew - Dunkles - Bavarian Dark Lager [General]
2009 Apr 14
BTW, my hops for today :
50g Tettnanger, 6.1% AA, 60 min
15g Tettnanger, 6.1% AA, 20 min
15g Spalt, 3.6% AA, 20 min
15g Tettnanger, 6.1% AA, 0 min
15g Spalt, 3.6% AA, 0 min
No idea what the IBUs are but guessing around 20
AA == alpha acids. How much bitterness is in them.
Beer is a general term that covers everything.
Then you generally speaking divide into Ale and Lager. Then from there you have your beers like Stout, Pale Ale, Cream Ale, Porter (all ales), and Pilsener, Schwartz, Dunkles, Helles and so on (all lagers).
See the website of the Beer Judge Certification Program for more details www.bjcp.org/ (I have not read the linked Wikipedia page so cannot vouch for it)
From my FAQ at : www.bodensatz.com Um, gawsh that needs a re-write! Though it is still accurate. Lager yeast were naturally selected over hundreds of years because of the Bavarian habit of storing beer in Alpen caves. They noticed that beer brewed in summer was not as good, so they tried to brew it all in the winter and store it in alpen caves for winter consumption. Over hundreds of years yeasts got selected that could actually ferment at those low temps (most ale yeasts conk out at 55F give or take). And fermenting at those low temps creates much less yeast character in the beer.
---snip---
The terms "Ale" and "Lager" do not refer to styles of beer, but rather to the way in which the beer is brewed, as well as the type of yeast used in brewing.
There are a number of important differences between Ale and Lager. First of all, they are brewed with a different sub-species of yeast. Ale is brewed with sacharomyces cerivisiae, and Lager with sacharomyces uvarum. Ale yeast is commonly referred to as top fermenting since the yeast tends to clump together (flocculate) near the top, sometimes forming an impressive pancake of yeast on the surface of the beer. Lager yeast on the other hand is also called bottom fermenting yeast since it tends to flocculate near the bottom of the fermenting beer.
Where there are several very distinct sub-types of Ale yeast, all known Lager yeasts are on the genetic level recognizable as descendants of the original Bavarian strain, or of the Danish strain which was stolen from Bavaria several hundred years ago (establishing the Carlberg breweries).
Not only is there a difference with the yeast itself, but there is also a difference in the temperature at which fermentation takes place. Ales are usually fermented at 15C to 20C (60F to 70F), whereas Lager fermentation usually occurs at 5C to 10C (40F to 50F). The lower temperatures for Lagers usually mean as well that they are fermented over a longer period of time, and then aged for several weeks to several months after that at even lower temperatures. In fact, the term Lager itself comes from the German verb lagern, meaning "to store".
Part of the flavour profile of just about any Ale are yeast and fermentation by-products. With a lager, the goal is to eliminate as much of this as possible and allow the flavours of the malt and hops to come through. The lower fermentation temperatures of lagers in combination with the yeast strain used are largely responsible for the elimination of these by-products.
This is why Ales are supposed to be served at a higher temperature. Lagers are served cooler in part to numb the tastbuds so that if there are any yeast by-product flavours still lurking around, that the drinker won't notice them. Ales are served at a higher temp because you are supposed to taste this stuff.
Lagers should be served around 40F (5C), Ales around 50F (10C). A UK Real Ale slightly higher than that.
2009 Jun 7
Just an update on this beer - already drank one keg and have just started into the second. This one has been lagering for about 5 weeks now which is the longest I've been able to lager a beer in likely 3 years. Oh man it is good! I brewed a British-style beer today in part because I'd really like to lay off this one for a while and let it lager at least another few weeks. Gotta get some quicker beers going.
zymurgist
I'm going with a Dark Munich Lager.
Grain Bill
6.4 kg Canadian 2 Row Malted Barley
3.5 kg Weyermann Dark Munich Malted Barley
100g Weyermann Carafa I (a type of Dark Roast Malted Barley)
I'm currently mashing at 153F / 67F, which will produce what I find to be a good balance between fermentability and body.
Not sure yet about hopping - going to have to go through my hop freezer and see what I have.
Will ferment with DCL/Fermentis S-189 lager yeast - which FF comes from the now defunct Huerlimann brewery in Switzerland :-). Will have to get my thermometer down into my little fermentation grotto to see what the temp is and whether or not it is still low enough to ferment this in. Otherwise it will be going into one of my fridges.