Vienna Lagers are probably my favorite style of beer – having a fairly amber color, and mellow hop profile, they’re a great all year beverage of choice. I’ve tried my hand at a couple of them before, however the last one I made must have had some oxygen get into the keg as it turned on me pretty quickly. And the one before that? Well, I tried to get too creative with it, and wound up with something undrinkable.
With my efficiency and process having changed drastically since switching over to an electric brewing system last year, I decided that it was time to give the style another go. I’ve actually had the ingredients on hand for the last few months, however only just finally had the time to squeeze in a brew day.
I started with:
- 8.5 lbs of Vienna Malt
- 3.5 lbs of Pilsner Malt
- 1 lb of Biscuit
- 1 lb of Crystal
- Stargate Universe to complete the franchise (not necessary to the recipe, but adds to the enjoyment)
This was a 90(ish) minute mash at 155 degrees – this is a spot where knowing your equipment pays off, I know my thermostat is between 5-7 degrees off because of where it sits in the kettle, so I actually set the kettle for 160 degrees to make up that gap. I don’t worry too much about mash time, every extra minute is going to provide some additional sugars into the wort, and that astringency that people tend to refer to is more in their head than anything else.. One key is to make sure that every few minutes when you’re first getting started, you’re recirculating some of the wort from the outside of the grain basket through the spigot back inside. This just makes sure that we’re getting any residual water that may miss contact outside of the grain basket into the mix.
My mash wound up being closer to 110 minutes – after I felt good about recirculation, I decided to take the pup for a walk to wear him out a bit.. I kicked the kettle up in temp to bring it up to a boil, and sparged up to around 6.25 gallons, getting the residual sugar off the grain bed, and getting some additional volume to boil.
This was a 60 min boil, with hops added with 45 minutes remaining. My hop choice may be debatable here, however I had Mt. Hood on hand, so I opted to give that a try. My hope was that with a bit less time on the boil left, it would impart some bitterness, while leaving a good aromatic quality. This boiled down to about 5.25 Gallons, right around where I wanted it, leaving a little extra volume for the hop trub to settle back in.
Once this was done, while still boiling temp, I pulled a cup of the wort out to cool down and take a gravity reading, but covered with the clamp on lid to get an air-tight seal. I brew no-chill, meaning I do not rapidly chill my wort to pitch the yeast ASAP. I create an air-tight seal, and allow the temperature to fall. This process has gotten a lot better with the newer brew system, and with not using ½ a roll of saran wrap around a pot lid.
The OG reading Pre-Boil was 1.040, and after boiling was 1.051, meaning assuming an 80% attenuation rate, I should end up with a 5.38% ABV beer. I pitched a fresh US-05 yeast, and it’s off doing its thing now in the fermentation corner.
I’m going to be giving another Amber Ale a shot later this winter as the last one came out so good, and I’m going to attempt using a 2nd Generation yeast that I harvested from my last brew, so we’ll see how that goes!
Roving On 