Last year, I came up with a German Pilsner recipe.
The grain bill was 100% floor malted German pilsner malt.
The flavor hops were the "new" German hops Hallertau Blanc and Huell Melon. I also included an ounce of each in dry hops.
Maybe not a completely traditional German Pilsner, but it was really delicious.
I thought it was an awesome beer. I even brought the keg into work to share at a "happy hour". It was well received.
Of course, that meant it didn't last long.
At the time I thought I should brew it again. Maybe multiple times. Since that first batch, I have not brewed it.
Until the weekend after Thanksgiving.
This is the 5th batch of beer I brewed on my Anvil Foundry. I'm still getting used to using it, but I think I'm getting there.
As usual, I got up early. I had set up the Anvil Foundry timer in the garage to start heating before I got up. By the time I was awake, the water was up to strike temperature.
I moved the warm water to my patio and mashed in my grains. I had forgotten to include my water salts the night before, so I added those to the mash.
Every 10 minutes or so, I stirred the mash.
After about 45 minutes of mashing, I raised the temperature to 160, and went through a manual recirculation until I got the wort clear.
Then, I pulled out the grain sleeve out to drain. I set the temperature to get the wort up to boiling.
I timed it. I got from 170 to boiling in 25 minutes. According to some posts on a facebook group, this is apparently pretty quick for the Foundry ... especially for the Foundry at 110 volts.
My pre-boil gravity was a bit high, so I diluted with .5 gallons.
The boil went well. I got the right ingredients added at the right time. Can't ask for much more than that.
OG was right on plan. 1.048.
I used my Hydra chiller again. I got the wort into the 50's without using ice and pond pump. This is one of the best parts about brewing in the winter.
I drained the wort into my Anvil fermentor and left it outside for awhile to keep cooling below 50.
My yeast starter never seemed to get going, so I headed up to my localest LHBS to pick up dry lager yeast. I pitched that along with the starter.
I set up the cooling system on the fermentor.
Clean up went pretty quick.
I had some homebrew after finishing up brew day.
By the next morning, fermentation was going. I kept the beer at lager temperatures for the first week, then let it rise to finish up.
I should be drinking this before the end of the year.
I'm looking forward to drinking it.
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Go Bears!
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