As I've mentioned a few times, I'm concentrating on brewing all the SheppyBrew "Seasonals" this year.
And this meant I had hit every month of the year so far, leaving just my "December Seasonal".
With 1519 Barker Exportbier running low, I decided to brew another beer a little earlier than I originally planned.
This past weekend, I brewed the "December Seasonal" ....
Decemberfest Lager is a Festbier I originally designed and brewed in 2020, and have brewed 3 times (4 times after this batch) since.
A smooth, clean, pale German lager with a moderately strong malty flavor and a light hop character. Deftly balances strength and drinkability, with a palate impression and finish that encourages drinking. Showcases elegant German malt flavors without becoming too heavy or filling.
It's traditionally been a nice lager, and should step in to replace 1519 Barker's spot nicely.
I got started Saturday by making a yeast starter with the lager yeast I had harvested from 1519 Barker, and the starter was rocking by Sunday.
I got my Foundry set up and the water and salts added early Sunday morning. I was mashed in sometime between 5 and 5:30 AM.
Rather than try to hurry to get finished before my wife made me go to church, I did a long mash and started draining before time to leave.
I set the Foundry to heat up to almost boiling while we went to church, so I could get to boiling quickly after getting home.
And ... when we returned, I bumped the temperature up. The wort was boiling around 5 minutes later.
The pre-boil gravity and volume was about perfect.
The boil went as planned. I got everything added at the right time.
I was chilling by 10:30 or so, starting with "ground water" and finishing up with ice water recirculation with a pond pump.
Once the wort was in the 50's, I pumped into the fermenter, and pitched the yeast.
The fermenter was in the basement set up with my cooling system by 11 AM.
The yeast started sometime in the evening, and was rocking by the next day. As is usual for my lagers, I'll ferment in the 50's for the first few days, and let the temperature rise to ambient basement temperature for another week or so.
I should be kegging in early December, and drinking it well before Christmas.
I've hit all my monthly "Seasonals" in 2024. I'm actually not planning on brewing very many if any "Seasonals" next year, concentrating instead on my "Roll-a-Style" beer list.
As always, stay tuned on the regular SheppyBrew Channels to see what is happening with beer, barbeque, biking and other things in my life: SheppyBrew's Facebook Page; Sheppy's Twitter Feed; SheppyBrew's Instagram Page; and SheppyBrew's Website.
Go Broncos!
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