No Drums Jack Black Lager (Batch 331)

As I was composing 2021 BCJP Styles to Brew, I was thinking about what I'd like to brew next.

The first style on that list is 2C. International Dark Lager, and as I'm playing around with Pressure Fermentation of Lagers, a Dark Lager seemed like a good choice.

One of the commercial examples of the a Dark Lager is Shiner Bock.

I came across BYO's Shiner Bock clone. One of the ingredients on the clone jumped out at me ...

Grits.

I've never brewed with grits, but I've considered trying it out as a replacement for flaked or popcorn that I've used in other recipes.

I wasn't really that interested in brewing a Shiner Bock clone, but I decided to make my own recipe of an International Dark Lager using grits in the fermenatables.

No Drums Jack Black Lager

Other than the grits, No Drums doesn't really resemble BYO's Shiner Bock. It should be quite a bit darker, a little higher in ABV. Perhaps more hop flavor.

Anyway ... I brewed No Drums Jack Black Lager the weekend before last.

Since the International Dark Lager is supposed to be light bodied or even thin, I decided to do an overnight mash starting Saturday night.

I cooked up some Quaker 5-minute grits that night and put those into the mash with all the grains.

I was up before sunrise to pull the grain pipe out to drain the mash, and let the wort heat up to the boil.

My pre-boil volume was a bit high and so my pre-boil gravity was a bit low. I added a couple of ounces of table sugar to get the gravity up to plan.

The boil was pretty uneventful. It went as planned. I remembered to add the hops and Whirlfloc when recipe called for them.

I ended up with an OG right at the recipe's designed 1.046.

It was cold enough that I was able to get the wort down to lager temperature with just the hose water.

I pitched the yeast at about 55 degrees, and pressurized the fermentor to about 20psi.

I left the fermentor outside for a few hours to keep it cold. Not sure why other than I could.

The wort was showing signs of fermentation by the next morning and going strong by the time I got back home from work that evening.

For some reason, the pressure dropped to close to 15psi. I tightened the valve and brought it back it back up to 20psi.

I'm keeping the pressure at about 20psi for the rest of fermentation.

Next week, I'll probably keg this beer. Hopefully I don't screw up the pressure transfer this time like I did in Pressure Fermentation (sort of) Fail.

I'll be sure to let y'all know how that all turns out.

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