Ulterior Motive Amber Lager
You may remember that in 2013 the SheppyBrew Brewery made a big effort to make sure we had brewed at least one beer in all 23 categories of the 2008 Style Guidelines.An International Amber Lager is a well-attenuated malty amber lager with with an interesting caramel or toast quality and restrained bitterness. It has a smooth, easily-drinkable lager character, often with an adjunct quality. It has low to moderate malt aroma and flavor which can be grainy, with a very low to moderate caramel-sweet to toasty-malty taste as well.
Think of it as a Vienna Lager Light.... sort of.
The Brew Master came up with a low alcohol, session recipe for a beer that should be enjoyable to drink when we want something simple.
The Brewery also had an Ulterior Motive when it comes to brewing this beer. In addition to getting a beer on tap, the batch is serving as a sort of yeast starter for another of the "new" 2015 Categories: "9. Strong European Beer".
We will be harvesting the yeast from "Ulterior Motive" and using it to provide a big healthy pitch for a Doppelbock.
For more information on this beer see Sheppy's Blog: Ulterior Motive.
| Ulterior Motive Amber Lager --- Batch 1 |
| Style | International Amber Lager | Batch Size | 5.50 gal | |||
| Type | All Grain | Boil Size | 7.76 gal | |||
| Brewhouse Efficiency | 75.00 | Boil Time | 90 minutes |
Recipe Characteristics
| Recipe Gravity | 1.044 SG | Estimated FG | 1.009 SG | ||||
| Recipe Bitterness | 19.2 IBUs (Rager) | Alcohol by Volume | 4.6 % | ||||
| BU : GU | 0.435 | ||||||
| Recipe Color | 9.6 SRM |
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| Measured OG: | 1.045 | Measured FG: | 1.008 | ||||
| ADF: | 82% | Measured ABV: | 4.8% |
Ingredients
| Amt | Name | Type | # | %/IBU |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4.00 g | Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash 60.0 mins) | Water Agent | 1 | - |
| 6 lbs 4.0 oz | Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) | Grain | 2 | 69.4 % |
| 2 lbs | Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) | Grain | 3 | 22.2 % |
| 10.0 oz | Caravienne Malt (22.0 SRM) | Grain | 4 | 6.9 % |
| 2.0 oz | Blackprinz (500.0 SRM) | Grain | 5 | 1.4 % |
| 0.250 oz | Columbus (Tomahawk) [15.10 %] - First Wort 90.0 min | Hop | 6 | 16.2 IBUs |
| 1.00 Items | Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 mins) | Fining | 7 | - |
| 1.00 tsp | Yeast Nutrient (Boil 15.0 mins) | Other | 8 | - |
| 0.250 oz | Columbus (Tomahawk) [15.10 %] - Boil 10.0 min | Hop | 9 | 3.0 IBUs |
| 1.0 pkg | German Bock Lager (White Labs #WLP833) [35.49 ml] | Yeast | 10 | - |
Mash Profile
| Name | Description | Step Temperature | Step Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mash In | Add 11.25 qt of water at 159.1 F | 148.0 F | 75 min |
Batch sparge with 2 steps
(2.15gal, 3.88gal) of 168.0 F water
4g gypsum in the mash water. This should bring Denver water profile (as defined by BeerSmith) to
Ca=59,Mg=8,Na=21,SO4=116,Cl=23,HCO3=104
Brew as directed from recipe.
Cool wort to as close to 50 degrees as possible.
Ferment at 55 for a week, let rise to high 60's for another week.
Keg carbonate.
Brewing Record
| Brew Date: | 1/10/2015 | Strike Temp: | 160 | |||
| Mash Temps: | 150 - 145 | |||||
| Pre-boil OG | 1.038 (1.036 SG) | Pre-boil Vol | 8 (7.76 gal) | |||
| Actual Mash Efficiency | Pitch Temp | 154 | ||||
| Fermentation | ||||||
| Day 2: Only now real signs 55 | ||||||
| Day 6: Slowing down around 60 | ||||||
| Day ... | ||||||
1/10/2016 Brewed today. Everything went well. My Pre-boil gravity was a bit high. I took care of that by diluting. Since I had .25oz Columbus left over, I decided to go ahead and add that in at 10 minutes. Should make the beer a bit more balanced. Still in the IBU range and I don't think the small amount will give enough hop character to put this out of style. Actually, I don't care that much anyway. Fermenting now.
1/11/2016 Not much going on in there. Shook up the fermentor. 50 degrees.
1/12/2016 Hmmm... Only now getting signs of fermentation in the 56/58 range. Of I didn't know better, I'd think I had accidentally pitched an ale yeast. Wish I would have done a starter. Oh well, I think it is on its way now. We'll have to see how it turns out.
1/16/2016 Strong fermentation this week. Now it seems pretty much done. Temp is in the low 60s. Need to prepare for the year harvest.
1/17/2016 Took out of cooler and meaured gravity. 1.010. Yeast needs to settle, but it tastes very much like the "Vienna Lager Light" I pictured. Should be a nice pleasant beer to have on tap in a couple of weeks. Preparing water to harvest this yeast.
1/23/2016 Racking to secondary. FG is 1.008. Nice flavor. Can use some time for clarification.
2/6/2016 Kegged. Really nice clarity. Tastes as I pictured. Vienna Lager Light.
2/9/2016 Sample. No carbonation, but tastes good otherwise. Pressurized to 30psi, and rocked a bit. Took off CO2. We'll see how it goes over the next few days.
2/25/2016 Had some this past Sunday. Pretty good. About what I would expect. It did remind me of what I remember Yuengling tasting like.
2/29/2016 Some more last night. Pretty foamy. Clearing up. Tastes about the same. Easy drinking low alcohol. Perfect for a Sunday afternoon / evening.
3/14/2016 Had a few more yesterday. Clarity is awesome. Nice flavor. Easy drinking and visually gorgeous. Yummy.
4/1/2016 Delicious
4/7/2016 Keg blew a couple nights ago. Was nice beer to have around.