1519 Barker Exportbier
Brewed: 9/19/2024 Kegged: 10/3/2024
Late August, 2024, while on a morning walk, I was listening to a homebrewing podcast which had me craving a golden German lager.
My mind started wandering a bit, and I started thinking about my college years.
While living in the dorms, a few of my friends lived just off-campus in a house they shared on Barker Avenue, just a couple blocks south of Bradley University.After I moved out of the dorms, I moved into the house for a bit as well.
Even when I wasn't living there, I spent quite a bit of time drinking beer and playing beach volleyball with my college friends.
From time to time, we'd throw keggers that rivaled fraternity parties. We'd charge a couple bucks at the door and serve way too much beer.
We'd buy two kinds of beers for these parties. Most of it was "Natty Light", and that is what got served to most of the people.
But, hidden upstairs for those of us who knew where it was hidden was a keg of Michelob, which was very much a premium beer for us.
Basically, we drank Michelob for free, curtesy of the people we charged for "Natty Light".
Lots of my favorite college memories happened at 1519 Barker.
Now-a-days, "Michelob" mostly means those absolutely awful low-carb "Ultra" watery beers. I know there are other beers with the Michelob label, but I don't think they make the Michelob that I remember from college anymore.
And ... I honestly have no idea what kind of beer it was, but in my mind, a German Helles Exportbier matches my memory of the beer.
So, this is what I decided to brew.
On untappd: 1519 Barker Exportbier
| 1519 Barker --- Batch 1 (361) |
| Style | German Helles Exportbier | Batch Size | 5.50 gal | |||
| Type | All Grain | Boil Size | 6.60 gal | |||
| Brewhouse Efficiency | 65.00 | Boil Time | 60 minutes |
Recipe Characteristics
| Recipe Gravity | 1.052 SG | Estimated FG | 1.012 SG | ||||
| Recipe Bitterness | 16.7 IBUs (Rager) | Alcohol by Volume | 5.3 % | ||||
| BU : GU | 0.318 | ||||||
| Recipe Color | 5.5 SRM |
| |||||
| Measured OG: | 1.054 | Measured FG: | 1.012 | ||||
| ADF: | 77 | Measured ABV: | 5.6 |
Ingredients
| Amt | Name | Type | # | %/IBU | Volume |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7.98 gal | Denver, Colorado | Water | 1 | - | - |
| 4.00 g | Calcium Chloride (Mash) | Water Agent | 2 | - | - |
| 2.00 g | Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash) | Water Agent | 3 | - | - |
| 1.50 tsp | Lactic Acid (Mash) | Water Agent | 4 | - | - |
| 10 lbs | Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (2.0 SRM) | Grain | 5 | 83.3 % | 0.78 gal |
| 2 lbs | Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) | Grain | 6 | 16.7 % | 0.16 gal |
| 1.000 oz | Magnum [12.60 %] - Boil 15.0 min | Hop | 7 | 13.8 IBUs | - |
| 1.00 Items | Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 10.0 mins) | Fining | 8 | - | - |
| 1.00 tsp | Yeast Nutrient (Boil 10.0 mins) | Other | 9 | - | - |
| 2.000 oz | Tettnang [2.10 %] - Boil 5.0 min | Hop | 10 | 2.9 IBUs | - |
| 1.0 pkg | Saflager Lager (DCL/Fermentis #W-34/70) [50.28 ml] | Yeast | 11 | - | - |
| 0.50 tsp | Gelatin (Bottling 1 Day) | Fining | 12 | - | - |
Mash Profile
| Name | Description | Step Temperature | Step Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saccharification | Add 31.92 qt of water at 158.8 F | 152.0 F | 45 min |
| Heat | Heat to 158.0 F over 10 min | 158.0 F | 15 min |
| Mash Out | Heat to 170.0 F over 7 min | 170.0 F | 10 min |
If steeping, remove grains, and prepare to boil wort
If harvesting yeast from previous batch, make 6 cup starter a day or two before brew day.
Brewing salts in the mash water. This should bring Denver water profile (as defined by BeerSmith) to
Ca=83,Mg=8,Na=21,SO4=88,Cl=87,HCO3=104
Acid addition based on BeerSmith predicted pH. Should lower from 5.7 to 5.4.
Mash and boil as directed
Chill to around 50 degrees. Rack to fermentor and add pitch yeast. Ferment between 50 and 55 for one week. Then, let temperature rise to ambient.
Keg. Add gelatin after a day or two in the refrigerator.
Carbonate and drink.
Brewing Record
| Brew Date: | Strike Temp: | |||||
| Mash Temps: | ||||||
| Pre-boil OG | 1.050 (1.048) | Pre-boil Vol | 7 (6.60) | |||
| Actual Mash Efficiency | Pitch Temp | |||||
| Fermentation | ||||||
| Day 1: | ||||||
| Day ... | ||||||
| Day ... | ||||||
Brewing Notes
9/6/2024 Ordered malts from Tom's Brew Shop. Not sure if I'll brew this weekend or next.
9/17/2024 Made a starter today. Lots of yeast, but it is pretty old. According to the label, I harvested it 05/17/2024 when I kegged Hand Bock-sket. 4 months goes against the recommendations, but I've done this sort of thing enough that I think it will be fine. I might actually try to brew during a work-day. Maybe Thursday (2 days away)?
9/19/2024 Workday brew-day. Everything went well. Pre-boil and volume high. Added water. Even so, ended up with a higher-than-planned OG 1.054. Took a long time to chill and I ended up racking at 69 degrees, letting the Anvil cooling pump go the rest of the way. As of now, I have not pitched yeast. I well once the wort is in the 50's.
9/19/2024 Pitched the yeast a couple of hours later when the Tilt read 58 and the controller read 57. Actually sort of surprised it went this quickly.
9/20/2024 A little bubbling this morning. Tilt says 1.051 at 56. The controller says 52. I set the temp to 53. The water level is a little higher than usual for the cooling system. We'll see how that works out.
9/22/2024 Yesterday... At the end of the day, the temp was up to 60. So, that is what I set the controller to. Tilt says 1.030 at 60 this morning. Bubbling pretty good.
9/23/2024 Tilt says 1.018 at 60. Still bubbling but not as fast.
9/24/2024 Tilt says 1.016 at 62. Unplugged cooling pump.
9/24/2024 Came across this article about how to brew an "original" Michelob clone ... https://www.morebeer.com/articles/Brewing_Original_Michelob_Recipe. They use 100% pilsner, and significantly more hops. 40+ ibu. Apparently, it was designed to be a Bohemian Pilsner, which is interesting. I'll have to decide after I taste mine if I want to approximate their recipe. We'll see.
9/25/2024 Tilt says 1.015 at 67. Not really much bubbling at this point. Expecting to keg in about a week.
9/26/2024 One week into fermentation ... Tilt says 1.015 at 68. I don't expect attenuation to go much further, but I'll continue to let cleanup occur. The disadvantage of this SS fermenter is that I cannot look at the beer to see how clear it looks.
9/30/2024 No bubbling. Tilt says 1.015 at 69 degrees. I feel like I can probably keg at any time.
10/3/2024 I meant to keg Tuesday and then yesterday, but just got lazy after work. Maybe today. I did clean my empty kegs yesterday, so now its just a matter of taking the time to do it. Tilt says 1.013 at 68 degrees. Looking forward to drinking this by the liter.
10/3/2024 Kegged. Not very clear at all and I think I transferred over quite a bit of yeast. Oh well. Calling the FG 1.012. Taste really nice. Hope it clears up.
10/4/2024 Added gelatin. Also poured from keg. Lots of yeast at the moment. Hope it clears up soon.
10/7/2024 Well ... something is clogging up the flow. I lost the gasket into the keg and thought I could get away with just leaving it in there, but I'm assuming that is probably what is slowing down the flow. So, I'll have to transfer to another keg and see if that fixes my issue.
10/9/2024 Transfer didn't really go all that well. The auto siphon stopped working with about 1.5 to 2 gallons left. Just too much carbonation I think. I ended up dumping from the original keg into the new ... which isn't great for oxygen or clarity. We'll see how the beer turns out. After doing this, I realized that I should not have transferred. I should have taken out the liquid dip tube and replaced it a floating dip tube. Oh well ... live and learn.
10/12/2024 Been sitting a few days and has really settled. Actually tasting pretty good, although if I brew this again, I'll add more bitterness. I think this is going to be ok. Clarity has a long way to go, but it isn't cloudy like it was right after transfer.
10/15/2024 Poured a pint. Perfect gold color. Not as clear as I hope it will be. Nice malt flavor doesn't appear to be oxidized as I feared with all the transfer splashing. Hoping to let it sit awhile to get fairly clear.
11/2/2024 Decently clear, but still a bit of haze. Nice gold color. Maybe a touch of oxidation, but not bad. A little nobel hop in the finish. Ready for Learn to Homebrew Day. 🍺
11/3/2024 Served at Learn to Homebrew Day, which was a huge success. People really liked this beer. I talked to "Doc" and "Du" about potential oxidation and they didn't detect any. I would like to rebrew this beer "correctly" to get that off-flavor out of my head.
11/7/2024 Took photo for this web page. Love the gold color. Pretty clear, although I really think it would be better if I had not screwed up the transfer. I also think there is a slight oxidation note in the flavor, but still tastes good. I do want to re-brew this soon-ish.
11/21/2024 Gorgeous gold beer. Wonderful thick creamy head. I think this keg is probably about empty. I may rebrew this in December, but we'll see.
11/30/2024 I'm actually a little surprised this made it through Thanksgiving. I thought the Beer Model would finish it off, but she went with Will-o-Wisp with her Thanksgiving beer. Had some tonight. Tasting and looking awesome.
12/6/2024 The keg blew last night. Honestly tasted better at the end than early on. I want to brew this again. We'll see how quickly I get it into the pipeline.
9/6/2024 Ordered malts from Tom's Brew Shop. Not sure if I'll brew this weekend or next.
9/17/2024 Made a starter today. Lots of yeast, but it is pretty old. According to the label, I harvested it 05/17/2024 when I kegged Hand Bock-sket. 4 months goes against the recommendations, but I've done this sort of thing enough that I think it will be fine. I might actually try to brew during a work-day. Maybe Thursday (2 days away)?
9/19/2024 Workday brew-day. Everything went well. Pre-boil and volume high. Added water. Even so, ended up with a higher-than-planned OG 1.054. Took a long time to chill and I ended up racking at 69 degrees, letting the Anvil cooling pump go the rest of the way. As of now, I have not pitched yeast. I well once the wort is in the 50's.
9/19/2024 Pitched the yeast a couple of hours later when the Tilt read 58 and the controller read 57. Actually sort of surprised it went this quickly.
9/20/2024 A little bubbling this morning. Tilt says 1.051 at 56. The controller says 52. I set the temp to 53. The water level is a little higher than usual for the cooling system. We'll see how that works out.
9/22/2024 Yesterday... At the end of the day, the temp was up to 60. So, that is what I set the controller to. Tilt says 1.030 at 60 this morning. Bubbling pretty good.
9/23/2024 Tilt says 1.018 at 60. Still bubbling but not as fast.
9/24/2024 Tilt says 1.016 at 62. Unplugged cooling pump.
9/24/2024 Came across this article about how to brew an "original" Michelob clone ... https://www.morebeer.com/articles/Brewing_Original_Michelob_Recipe. They use 100% pilsner, and significantly more hops. 40+ ibu. Apparently, it was designed to be a Bohemian Pilsner, which is interesting. I'll have to decide after I taste mine if I want to approximate their recipe. We'll see.
9/25/2024 Tilt says 1.015 at 67. Not really much bubbling at this point. Expecting to keg in about a week.
9/26/2024 One week into fermentation ... Tilt says 1.015 at 68. I don't expect attenuation to go much further, but I'll continue to let cleanup occur. The disadvantage of this SS fermenter is that I cannot look at the beer to see how clear it looks.
9/30/2024 No bubbling. Tilt says 1.015 at 69 degrees. I feel like I can probably keg at any time.
10/3/2024 I meant to keg Tuesday and then yesterday, but just got lazy after work. Maybe today. I did clean my empty kegs yesterday, so now its just a matter of taking the time to do it. Tilt says 1.013 at 68 degrees. Looking forward to drinking this by the liter.
10/3/2024 Kegged. Not very clear at all and I think I transferred over quite a bit of yeast. Oh well. Calling the FG 1.012. Taste really nice. Hope it clears up.
10/4/2024 Added gelatin. Also poured from keg. Lots of yeast at the moment. Hope it clears up soon.
10/7/2024 Well ... something is clogging up the flow. I lost the gasket into the keg and thought I could get away with just leaving it in there, but I'm assuming that is probably what is slowing down the flow. So, I'll have to transfer to another keg and see if that fixes my issue.
10/9/2024 Transfer didn't really go all that well. The auto siphon stopped working with about 1.5 to 2 gallons left. Just too much carbonation I think. I ended up dumping from the original keg into the new ... which isn't great for oxygen or clarity. We'll see how the beer turns out. After doing this, I realized that I should not have transferred. I should have taken out the liquid dip tube and replaced it a floating dip tube. Oh well ... live and learn.
10/12/2024 Been sitting a few days and has really settled. Actually tasting pretty good, although if I brew this again, I'll add more bitterness. I think this is going to be ok. Clarity has a long way to go, but it isn't cloudy like it was right after transfer.
10/15/2024 Poured a pint. Perfect gold color. Not as clear as I hope it will be. Nice malt flavor doesn't appear to be oxidized as I feared with all the transfer splashing. Hoping to let it sit awhile to get fairly clear.
11/2/2024 Decently clear, but still a bit of haze. Nice gold color. Maybe a touch of oxidation, but not bad. A little nobel hop in the finish. Ready for Learn to Homebrew Day. 🍺
11/3/2024 Served at Learn to Homebrew Day, which was a huge success. People really liked this beer. I talked to "Doc" and "Du" about potential oxidation and they didn't detect any. I would like to rebrew this beer "correctly" to get that off-flavor out of my head.
11/7/2024 Took photo for this web page. Love the gold color. Pretty clear, although I really think it would be better if I had not screwed up the transfer. I also think there is a slight oxidation note in the flavor, but still tastes good. I do want to re-brew this soon-ish.
11/21/2024 Gorgeous gold beer. Wonderful thick creamy head. I think this keg is probably about empty. I may rebrew this in December, but we'll see.
11/30/2024 I'm actually a little surprised this made it through Thanksgiving. I thought the Beer Model would finish it off, but she went with Will-o-Wisp with her Thanksgiving beer. Had some tonight. Tasting and looking awesome.
12/6/2024 The keg blew last night. Honestly tasted better at the end than early on. I want to brew this again. We'll see how quickly I get it into the pipeline.