Over the break I had a chance to start my first lager. I have been slowly acquiring equipment and knowledge, with the goal of eventually trying to make a lager. Fermentation and cold storage fridges and finding a place to put them were a big requirement, to start lagering . This was also to be a test of the brew equipment and my self to tolerate the cold weather. The air temperature was in the teens that day. The biggest issue was my hoses carrying my water for chilling and clean up ran for about 40 feet outside, they kept freezing and clogging with slush, not fun.I decided I would switch to 5 gallon batches, because I was running out of space to store it all. We have been consuming around 4-6 gallons a month, but we had been making 10 gallons batches every month since June. I have been really enjoying the process of brewing so I didn't want to wait every 2 months to brew a new batch. I also had a couple 10 gallons batches I was not real happy with, it takes a long time to drink beer you don't love. I'll save the 10 gallon batches for my recipes I confident in.
I decided to start with a Doppelbock. I thought the doppelbock was a good choice for a few reasons. First I love the darker malty rosted falvors of browns and stouts, doppelbocks are defiantly on the darker side of the lager family. The stronger darker flavors should also be a bit more forgiving than the lighter lagers. Doppelbock is a very big beer 7-12%, the recipe calls for over 20 pounds of grain. My mash tun can only hold 10 gallons, now that I'm doing 5 gallon batches again, I should have no trouble fitting in all that grain. Finally I recently had a few good examples of doppelbock, one from my favorite local German restaurant. I believe it was Spaten Optimator, if my doppelbock tastes that good I will be very excited.
Beside the frozen hoses I had a few other typical brew day issues I detailed them at the bottom of the brew sheet. It's been in the fermentor for 8 days, coming along nicely. I will probably start raising the temp to eliminate the yeast by-products, before I rack it into the cold storage. With a beer this big I expect to have to wait until mid summer before it really hits it flavor peak. That should give me plenty time to come up with a cleaver name and label.
