TMBR: Svetlé 12°

Remember that one time we talked about lager fermentation? Now here we are drinking it: full circle, citizens.

To clarify a couple points I should have gone over in those spare 14 seconds:

The beer was kegged 16 days after pitching; the kegs were then crash-cooled to 35F and held there for a couple weeks before force-carb … so roughly one month from brew day to beginning carbonation. Pretty speedy for a lager. And it would have been on tap sooner if not for a traffic jam in the keggerator.

Recipe and a bunch of blathering about decoction here.

Svetlé 12°

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Decoction is a meandering path to take to arrive at a beer; you can get a fermentable wort (not the same wort, though) into the boiler with less time and effort, but I think it’s safe to say that for most homebrewers, this whole thing we do is about the journey at least as much as it is the destination. Continue reading →

prep day: nerds up, temps down

Czech pilsner: the OG single malt-single hop beer. It’s caramelly, it’s malty, it’s hoppy, it’s a lager but it’s got some yeast character; it’s demanding to brew but it’s so, so easy to drink. It’s been too long since I’ve made one. Continue reading →