Budvar!!!

[jswordy]

Hopefully gonna get to take basically the same grain bill from my Mexican Cerveza and brew it with Budvar yeast (yep, Budweiser!). I hope this is going to tell me a couple interesting things about the comparative yeasts, and how much the 4766 is adding on its own to the Mexican recipe.

This weekend is when it HAS TO HAPPEN, since I am rapidly running out of time to lager naturally here. Now or never for a few more lawnmower beers. Gonna up to 3.75 ounces prime sugar (dextrose).

Then I can switch back to 4766 and see what happens when it ferments a/c cool but not at true lager temps, then finishes at lager temps in bottles. Comparing notes with a lager brewer locally who uses an alternative lager method, I think I can get the same flavor as I got by lagering all the way through the last time. We'll see. Mad scientist time!

 

[grapeman]

Sounds like fun Jim. I am hoping to try out some new toys I have for all grain soon but I need it to warm up a bit first.

 

[jswordy]

A bud just told me about White Labs' WLP862 Cry Havoc, which is said to be a Budweiser like yeast that can go at ale or lager temps but does throw off a cherry ester if temps get too high. Might be more flexible, I dunno. The Budvar I am using is Wyeast, and they say it is Budweiser yeast. So we'll see.

I also have some more of the Wyeast 4766 cider ready to pick up, for later. I just love that beer! It leaves a lingering taste that makes ya want to crack another open right away, always a nice thing in my book.

Hope it turns out just as well at higher ferment temps. Dang stuff hangs in there in the cold, for sure.

 

[jswordy]

Well, I got 'er boiled up and it's in the fermenter, waiting on bubbles. Nice easy recipe. That's my style!



While it was on the boil, I labeled my bluebery wine. The carboy below is 6 gallons of blackberry, the last of my 2016 vintages.



After everything was cleaned up, I enjoyed a cerveza. Man, this is some good beer, and a month out the carb is coming up to just about nice now. I will still add just a bit more prime to this coming batch of Budvar. The cerveza is nice and clear and gluten free to boot!



I am just gonna squeak this Budvar in under the wire for a natural ferment, as it is supposed to be 79 and 80 a couple days here. I will sit it in a water bath in the root cellar tomorrow and hope for the best. All should be well. But this is it for this year for lagers. On to the ale ferments and lager conditioning!

 

[jswordy]

Well, we're off to a slow start with the Wyeast Budvar. I keep expecting the same results that I get with dry yeast and it always takes longer with the liquids, for some reason. Wyeast says it can take up to 36 hours to get things going. So I am waiting around and hoping to see some action by tonight. I'm about 18 hours or so in right now. I won't put it down in the root cellar until I see an active ferment.

 

[jswordy]

I'm 26 hours in and had set the fermenter outdoors with a dark blanket around it for an hour (it's 81 here). No bubbles. Brought it in and time to open and see what is up. For obvious reasons, I hate opening it once sealed. Smells great. No krausen. Time for good old safale S-23. It will save the day. That's why I always have some dry on hand. Wyeast must've been dead. I'll probably have bubbles now and be putting it in the root cellar by nightfall. Not gonna get the flavor profile I wanted, but it will be beer.

 

[BernardSmith]

Wonder why the yeast failed...Might you have needed to make a starter?

 

[jswordy]

Wonder why the yeast failed...Might you have needed to make a starter?

I sprinkled the trusty ol' s-23 in there, got up this morning and she was bubbling away. I lugged it out to the water bath in the root cellar under the house. Got one day of 79 tomorrow, then temps should moderate (upper 60s, low 70s). The water bath should stay right in the 55-58 range. But this really is the last week for natural lagering in my neck of the woods. Spring came way early.

Wyeast is a smack pack and has a nutrient in it, and this is not a high gravity beer. Never had one fail before but I keep the dry for just that chance. I had this shipped with a cool pack. That might have killed it or killed so much of it that it was not taking off. I always worry when it does not take right off because of possible infection in the lag time.

I now have a newly opened homebrew supplier locally, thank the Powers, so I can get it from him for the same price.

 

[BernardSmith]

My LHBS won't carry smack packs because he says that shipping makes them far too unreliable...

 

[jswordy]

My LHBS won't carry smack packs because he says that shipping makes them far too unreliable...

I'm liking this new store. The guy in charge of the homebrew supplies is a major brewer in a commercial sense, who is looking at starting his own brewery eventually. Plus, the store stocks Wyeast and White Labs in liquids, so good selection.

The lager should come out from the root cellar this weekend. Then a week or so at room temps, then bottle and condition in my 1963 Cornelius Coke bottle chest cooler, which keeps a nice 35 or so degrees. Fingers crossed!

 

[jswordy]

It's in the secondary. A small taste showed no discernible defects.

 

[jswordy]

Bottled 53 12-ouncers. I bottle carbed with 3.5 oz. dextrose this time, and added 1 oz. maltodextrine just to tweak head retention a tiny bit.

So far appears to have quite a different taste using the neutral lager yeast. The cider yeast adds a lot of character.

A friend I had given some Mexican cerveza to said his wife thought the cerveza was hoppy, but it only had 2 ounces of Saaz in it. What she was tasting was the added character of the Wyeast 4766.

This time, I added 3 ounces Saaz, and it did make for a hoppier beer, but still not overwhelming. So far, I'm liking the cider yeast in it better. We'll see what the Budvar is like in a couple weeks or so.

 

[jswordy]

I tried one (well, actually four.,. heheh...) of these 11 days into bottle conditioning. Very accessible. Clean, smooth and highly drinkable. It is amazing the different flavor profile the cider yeast adds to this recipe versus this batch with a straight lager yeast.

It is still shy on carb for my tastes at 3.5 ounces dextrose. The addition of 1 ounce maltodextrose improved the mouthfeel a notch, to just about perfect. All bottles are now in my Coke cooler and I know if I can keep my hands off them for a month the carb levels will rise a bit there, as they did with the Mexican cerveza batch. But can I keep my hands off them?

The next fiddling with this recipe I will do involves boosting the ratio of malt to rice and bumping priming sugar up to 4 ounces. I only have 1 bottle of Mexican cerveza left, so I will likely use the cider yeast at ale temps this next time. I like the basic recipe enough to keep fiddling with it until I perfect it, and I have a lot of DME hanging around. I could even make a dark version!

I'll post a pic next time I fish out a bottle.

 

[jswordy]

Here we go...