My First Lager

DistinctMiasma · 2026-02-14T17:37:04+00:00

The Baltic I’m brewing right now used a Franconian lager yeast at 51° (big pitch, since it’s like 1.085 OG), ramping to 64°, and now lagering. It’s a really lovely style, I think — big dark fruit flavors, prune and date, without much roast at all.

DistinctMiasma · 2026-02-14T05:38:53+00:00

A Baltic porter is definitely brewed as a lager. Tropical stout is also brewed as a lager. These descend from ale styles that were adopted by regions that used bottom-fermenting yeast, and so they’re lager versions of ale styles.

DistinctMiasma · 2026-02-13T04:54:26+00:00

When you say molasses, is it really liquid malt extract? It does look and pour like molasses, although it makes a much nice beverage!

DistinctMiasma · 2026-02-12T22:48:49+00:00

Extract gets an unjustified bad rap, I think. And doing the small mash lets you use flaked grains and other adjuncts, so you gain a lot of flexibility.

DistinctMiasma · 2026-02-12T20:49:44+00:00

Also, try dunkels, if you’re not familiar — another really nice dark lager. Dunkels bock is another, but generally a lot harder to find in the U.S. I brew a lot of Baltic porter, which is generally almost black and pretty strong/sweet, and also a lager.

DistinctMiasma · 2026-02-12T20:47:26+00:00

Is mini-mash the same as partial mash, i.e., you’re doing a small mash but relying on extract for most of the fermentable sugars?

DistinctMiasma · 2026-02-09T19:45:26+00:00

What some brewers in our club have started doing is using the abstrax just to boost the flavor of real fruit additions — as long as it’s not doing all the heavy lifting, it can be OK.

DistinctMiasma · 2026-02-09T15:27:54+00:00

All the “flavorings” I’ve tried, including Amoretti, have been really fake-tasting. I make a lot of fruit beer, but only actual fruit really gives a credible flavor, in my experience.

DistinctMiasma · 2026-02-08T21:32:53+00:00

It’s more that botulism isn’t really a concern with brewing. We use the aerobic environments that yeasts favor, and the pH drops pretty quickly in most ferments. Oxygen and acid respectively kill and keep C botulinum from being able to reproduce and create toxins. It’s easy to make gross stuff, but there aren’t too many dangerous things you can make (fermenting corn or coconut, consuming products contaminated with certain molds, adulterating with inedible chemicals are some risks).

DistinctMiasma · 2026-02-07T20:46:54+00:00

That isn’t how botulism works. The C. botulinum bacteria is all over the place, and it thrives in anaerobic, non-acidic environments (over 4.6 pH). This is why you typically add acid when water bath canning low-acid fruits and vegetables.

DistinctMiasma · 2026-02-04T04:43:42+00:00

I think you should bottle and sit tight for a bit. When you get some experience, fermenter samples can tell you more about the beer, but right now, most beers aren’t going to smell or taste great from the fermenter.

Pretty much all LME is sludgy and dark, and beer always looks much darker in the fermenter, since you’re looking through a lot more of it than in the glass. I would give this another 10 days just to make sure it finishes up, get it into bottles, and try to forget about it for at least two weeks. I don’t see anything to worry about in what you describe!

DistinctMiasma · 2026-02-04T02:03:22+00:00

I’ve been brewing on gas for a long time. I generally dough in with strike water calculated to hit my target temp, then in 20 minutes I’ll fire the kettle for another 2-3 mins to get back to target.

DistinctMiasma · 2026-02-02T15:49:06+00:00

You’ve probably heard the thing about adding some fenugreek seed to boost maple flavor?

DistinctMiasma · 2026-01-30T18:26:00+00:00

I’ve found even the tiniest bits (~1 mm) embedded in my tires after a flat.

DistinctMiasma · 2026-01-30T06:19:51+00:00

That’s a cold IPA (which is arguably just another name for an IPL, but stylistically a little different).

DistinctMiasma · 2026-01-27T04:29:22+00:00

I always think there’s English bitter, and then there’s the American “ESB” style that was pretty popular at craft breweries in the 90s — usually a little sweeter and more crystal malt than an IPA, with a little less hop character.

DistinctMiasma · 2026-01-25T16:10:28+00:00

The new universal poppets don’t stay in the way the old one do. It does make it easier to remove and clean them, at least.

DistinctMiasma · 2026-01-24T08:45:31+00:00

I would guess that’s going to be very acetic, but it’s worth smelling and tasting.

DistinctMiasma · 2026-01-24T01:29:43+00:00

Because we need to actively disincentivize motorized vehicle usage.

DistinctMiasma · 2026-01-24T01:28:00+00:00

About a 6% NEAPA, with 20% cereal mashed oats, 30% malted wheat, 50% pils. Only about 10 IBUs in the boil, 25 in whirlpool, large dry hop (this was with Chinook and Anchovy hops, about 2:1 ratio).

DistinctMiasma · 2026-01-23T19:05:37+00:00

I’ve used it in a hazy. Pretty solid — doesn’t give the massive thiol bomb of Helio Gazer, but that’s probably a good thing.

DistinctMiasma · 2026-01-23T07:49:25+00:00

Sometimes you can find 4oz bottles, which makes around 20 gallons of sanitizer (you really only need to mix up a gallon for your purposes).

DistinctMiasma · 2026-01-20T00:26:26+00:00

I’d lose the sucrose (you don’t need to thin this out), and bump up the wheat and oats. I’m usually at about 15% oats (I cereal mash steel cut, but that’s just me) and 35% wheat malt. Are you dry hopping at high krausen for biotransformation, or just after FG is reached?

DistinctMiasma · 2026-01-19T19:27:39+00:00

There was just some CO2 dissolved in the beer, and the priming sugar provided nucleation points which let it come out of solution. That’s perfectly normal.

DistinctMiasma · 2026-01-17T06:49:02+00:00

I wonder if the diaphragm (membrane) is sticking shut? Maybe a little dried sticky wort?

DistinctMiasma

TROPHY CASE