BeerBorg

IPL with rye. And juniper. Because. I. Have. It. And. Rye. Likes. It.

152 BIAB oven mash of:

4# 2-row
12oz Rye Malt
8oz 40L Crystal
4oz Flaked Rye
2oz Special B
1oz Honey Malt

Add 4oz dextrose

60 minute boil.

1/2oz Columbus @15
1/2oz Simcoe @15
1/2oz Mosiac @15
1/8oz Crushed Juniper Berries @15

1/2oz Columbus @Flameout
1/2oz Simcoe @Flameout
1/2oz Mosiac @Flameout

Immediately put on lid, 30 minute lid on hopstand with all hops and juniper berries still in it.

1 package SafeLager S-189 (Swiss Lager)

OG was 1.064.
SRM should be around 13.

The 2-row/rye/crystal is a proportion I've used before, that comes from Denny's recipes. I added the special b to add some extra interesting fruit to compliment all the spicy/piney goodness here, and because it tastes nice with the juniper. The honey malt in this proportion will just kick up the maltyness a bit more. It needs it at this OG to stand up to the 90+ theoretical IBUs this will be pushing with my typical @flameout/lid on hopstand utilization.

Since I don't remember how well the swiss lager yeast takes hops with it when it flocs, as it's been a while since I've seen it anywhere to buy and before it was always repackaged from commercial sized bricks - but I remember that I liked it - I put the 15 minute stuff in a very large sack meant for steeping grains. The juniper berries too, to keep any bigger hunks from plugging up my spigot. All the flameout hops went in commando.

The juniper will be pretty mellow at this amount, just some extra interesting background flavor that should blend in with all the piney hops and fruit from the special B and Mosiac nicely.

It looks good. I just read a Brulosophy article about lager yeast at warmer temps. I may attempt a lager on my basement floor.

John Sand wrote:It looks good. I just read a Brulosophy article about lager yeast at warmer temps. I may attempt a lager on my basement floor.

I've got another lager yeast pack (more S-189) to use, so that's likely next up while I still have a cool basement. I might do a Pils/Equinox SMaSH with that yeast. To fully experience what Equinox is.

I've been fermenting these lagers between 57-59. Not very cool, but not actually above the recommended temps either. Big Papa has had good success with 34/70 in the 60s. The S-189 you can use all the way up to 70 without making something bad in theory. But it's recommended temps are more like where I'm at.

I'm specifically using yeasts that are known to be still lager like in the upper 50s instead of some of the strains that are better closer to 50 in theory. (temporarily ignoring that Brulosophy article for this statement, but I'll go back there later).

FYI, I updated my OP above with final recipe/results. Anyone who read it early read the wrong recipe as I forgot 1/3rd of my hops LOL (I think you read the right one in that regards). And also, I moved the juniper to the 15 minute boil.

EDIT: That Brulosophy article is interesting. I might try a bohemian pils with WLP800 now. If I can ferment that at my temps in winter/spring and get good results like he did, then hell, I'll make a lot of bohemian pils. I have stayed away from yeasts like that as I can't do 50.

I bottled this at 1.014, and it tasted great. All that spicy/piney goodness of course, but it had more berry like fruit then I expected as well, I think the mosaic and juniper berries are blending nicely in that regard.

FWIW, at around day 12 it was done, and had no detectible diacetyl then. I just haven't gotten around to bottling it until today. So this yeast is fast and clean at 57-59 degrees.

I think I'm going to brew a maibock with my other pack of it.

Sounds nice mash... I'ld certainly drink it!

Good info, thanks. I should get two packs of 34/70 in the mail today.

I opened my trub bottle. This is totally delicious. Everything is playing together really well. It's really smooth. I can't tell there is juniper in it, it's just blending in with the hoppy, spicy and dark fruity flavors, which there are a lot of.

I'd brew this, exactly as is, again. LOL, except the way I am, I think things like "self... some Styrian Goldings would be good in this too". LOL.

And I like this yeast, it's super clean, and it's cool that I've got a lager that I can drink at 4 weeks. We will see how the Maibock turns out, but based on this so far, I'd use it again too. The 34/70 IPL I thought needed some more time and a little bit of actual laagering when I tasted it at this age. This doesn't need it.

I remember when you posted this recipe that it sounded good. Your grain bills are typically much more complex than mine, so it always gives me ideas, too.

The grain bill in this beer - I've made before a bunch of times, except without the Special B and Honey Malt. If you take those out, it is pretty much the same proportion Denny used in his rye beers. It's a winner either way. I like to use some Flaked Rye instead of just all Rye Malt as I think it increases/enhances the Rye flavors.

I just put the Special B and Honey Malt in here as a foil to play against the Juniper and Mosiac - the Special B to help bring out the "berry" of the Juniper and the Mosiac, and the Honey malt to temper the spicy part a bit because of how spicy this was already going to be, and to kick up the maltyness a little bit because I wanted it to be more balanced that way then something more "ruthless" as such.

But it would probably be really good without either too, just more aggressive seeming and the Juniper would stand out more - more piney/spicy/bitter, and less berry.