Batch #4-11: Boston Lager

Style Boston Lager
Ingredients View Here
Brewing Date: Monday, March 7, 2011
Primary Fermentation: Monday, March 7, 2011
Original Gravity: 1.030 @ 58F (1.030)
Secondary Fermentation: n/a
Bottling Date: Monday, March 14, 2011
Final Gravity: 1.010 @ 72F (1.0113)
Release Date: Friday, April 15, 2011
Alcohol by volume: 2.5% raw (3.0% release)
Final Release Name: Redcoat Storm Rising

It’s supposed to be like Sam Adam’s Boston Lager.

Summary:

This recipe called for putting the grains in a nylon bag.  I followed the directions, but I am not sure whether it helped the wort.  The flaked rice was pretty thick when I emptied the bag, so the bag was probably keeping a bunch of sticky rice from clinging to the side of my brew pot.  Nonetheless, the wort looked like it was the right color and texture.  There was no boilover, and everything went well.  The IG is low for this batch, so I do not anticipate an ending ABV above 1.8-2.0%.

Fermentation will be using the wick cooling method again.  The yeast starter, now 48 hours in progress, shows signs of life from the dry yeast (Fermentis) which I started it with.   It is not very strong like Wyeast would be, but it has very noticeable activity.

08 Mar @ 10:00PM — Twenty four hours into the fermentation, and the bubbling cycles are at about 8-10 seconds.

10 Mar @ 07:00AM — Yeast bubbling is now at the usual 3 second interval.

14 Mar @ 9:00PM — Lots of trum in the barrel.  It was so thick, it was clogging up my siphon racking cane.  I finally put my nylon grain bag over the end of the siphon to prevent the opening from getting clogged.  It was messy, but the wort I was able to siphon into the bucket had a very nice floral aroma.  It was thin, but the taste was appealing.

The yield was small from this batch: 1x 2L Growler, and 35x 12oz bottles.  The FG was a nice surprise: it made it to 3.0%, although just barely.

15 Apr @ 3:30PM — I tasted a few bottles during the conditioning, and was worried that the strong hop and floral aroma would overpower the malts too much.  Initially, it did, but by about the end of the third week the balance between malt and hops began to appear.  The hops still dominated, but didn’t overpower anymore.

Several people gave me good feedback on this batch, and it seemed more popular than I anticipated.  If I had to choose between this and a Sam Adams Boston Lager, I would choose the Sam Adams.  But it is a good recipe by itself.  If I would change anything about this recipe, I would consider reducing the amount of each hop style from 1oz to 3/4oz, and possibly increasing the grain bill for the Carapils from 12oz to a full pound.

Still, initially try this recipe with the original ingredient metrics.  This batch was well received by IPA lovers.