Category 1: Light Lagers

Beer: Weihenstephaner Original Premium
Category: Light Lager
Subcategory: Munich Helles Lager

For people who have never had a Helles, it is a very light colored beer made under the German purity Law of 1516 stating that a beer may only contain water, hops, malted barley, and yeast. As such, Helles is a lager that focuses more on the malt flavor, with some hop bitterness and not much hop flavor or aroma. Here is my experience with the WOP Helles:

Appearance: Poured from bottle into glass tankard. About one finger's width of brilliant white head that fades but leaves really nice lacing on the sides of the glass. Clarity of beer is decent, with apparent bubbles throughout. Very light straw color.

Nose: sweet malt with a light hint of lager yeast, with some nice fresh grassy aromas in the background from the light touch of hops

Taste: very subtle sweetness, light earthy cereal graininess, a little zip from the hop bitterness with some fresh, clean grass on the finish, and taste does linger on the palate for a little bit

Mouthfeel: light bodied and smooth, though more body than your average Pilsner or American Light Lager; moderate carbonation

Overall: This is a relatively simple beer, but that is what's so excellent about it. It is beer in its purest form, and because of the simplicity you can really pick out the flavors in it nicely...I would compare this to drinking a very pure, back-to-basics mead as opposed to a spiced or fruit mead. This beer is very drinkable and would pair handsomely with a big yeasty pretzel or bratwurst.

Personal: This is a fantastic beer, right in there with the style with a very refined flavor. I would love to quaff this from a big stein in a biergarten in Germany with some good German food. That being said, I don't think I could ever label this as my "favorite" style, because I often like something with a little more complexity.

Excited to be starting this new journey in the beer world!

Die Braumeister

An exciting time for the brewery

It truly is. Right now, I have a rogue mead that is halfway (one month) to completion, a lager that is in secondary cold conditioning (lagering), and my first original recipe, a Belgian witbier, in primary right now. Man does it feel good! There's so much to look at and so much progress to see! There's also loads of excitement as I think about a time when I will be able to taste all of them. There are a few bottles of ESB left, but the supply is dwindling slowly. It's just about time for a changing of the guards. Happy spring everyone! It's going to be great.

Well I'll be an even bigger sonofagun!!

Just took the specific gravity of the Youzaho Light Lager to yield a couple of BIG surprises. One surprise that is only slightly big is that it seems to be completely done with primary fermentation. I got a SG reading of about 1.011, which means that it is definitely in range. The BIGGEST surprise, though, was the taste! I should begin by saying that I'm pretty much a huge snob when it comes to beer, and I am not the biggest fan of "Lite" beers. This one however might be, dare I say, one of the best light beers I've ever had? This made me pretty excited, especially this early in the game. The flavor is, well, light, but it is far from absent and it certainly does not taste like piss (a lot of them do). I can't wait for it to smooth/balance out in secondary cold conditioning (lagering), too! I'm glad that even after selling out, I've developed something of which I can be very proud. I'm sure it will be an instant classic with the "masses." This also means that other lagers are well within reach for me, now that I have the lager methodology down. Look out for that Oktoberfest in the fall!

Well I'll be a sonofagun!

For those of you who don't currently reside in the greater Boston area, the weather outside turned from about 65° yesterday to about 35° with a minute amount of snow today. Crazy, right? Guess whose garage is still the same temperature. That's right. The lager's airlock is bubbling at intervals of more than a minute now, which means that primary fermentation is either done or close to done. I'm excited because this means I'll be able to rack it into secondary and brew my first original recipe, Sunny's Ginger Wit, by this weekend. I cannot wait. Comments on specific gravity to come.

In other news, my mead is looking strangely clear after less than a month of fermentation. I will probably leave it for another month, but I have high hopes for the stuff.

Three words: Perfect. Fermenting. Temperatures.

The garage has maintained an unbelievably constant temperature that has been wonderfully healthy for the lager. Furthermore, I officially have fridge room for the five-gallon carboy for some cold secondary fermentation (also known as "lagering"). This is definitely going to be great.

A quick shoutout to my family for putting up with all of the equipment being everywhere. Aw who am I kidding? I'm supplying them with nearly endless delicious batches of suds between now and August. Not to mention the fact that we have more than enough room for this stuff. Man, this is going to be a good summer.

-The Brewmaster

A real flavor update

Man does the ale taste good! Apart from the obvious beautiful color of the beer, the taste is wonderful. Inspired even. I can't believe this is my first beer. The taste has really blossomed since I first sampled the beer last weekend. This weekend really showed some wonderful character to the ESB, which is now proving to have a nice hoppy bitterness, the Kent Goldings giving off an earthy and mildly floral goodness. The malts provide a nice balance and make the brew super drinkable. The mouthfeel is beautiful, medium carbonation and silky light body, with of course the beautiful creamy head that I displayed in the last post. All I can say is, thank you St. Arnold!

I am totally excited about the beer, and everyone else seems to really like it, too. This beer is well-balanced and very drinkable, with tons of interest for the palate. Come by and try it, I guarantee that you've never had anything like it before!


In other news, today I sold out. My family likes light beer and requested that I brew them one, so with the help of some extra-light malt extract and some amylase enzymes, that is going to happen rather soon. I will be cold fermenting in my perpetually 50° garage and lagering, well, somewhere. Don't judge me, we're all whores. Honestly, even just throwing together another brew was really fun for me, and as soon as the Youzaho Light Lager goes into secondary, I'm going to brew my summer witbier. Very exciting. And in case anyone's interested:

2 lbs Munton's light hopped dried malt extract
1 lb Munton's extra light dried malt extract
2 lbs dried rice syrup solids
1/4 oz. Hallertauer hops, flavor, 10 min


Prost,

The Brewmaster