Quad City Lager

If you're from the midwest, moreso the Chicago area, and you know your Illinois geography, you might have heard of the Quad Cities.  Of course, anyone who has been to the towns of Davenport, Bettendorf (on the Iowa side), Moline, or Rock Island (Illinois) will likely have heard the term "Quad Cities" or "Quad City Area" and understand that this group of cities shares a part of the Mississippi River.

While I went to school in Davenport from Kindergarten to Fifth Grade, and returned to finish my Junior year at Bettendorf High School and then graduated from Davenport North in 1987, the Quad Cities I'm referring to in this lager are not even in this country.  While thinking about the different malts that were named after cities, I came up with the following recipe:

Quad City Lager

Batch Size (Gal): 5.5 

Anticipated OG: 1.055 (13.63)

Anticipated SRM: 5.9

Anticipated IBU: 28.1

Brewhouse Efficiency: 68 %

Wort Boil Time: 90 Minutes

3.00 lbs. Bohemian (Moravian) Pilsner

3.00 lbs. Koelsch Malt

3.00 lbs. Munich Malt(light)

3.00 lbs. Vienna Malt 

1.00 oz. Halletauer @ 60 min.

0.50 oz Czech Saaz @ 60 min.

Whirlfloc and Yeast Nutrient @ 15 min.

1.50 oz. Czech Saaz @ 10 min.

Wyeast 2487 Hellabock Lager

See what I did there?  I was trying to figure out what kind of style this beer would end up being were I to enter it into a competition, and I decided that it was closest to the "Export" style, or "Dortmunder Export".  While the Koelsch, Munich and Vienna malts add a tinge more darkness, as does the 90-minute boil, it still just makes it under the required color style.  I've always brewed a pilsner, but truth be told, when just a lad of 15 and 16 years old in Germany, I had not yet gotten used to the hoppy German pilsners, and since most of the choices I had at the places I drank were "export" or "pils", I went with "export".  Even though I use Czech Saaz hops (a favorite of mine), this is my quintessential "German" beer.

"You like that German beer?"
"Yes. I. DO!"

I gotta admit - I didn't use the Moravian Pilsner.  I had some Franco-Belges left over from a 55-pound bag I bought, so I used that to make this.  You know what?  It's still good.  Smells of clean yeast (I would use the Hellabock yeast for all lagers other than Czech ones if Wyeast made it available year round.  I heard it's the Ayinger yeast, although Wyeast won't tell you where they get their strains from; I am told that the year-round White Labs 0833 is also the Ayinger yeast.  Might need to change yeast companies...) and malt.  No real hop aroma here, although I really wouldn't expect it.  At 28.1 IBU, it's hopped nicely, but again, doesn't punch you in the face like a pilsner.

Quite enjoyable, and tapped just in time for the summer months.

ESPer Czech Dark Lager

When I grew up in Germany, I knew about the original Budvar and Pilsner Urquell.  Those pilsners are still some of my favorite beers; simple malt bill, a clean yeast with some stinky residuals, and the wonderful zesty aroma and bitterness of Czech Saaz hops.

It wasn't until I started brewing, though, that I stumbled onto the animal known as Czech Dark Lager.  Similar in malt bill to a Munich Dunkel, the Czech Dark uses Czech yeast and Czech Saaz hops to provide something just a little different.

I actually had a couple of versions of this style, one was from Trader Joe's, and I actually had the same one not knowing it was the same brand (only the style was listed on the menu), at a local restaurant.  I wasn't too impressed by these - they had the same kind of maltiness akin to a brown ale, not necessarily a bad thing, it's a personal preference, and while I've had some nicely made brown ales, the style itself does not excite me.

Then, a couple of Januarys ago, I was dropping off some beer to be judged in Aurora, Illinois.  The family came with, as we decided to make a day of shopping, and we stopped into a Gordon Biersch Restaurant/Brewery, and the seasonal special was a Tmave Vycepni.  I asked the waiter to pronounce it, and he asked me to please not make him say it.  The description, though, was obvious - this was a Czech Dark lager.  It came in what appeared to be a glass shaped like a Weizenbier glass.  It smelled of roasted malts and, surprisingly, citrus.  It tasted a bit chocolatey with orange/citrus overtones.  I decided right then that I wanted to make one of those beers one day.

After doing some research, I came up with the following recipe:

Esper

Batch Size (Gal): 6.00  

Total Grain (Lbs): 10.69

Anticipated OG: 1.049 (12.09)

Anticipated SRM: 16.6

Anticipated IBU: 35.0

Brewhouse Efficiency: 75 %

Wort Boil Time: 90 Minutes

6.00 lbs. Pilsener (FB)                

1.50 lbs. Caramunich II               

3.00 lbs. Munich Malt (NB)        

0.19 lbs. Carafa III (Dehusked) 

2.00 oz. Czech Saaz (3.5%AA) First WH

1.00 oz. Czech Saaz (3.5%AA) @ 15 min.

Wyeast 2782 Staro Prague Lager

Some notes: First of all, I missed the window on the limited edition Staro Prague yeast.  Instead, since I had never used it before, I decided to try the Bohemian Lager yeast.  While the yeast made a good beer, I think I would prefer a more stronger aromatic strain, like that of the Budvar yeast or the Staro Prague.  I've made great beers with both of those yeast, and I think that I'd like to make the Budvar my Czech Lager yeast of choice.  The Staro Prague (which I believe is the Staropramen yeast) imparts a clean aroma with a tiny bit of sulfur.  Some people claim that this is a flaw.  It doesn't smell like a recently lit match, it's more of a hint, and with the Czech Saaz hops providing a nice, grassy smell, it's truly a fine thing.

The beer itself, depending on the glass, is a dark brown with some red highlights around the edge of the glass.  It smells of roasted malt and the "clean" yeast smell you get from lager yeasts.  There's not really any aroma of Czech Saaz in this one - could be it's masked by the malt and yeast smells.

The taste is similar to other dark beers - a nice roasty graininess with just a perfect hint of astringency - not burnt tasting like in some stouts.  The hops add a slight zestiness, and provide a nice amount of bitterness - they don't punch you in the face like a Czech pils.

I utilized this recipe for U Fleku for inspiration.

The name was inspired by a Loudness song from their "Disillusion" LP.  I thought Esper was some kind of ghost, but it turns out it might mean a person who has ESP, or "ESPer".  I have no idea.  The photo I found for the label was sort of cool looking, though.

DFK Pils

There is knowledge in the homebrew community, mind you have to search for it or stumble onto it, but it exists, that if you want to make a true Czech Pilsener beer, that you have to brew it using a decoction mash.

It's really a simple recipe; Pilsener malt, Czech Saaz hops, and your choice of Czech lager yeast. I know of three right off the top of my head, and I'm pretty sure that both Wyeast and White Labs make versions of the Budvar (original Budweiser), Pilsen (used for Pilsener Urquell) and Bohemian lager yeasts.

In the last quarter of 2009, Wyeast released the Staro-Prague (Wyeast 2782-PC) yeast. Northern Brewer also made a simple kit available for use of this yeast. If I'm not mistaken, it was called Farley's Svetle-Pivo (which translates from Slavic to "Farley's Light Beer") and for a 5-gallon recipe, was calling for 10 pounds of Pilsener malt, 5 ounces of Czech Saaz hops, and the aforementioned yeast. Also, it suggested a triple-decoction mash.

For the most part, when you do an all-grain homebrew, you get your grain. It's crushed. Then you get your water hot so that you can put your grain in it, and the grain sits at a temperature between 149*F and 156*F for at least an hour. Then you sparge the grain with hot water (around 180*F) until you get enough to boil down so that when all is said and done, you have 5 gallons of beer (the usual amount, especially if you're serving from 5-gallon kegs).

However, a decoction mash is its own animal. For this beer in particular, I started with 100*F water, put it and the grain into my mash tun for 20 minutes, and then the real fun began: It was early January when I did this, so it was like 19*F in my garage. I had the side door open and the big garage door cracked about a foot and a half to get decent air flow. So I took 2/3rds of the mash (water and grain, mostly grain) and started heating it up on the burner. You have to stir so you don't burn the mash or make the color too dark. I brought the mash to 150*F and then took it off the burner, wrapped it in a wool blanket, and let it set on a crate for 20 minutes. Then I returned the kettle to the burner, and slowly brought it to a boil, let it boil for five minutes, then returned it to the mash tun, bringing the temperature to 126*F in the mash tun, stirring it in so the temperature was uniform. I let it rest 30 minutes. I did this again, to bring the temperature of the mash to 148*F, and then again to 158*F (I didn't let it sit for 20 minutes either time after this, since it was so close or beyond 150*F anyway, just straight to boil). Finally, I drained about 4 gallons of mostly liquid wort and brought this to a boil to raise the temperature of the mash to 170*F for mash out, where you're looking to get all your "sugar water" to make the beer.

This makes for a long day. Especially in January. But I was hoping for an awesome beer. The great thing about mashing this way is that a lot of the proteins that you get from the boil kettle when you're moving the wort into the fermenter actually stay in the mash tun. The result is a clearer, cleaner beer. For more information on decoction mashing, I suggest you check out Kai's decoction mash videos. A three-part series that you can take seriously because of Kai's accent.

As for how the beer looks, here are a few photos:

This is the beer about 30 seconds after it's been poured. Burnished gold.


As the beer is drank, a swirl of foam remains. Smells of sulfur, fresh-mown grass.



It's unfiltered, so while some beers are clearer, this one is not as clear.

Of course, there is a story behind the name. Even though it's Farley's recipe, I upped it to 12 lbs of Pilsener malt and 6 oz of Czech Saaz hops because I was shooting for 6 gallons. I did the work, I get to name it.

Like I stated above, the beer pours with a decent head. Once the head is gone, lacing continues and the foam swirls on the top. It smells of sulfur and freshly-mown grass. The taste is like biting into a handful of Czech Saaz hops. It's quite wonderful. The Pilsener malt is a great vehicle for the yeast and hops.

While I lived in Germany, I had a good friend named Dan Kendall (DFK). I left during the middle of our Junior year. During the summer, Danny was to leave to go back to the states, where his dad, who was a colonel, was getting a promotion. Danny decided to impress his dad's associates by getting a mohawk. Lately, I've seen mohawks being worn as a fashion statement. But in 1986, I guarantee you, mohawks were considered pretty "1981." Hell, I don't even remember too many people wearing them in 1981. But then, I lived in Oklahoma that year.

The point is, you can take the easy way out on anything if you're smart. But to live, sometimes you need to go through all the steps just to see what it's all about. It's easy to get a mohawk when all the cool kids are doing it.

Danny did this, he cut his hair, and he knew he was causing trouble. He knew he'd take suome lumps. Why did he do it? Because fuck them.