Designing the perfect German beer homebrewing setup

Right their Bohemian Pils is "slightly" under modified…I don't remember there being a true steely end though the last time i used it though...

 

Dave, I have yet to conduct an 'open fermentation' but if I wanted to do that I would do it like you described there; I would just place the lid on top of the bucket and not cinch it closed.

Cheers!

 

Somehow I feel like disregarding the lessons we have learned over the last 500 years of brewing may not net the best beer you could produce otherwise. But he'll, send me a bottle and prove me wrong.

 

The Weyermann malts are not really "slighty" under modified.

Jeff (@hopfenunmaltz) addressed this in a previous thread:

"I looked up the Weyermann specs for their malts.

Undermodified malts have Kohlbach indexes of 30 to 35.

The lowest spec was the Barke Pils, at a minimum of 36. The Bohemian malts are 38 minimum."

I recently homebrewed my 1896 Michelob beer using Weyermann Floor Malted Bohemian Pilsner malt and conducting a single temperature infusion mash. That malt converted well (high efficiency) via that mashing regime.

Cheers!

 

Got a 10# bag of Barke Pils…will give it a chew tonight to see what it feels like. Actually, I was wondering about that bag as I was typing the response…thanks Jack! (and Jeff…). I did single infusion the last time I used Boh Pils malt and didn't notice much of a difference there…actually that said, I haven't done much step mashing at all in the last few years…getting lazy

 

Dave, FWIW I would vote for "smart" here.

Modern day malts are fully modified. I have yet to read an objective compelling reason for step mashing fully modified malt.

Cheers!

 

Dave, it you expand my avatar you will see the full phrase can fust be made out on the wreath below the symbol. Common usage. No C&D required by anyone.

One thing anyone can do is enter the lot number for Weyermann malts into this page and get your malt specs, if you have a bag, or the LHBS can tell you the number.

https://bsgcraftbrewing.com/MaltAnalysis

If you can get the lot number, it would be nice to know the Kohlbach index. For example, the Floor Malted Bo-Pils has a minimum of 38, a guy said he had a bag that had an analysis of 41. Where that thinking that it is undermodified came from, I don't know. Probably because it is Czech, sort of like Scotch ales are smokey.

 

More like they are not over modified. Like I pointed out above, the lot analysis can give you some data to go on. This is similar to knowing data on hops, like the AA%.

 

For german breweries who still do decoctions, I assume they get suitable malt from suppliers that isn't found in the homebrew market? I imagine the number of homebrewers who want to regularly do decoctions for authenticity is a very small number

 

In my opinion, the accepted practices and 'wisdom' from Palmer [and all the many other publications that cross-reference him] on modified malts are based on a slight misreading of Narziss -- especially on matters such as step-infusion and/or decoction mashing. In my experience, utilizing [and consuming German beers made using] these techniques definitely has benefits.

 

Yes. And the resulting German-style beers, too.

 

Munich and pale malts...and smoked malts...benefit in my experience. And, yes, you don't want to perform lengthy protein rests or things like that. But short ones are fine and can be beneficial. [This is precisely where I think palmer gets Narziss wrong....]

I brew with so-called 'highly modified' malts pretty much exclusively, so I don't know about differences to something slightly less modified like Weyermann's Bohemian floor-malted or even Barke malts [though I have used those sparingly]. In my opinion, most of the new 'specialty' malts do not produce results like the ones I am going for [i.e. beers like I drink in Germany] anyway and seem to be more gimmick than anything else.

 

I'd say the depth is less of a concern than is overall surface area for the yeast. Not sure a bucket will be any different from a 5-10 gal conical in that respect. Also, a major benefit of open fermentation is [as others have mentioned] top-cropping of yeast and skimming the Trub before it falls back down through the beer [leaving behind some unwanted flavor additions]. I am not sure what kind of sanitation you will have to maintain in and around any open fermenters, but I'd err on the side of caution there...