Beer Forum

One of my next brews I am planning is a Vienna Lager. I have researched both traditional and Mexican lagers.

A while back I had a Dos Equis Amber (draft) which I thought was pretty good. Good hop balance, soft and a bit sweet.
Recently I had a Negro Modelo (bottle), which was kinda weak! No head, no flavor, just blahh!

So, I wouldn't mine doing a Dos Equis clone, but I will mst likely try the traditional first... JZ's version of course.

Any tips or feedback? Suggested grain bill, hops, yeast?

Thanks!

First, try the Negra Modelo again if you can get a fresher bottle. It is much better than Dos Equis, IMO.


DMS can be a killer when you use those German malts. Be sure to do a full 90 minute boil, and chill it quickly.
Temp control is a must.

Good luck-

BYOHB wrote:
So, I wouldn't mine doing a Dos Equis clone, but I will mst likely try the traditional first... JZ's version of course.

Any tips or feedback? Suggested grain bill, hops, yeast?

Thanks!

Wait, are you going to brew JZ's recipe, or are you making your own? I'm confused.

If you use Pilsner malt, make sure you do a 90 min boil.

Make a sufficient sized starter. You want to target about 1.5 million cells per mL per degree plato. I make mine at room temp(65 F or so), and a day or so before brew day I'll put it in the fridge (at about 43 F) to help the yeast settle out. It's important that the starter is done fermenting before you chill it. Yeast rebuild their glycogen reserves at the end of fermentation, so it's important not to chill prematurely. The morning of brew day I'll make a small starter (about a pint), chill it to 43 F, and pour that on the starter slurry. By the time it's ready to pitch into the wort, the starter should be nice and active.

Oxygenate well, and try and pitch your yeast below the fermentation temp (I usually pitch around 44 F), and let it rise over the next day or so to your fermentation temperature.

Be patient. You will need to wait some time for it to lager. Resist the urge to sample. I personally lager in kegs, and by the time my recent Dortmunder Export was ready to drink, there were about 6 beers left. I barely had enough left to bottle for competition.

Anyways, that's what has worked for me in the past. Good luck.

I'm tempted to do the JZ BCS version, but I want to do a simple !00% Vienna malt and 1 hop recipe first. Any suggestions? The HBS has a Hallertau Mittelfruh at 6.8% AA and I was hoping to use some of this.

love

g

The BCS recipe always turns out too dark and too roasty for me. I'm gonna cut way back on the Carafa Special II (or just leave it out) next brew. It's great beer, but it gets dinged in competition for color and too much roast.

grod wrote:I'm tempted to do the JZ BCS version, but I want to do a simple !00% Vienna malt and 1 hop recipe first. Any suggestions? The HBS has a Hallertau Mittelfruh at 6.8% AA and I was hoping to use some of this.

love

g

Are you entering it in competition? I ask because I don't like using Munich malt in my Vienna lager, but judges expect it to be there

Hallertau Mittelfruh will be fine, I always use Tettnanger in mine (or Magnum for bittering, Tett for finish if Tett supplies are low), but you'll be fine with any noble hop .. except maybe Saaz since it's identified with pilsner so much


For 6 gallons, 70% eff my recipe would look like
9# Vienna
2# Pilsner (cut the color, and add another layer of flavor instead of 11# Vienna)
1# Honey malt (sweetness, melanoidins, Munichy type flavor notes without overpowering the Vienna)

You said you want to do 100% Vienna, so I'd go 12# Vienna (Honey malt only gives 30 ppg, so this won't be the same gravity but it will be close enough to not matter). My first Vienna lager was 100% Vienna, that was 3 years and 5 batches ago, the last change I made was too much, so I'm back to the recipe above which is basically my 4th version.

aim for the 18-20 IBU range from noble hops, I've been using an ounce at knockout but I have to cut that back to .5 or .75


usually 2124 Bohemian Lager
WLP 838 and 833 work fine

I want to try WLP 940 Mexican Lager next time, if it's available