Great Lakes Brewing News Archive

Beer Styles

Originally Published: 10/97

By: Ray McNeill

One of my best friends recently said to me,and I quote," It takes BIG ideas to make BIG money", so it should be apparent why I was selected to write this column, and why I chose this subject for this season. Many of you will surprised and impressed that I turned down a job offer at another beer magazine that paid OVER $6 an hour, before taxes. I don't want to tell you how much Great Lakes Brewing News offered to keep me, but let's just say they placed a realistic value on my contributions to this paper, and with this newest raise I was able to afford a new blender from one of those Rent-To-Own places.Let me tell you, these purple passions taste better here than at the Chinese restaurant and get you drunk twice as fast. I even got some of those little umbrellas at the All For A Dollar store, and we're hanging the ones we already used all over the trailer.

In his 1954 magnum opus, A TEXTBOOK OF BREWING, the Belgian Master Brewer Jean De Clerck stated, "At one time a Vienna type of bottom fermentation was brewed. This had a color intermediate between that of Munich and Pilsener. The palate was at the same time aromatic and bitter, qualities which are not compatible, and it has almost disappeared from the market." While De Clerck's description of color and flavor may be on target, his implicit prediction of the future of Vienna styled beers was out to lunch. In the U.S., we now have scores of renditions of the style, and in October, the number of Oktoberfest beers ( also called Maerzen and Wiesenbier by the Bavarians) skyrockets. My friends that have been to Bavaria in October tell me that there is no mention of Vienna lager anywhere and Bavarians call any beer within certain gravity parameters Oktoberfest, including some smoked beers. So what defines the Vienna style? De Clerk's remarks seem appropriate. These beers do have a modestly pronounced bitter flavor, with some noble hop character and are malt dominated, with malt in the nose and flavor. They should be relatively free of fruity esters and range in color from deep gold to near amber. The colors orange and rose come to mind. They are well attenuated but not dry, and the attenuation limit I would describe as "medium", about 75%.

Enough of this crap, let's make some Vienna.

Malt: George Fix's book on Vienna lager serves as an excellent reference, although his appendix on sanitation should be disregarded (Fix recommends rinsing your brewing equipment with cheap pasteurized beer before use. I was working at a packaging brewery at the time I read this, and when I suggested to the brewmaster that we get some kegs of Busch to chase the sanitizer out of the wort cooling lines, I nearly lost my job. If you are concerned about the effects of minute residual sanitizer, you should rinse your stuff off with 180º H2O).

However, Fix's recurring theme about good malt can not be overestimated. The success of your Vienna Lager is directly related to the quality of the malt you buy. Fix suggests Moravian, and he's correct. You can elect to use a domestic Harrington/Klages malt like Briess and you will make a fine beer, but it will not shine up to the malt qualities of some of the Bavarian examples like Wurzburger. Ireks is the brand I always use, if you can find it, and it tastes GREAT. Fix also recommends using an upward infusion mash and I agree also. If you wish to do a double decoction, that's nice, but I once was named Best of Show by a major beer publication in their review of a beer event attended by dozens of breweries for a lager beer I made with a single infusion. There's no substitute for quality raw materials. For those of you still using extract, Vienna may be the wrong style to attempt.

I recommend a somewhat high rest temp.of 128º if you're doing a protein rest and a saccharification rest of 151º for this malt. The saccharification rest temp should be 3 or 4º higher if using domestic malt. Six row malts should not be used, nor should any malt designed for ale. The quality of English Lager beer can probably serve as an indicator as to the quality of English lager malt.

Crystal malts should be used in the 10-13% range, less for a standard Vienna, more for an Oktoberfest. I always use English or German crystal malts in the 60-80º Lovibond range. Small amounts of black, chocolate, or farbes malt may be used to adjust color, not to exceed 1% of total grist.

Hops: Any good clean bittering hop for lagers will do here. Perle and Northern Brewer jump to mind, but any Noble hop could also be used. I actually use a fair amount of Hallertauer Tradition and that would also serve well here in that it has a higher alpha than most of the Noble hops, yet retains its quality status by having low myrcene levels and a very high humulene/caryophellene ratio. It has a vaguely lemon-like flavor. Fix recommends Styrian Golding which I think no longer exists because of poor growing conditions and, oh yes, that tiny war in , which was it, oh yes. I think the name of that country was Yugoslavia. Styrian Golding is Fuggle in reality, so English Fuggle could be a possibility (Fuggle tastes like black tea to me). At any rate, I would probably target 15 IBU's from this addition, or about 4 alpha "units" in 5 gallons.

For a middle addition I would stick to a noble hop. Fix recommends Tettnanger and that works for me! Tettnanger reminds me of Juicy Fruit gum for some reason.The other noble hops work as well, or one could use one of the sons of Hallertauer, like Crystal or Mt. Hood. I wouldn't use anything too low in alpha here though because you would have to use lots of them to get your IBU's and you might have overpowering hop character. Remember, Vienna Lager is all about subtlety and nuance.

Let's target 5 IBU's here or about 3 alpha "units" in 5 gallons @ 30 mins. Use a little more for Oktoberfest. For a late addition Fix suggests Saaz. I actually don't like Saaz but it's a personal thing. I would go for Hallertauer, Crystal, or Ultra. The other Noble hops would also work well. I wouldn't use much, no more than 0.5 oz, perhaps less.

Water: I always use CaCl2 in my lager beers, but CaOH2 could be used as well. If your water is relatively neutral in pH, try 3/4 oz of CaCl2 (calcium chloride) in the mash and 1/4 oz to sparge. Make sure it's food grade calcium chloride and not the stuff they put on icy roads up here in the tundra. (Well, if you really want to see what happens if you use the road stuff then go ahead. Just don't blame me if it eviscerates you.) For CaOH2, calcium hydroxide, check my previous articles on lager brewing which I KNOW you've been saving. I'm not going to do the math again for you. CaSO4, Gypsum should be avoided if possible as Munich waters are quite low in SO4 (-2). You may wish to boil mash or sparge waters to reduce HCO3 (-1).

Yeast: I'm going to have to resurrect my image here (if any of you knew me personally, you would know this was impossible) after the glaring mistake I made concerning yeast for Alt beer in a previous issue. My brain was on ice. My only consolation is that I know nobody reads the drivel I write. My all time favorite lager yeast is Wyeast 2206. Many breweries use Weihenstephan 34/70, and it will make nice beer if a diacetyl rest is used. #2206 sometimes produces some H2S. If it does, purge (blow) it out with CO2 if possible. Ferment at 52º, condition at 38.

Carbonation: I would carbonate artificially in my tank if possible. Krausen next with fermenting wort, next. Prime if you must.

Okay, here it goes, the idiot-proof "recipe" for those of you who skipped the main body of the article or don't want to make any decisions on your own:

DER AUTOR ALLE WELTEN UND WIESENBIER (for 5 gallons)

Target gravity 13.5º Plato (1.055) 25 IBU's

9# German or U.S. 2 row malt 1/2 oz perle hops@6% alpha, boil

1# Crystal malt 1.25 oz tettnanger hops@5% alpha, 30 min

1 oz chocolate malt 1/2 oz ultra@15 min

rest@151º for German malt 1/2 oz (or less) ultra, at end

rest@155º for U.S. malt

Yeast: Wyeast #2206, make a slurry.

Use 3/4 oz CaCl2 in the mash and 1/4 oz in the sparge. Extract brewers can

substitute 7 # Ireks Pilsner extract (if you must).