Germanic Texas Rye Pilsner

Brewed 06/03/2025

grain crush at 3.8 pils, 2.25 rye.

mash in at 112, dropping to 111 for a beta-glucan rest ~20 minutes.
Target was 105, however the water wouldn’t cool, left it rest on recirculation for 1 hour and no drop in temp.

did 30 minutes at 112 down to 110, raised to 152, ~ 8-10 minutes-ish. lifted/drained the basket and temp dropped to 143 :-O
raised temp to 154, power at 45%
+15 min. 1.026
+15 min. 1.034
+15 min. 1.038
+10 min. 1.040

mash draining well, but wort is sitting on top of the grain bed during recirculation. When lifted, it drains quickly.

lifted the basket, raised temp to 169x92% power for mash out.
+15 mins. 1.042
+15 mins. 1.045
+30 mins. 1.048
(got called by Amex).

Began sparge; had 5.5 gallons in the kettle.
pulled the grain basket at 8 gallons exactly. Gravity:

1.037 - very close. will drain the malt pipe, boil 5-10 extra minutes

Boiled ~15 minutes to get 1.039, began hop schedule.
Boil was non eventful, ended up with about 6.1 - 6.2 gallons; I took the reading a few seconds after I started the transfer to the fermenter.

Using the Blichmann pressure fermenter. took a portion of the yeast and added wort directly to it and put in the starter beaker.

dropped in the tilt and got 1.053-1.054.
I pitched the Bavarian lager yeast harvested from the earlier Schwarzbier, east coast porter and Dunkel, but it was non responsive overnight. It sat in the fridge for at least 8 weeks, with a small layer of beer on top. I split half into the fermenter and half into the starter beaker.
No change overnight, so I pitched fresh package into the beaker.

6/4: There was pressure in the fermenter and gravity showed 1.051, so progress ? I pitched the fresh starter after about 12 hours in the beaker.


Once fermentation began, just before pitching the fresh culture, pressure had built up a few psi and it could have just been lag time. However the day after pitch, we had 15psi and steady bubbling in the airlock from the spunding valve.

On about the 6th, I started ramping up temps from 55F to 60F on the 7th. internal tilt temps didn’t go above 57 for all of the 7th, so I plugged the heating element in.

6/7 & 6/8: on the 7th, fermentation had slowed greatly, starting the day at 1.017 and staying there most of the day and into the evening, flashing to 1.016 and back. about 0945 on the 8th, showing a steady 1.015. spunding valve activity minimal but the yeast appears to still be working.

6/10: began cold crash at 1.013-1.014.
6/12: cold crash got to about 38 on the tilt and 37 on the temp sensor. Maybe colder, tilt green stopped sending data overnight and won’t wake up.

Considering FG 1.012 and will keg.
Kegged on the 12th of June, hit it with 10psi of CO2.

Tasting notes:
sampled 13 June, 2025.
There’s definitely rye in this beer.
Aroma is classic noble hops, floral being the dominant character.

Grainy, rye flavor:
It’s prominent when it’s cold in the palate intro and persistently in the finish, giving a strong spicy contribution reminiscent of black pepper. I think 25% rye in this beer is probably too much, as it’s not as subtle as I’d like. I’d throttle back to 15%.
Otherwise it’s a kind of German Pils, balanced bitterness, not too malty, not too hoppy, good body, flavor is not malty sweet. So, drinkable, but you may get that peppery finish on the beer.