Germanic Texas Rye Pilsner

--Brewed 2nd time, 09/28/2025.

Grain crush at 4 / 2.25 as before. Same yeast, but this will be the 3rd pitch, 2nd was a 7.5 gallon Märzen (droughtfest 3 2025) brew.

Mashed in at 152 for single infusion. Reduced power to 45%.

Took PH and at about 45m in, got 5.22, mixed and it jumped to 5.6 !!! added just a little bit of acid blend to get it under 5.5 - we will call it 5.4-ish and go.

About like last time, I got about 1.041 from the mash after 90 minutes. got 2 consecutive equal readings and went to the mash out at 169. I lifted the basket and vourlaufed set the kettle to 169 at 85% power. after about an hour, got

1.053. Drained to get volume and start the sparge.
sparged to about 7.7 gallons, have 1.043 on the refractometer.

Added sparge water to the malt pipe that was draining into the bucket, will add this to the wort before the boil.
1.039 is my pre-boil target.
Got several readings higher than 1.044, cleaned the refractometer got 1.041 again. added new 'sparge' wort and a pint of sparge water. got a few more higher readings, cleaned the refractometer and finally saw 1.039.

holding steady for the boil.
(notice the brewers friend IBU calculator is at 29, should be 35...
changed the finishing hops to 10m, & 20m for Mittlefrüh

started the boil, was cleaning glycol chiller and found a leak. accidentally turned off the countdown timer. guessed about 10 minutes in, and reset the timer (26 minutes countdown for 5m before 2nd hop addition).

I got through the boil uneventfully, and took a few extra seconds each step- 2nd hop, 3rd hop, flame out so I should be closer to SG and 35IBU.

chilled, t/f to fermenter and set up for pressure. Dropped the tilt in while chilling and got 1.050. Pitched yeast at about 75F, still chilling, stirred and let set. Still 1.050.
chilling to 56F ... ish

Pitched about 5PM. First sign of activity on the Tilt is around Midnight.

9/29: AM - 1.044 19:00: 1.037 at about 9.5psi
9/30: AM - 1.030 again, about 9.5psi. 20:00 - 1.022
raised temp to 58F
< checked by charging the fermenter to 15 psi, and it leaked at the lid in the rear :-( it's hold 9.5 so I'll go with that >
10/1: AM - 1.014. Noon - 1.011

sample- a bunch of yeast but, it's right in line with before.
giving it an hour or so to ensure it's stable and will begin to cold crash.

Temps too warm for a full cold crash. Lowest I saw was 41F.
harvested yeast, and kegged on 4 October, 2025.
F.G. : 1.009 so ABV will be about the same as batch 1.

2nd sample was about the same as the sample from batch 1.

NOTE. had a LOT of bubbles in the keg, despite only having about 10-12 psi through the 4 day fermentation and 2 days of colder temps.

Put on low pressure gas straight away after purging.













--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.