Another through-the-night brew session (started 2/15/10)... 10 gallons of Classic American Pilsener. I try to rotate a session beer on-tap in the kegerator (Dry Stout, British Bitter or Mild, Cream Ale, or CAP), along with bigger beers. My cream ales and CAPs have been “gateway beers” for friends who claim to prefer American yellow beers to craft brew or homebrew. They're especially quenching in the heat of summer!

Five gallons of this batch will be fermented with a combination of California Lager (Wyeast 2112) and Bohemian Lager (Wyeast 2124) at an intermediate temperature (60º). I'm using this semi-authentic/historic technique for a quick turn-around on a pilsener-style lager beer, which would ordinarily take about 6 weeks start to finish. I have used this technique in the past, with good results, to get this style of beer into a keg and ready to serve in under three weeks. The timeline is the critical part for me with this portion, because it needs to be ready for a “welcome back” picnic early in March.

The other 5 gallons will be split, and fermented with two different yeasts as a small experiment. My go-to lager yeast has always been Wyeast 2124 – Bohemian Lager... For a lager yeast, it is incredibly flexible and easy to use; it has a wide temperature range, and produces a nice character in the finished beer – malty & crisp. Half the batch will be fermented using this yeast at 50º. The other half will get Wyeast 2308 – Munich Lager. This yeast is geared towards malt-forward styles like bocks, dunkels, and festbiers. My recipe is not exactly a match for these styles, but it is a moderate gravity brew with a combination of 2-row & 6-row malt (along with corn), so the potential malt flavors are there. Anyway, I had it on hand...

I also have two batches I need to package (combo bottles & kegs) – a dunkel experiment and a ryePA. I should also take a reading on an American IPA I've had going. The dunkel was brewed back in December, and the ryePA was brewed at the start of January (the dry hops ought to be just about perfect); the American IPA was brewed with the re-pitched yeast from my BYO-BBR Collaborative Experiment #3.