Summer Cellar BdG

Summer Cellar BdG

(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.073 FG = 1.011
IBU = 29 SRM = 12 ABV = 8.5%

Ingredients
6 lbs. (2.7 kg) Munich malt (9 °L)
6 lbs. (2.7 kg) German Pilsner malt
1.2 lbs. (0.54 kg) Caravienne® malt (20 °L)
1.2 lbs. (0.54 kg) cane (beet) sugar
1 oz. (28 g) black patent malt (500 °L)
9 AAU Fuggles hops (60 min.) (2 oz./57 g at 4.5% alpha acids)
Wyeast 2565 (Kölsch) yeast
3⁄4 cup corn sugar (if priming)

Step by Step
Mill the grains and mix with 3.8 gallons (14.4 L) of 162 °F (72 °C) strike water to reach a mash temperature of 150 °F (66 °C). Hold this temperature for 60 minutes. Vorlauf until your runnings are clear and lauter. Sparge the grains with 3.9 gallons (14.8 L) water and top up as necessary to obtain 6 gallons (23 L) of wort. Before boiling, add and stir-in cane sugar until dissolved. Boil for 60 minutes, adding hops according to the ingredient list. After the boil, turn off heat and chill the wort to near fermentation temperature, about 65 °F (18 °C). Aerate the wort with pure oxygen or filtered air and pitch the yeast.

Ferment at 60 °F (16 °C) for seven days. Raise to 68 °F (20 °C) for seven more days. Once the beer reaches terminal gravity, bottle or keg the beer and carbonate to approximately 2.5 volumes. You may want to cold-crash the beer prior to packaging at 35 °F (2 °C) for 48 hours to improve clarity. Lager for at least six weeks, and up to six months at near-freezing (32 °F/0 °C) temperatures before serving.

Summer Cellar BdG

(5 gallons/19 L, extract with grains)
OG = 1.073 FG = 1.011
IBU = 29 SRM = 12 ABV = 8.5%

Ingredients
4 lbs. (1.8 kg) Pilsner liquid malt extract
4 lbs. (1.8 kg) Munich liquid malt extract
1.2 lbs. (0.54 kg) Caravienne® malt (20 °L)
1.2 lbs. (0.54 kg) cane (beet) sugar
1 oz. (28 g) black patent malt (500 °L)
9 AAU Fuggles hops (60 min.) (2 oz./57 g at 4.5% alpha acids)
Wyeast 2565 (Kölsch) yeast
3⁄4 cup corn sugar (if priming)

Step by Step
If you can source Weyermann Munich liquid malt extract, then split the total extract 50/50 as per the ingredients list. If Briess is the only available liquid malt extract, then use the Briess Munich liquid malt extract as 100% of the total extract.

Bring 5.6 gallons (21.2 L) of water to approximately 162 °F (72 °C) and hold there steeping the milled specialty grains in grain bags for 15 minutes. Remove the grain bags, and let drain fully. Add liquid extract while stirring, and stir until completely dissolved. Before boiling, add and stir-in cane sugar until dissolved. Boil for 60 minutes, adding hops according to the ingredient list. After the boil, chill the wort to near fermentation temperature, about 65 °F (18 °C). Aerate the wort with pure oxygen or filtered air and pitch the yeast. Follow the remainder of the all-grain recipe.

Tips for Success:
The right fermentation temperature and the right yeast strain are essential here. A warm fermentation runs the risk of making a “hot” beer, which this is most definitely not, despite the relatively high ABV! Cooler-fermenting but well-attenuating strains (I recommend the Kolsch, but several Scottish strains or the German Ale strain work well, too) will allow a complete fermentation with minimal hot alcohols and put an upper-limit on the esters produced, letting the malts really shine through. Wyeast 3725 (Bière de Garde) and White Labs WLP072 (French Ale) are limited edition releases that are also fitting. The other key component to this beer is age: its name literally means “beer that has been stored (lagered).” Brew it, and then forget it for a while. I’ve opened (and entered in competition) bottles of this beer that are more than a year old.