Victory Brewing Company: Zeltbier clone

Victory Brewing Company: Zeltbier clone

(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.056   FG = 1.014
IBU = 21   SRM = 3   ABV = 5.7%

This crisp lager is just the thing for fall weather. It boasts a balanced malt profile with an herbal, German hop profile.

Ingredients
11 lbs. (5 kg) Pilsner malt
0.5 lb. (0.23 kg) Carapils® malt
2 AAU Hallertau Tradition hops (60 min.) (0.5 oz./14 g at 4% alpha acids)
2 AAU Hallertau Mittelfrüh hops (30 min.) (0.5 oz./14 g at 4% alpha acids)
4.5 AAU Tettnang hops (15 min.) (1 oz./28 g at 4.5% alpha acids)
Wyeast 2124 (Bohemian Lager) or White Labs WLP830 (German Lager) yeast
2⁄3 cup (133 g) dextrose (if priming)

Step by Step
This recipe calls for a decoction mash, which Victory does! Infuse the grains with 3.6 gallons (13.6 L) of water to stabilize the mash at 122 °F (50 °C). Then raise the mash temperature to 145 °F (63 °C) and hold for 10 minutes. Pull 1⁄3 of the mash and decoct, going through a 15-minute rest at 158 °F (70 °C) before boiling. Mix back into the main mash, hold for 20 minutes, and then raise to 168 °F (76 °C) for mash-off. Vorlauf until your runnings are clear. Sparge the grains with 3.6 gallons (13.6 L) and top up as necessary to obtain 6 gallons (23 L) of wort. Boil for 60 minutes, adding hops according to the ingredient list and Irish moss as desired. After the boil, chill the wort to slightly below fermentation temperature, about 48 °F (9 °C). Aerate the wort with pure oxygen or filtered air and pitch yeast. Ferment at 50 °F (10 °C) until gravity reaches about 1.025, then increase temperature to 54 °F (12 °C) and hold for two days. Once the beer completes fermentation, reduce temperature to 32 °F (0 °C) over the course of one week, and hold there for at least six weeks. After cold conditioning, bottle or keg the beer and carbonate to approximately 2.25 volumes.

Extract with grains option:
Substitute the Pilsner malt in the all-grain recipe with 7.5 lbs. (3.4 kg) Pilsner liquid malt extract. Bring 5.4 gallons (20.4 L) of water to approximately 165 °F (74 °C) and hold there, steeping the specialty malt in a grain bag for 15 minutes. Remove the grain bag, and let drain fully. Add liquid extract while stirring. Bring the wort to a boil. Follow the remaining portion of the all-grain recipe

Tips for Success:
Victory Co-Founder Ron Barchet recommends, above and beyond anything else, getting your hands on the best possible ingredients, and to look a little deeper into the composition of those ingredients than you ordinarily would. For example, if you can get German Pils malt that uses Steffi or Barke barley varieties, you will notice a particularly characterful maltiness. He also notes that it is a good idea for homebrewers to rack the beer off of its yeast cake before cold conditioning to minimize the risk of yeast autolysis and any loss of foam quality. Finally, be sure to pour vigorously (preferably into a proper Isar Krug mug!) to release all of the wonderful aromatics in this beer.