Hofbrau - Original and Dunkel

[drsmurto]

Found a 12 bottles of each of these 2 beers the morning after the case swap at my place.

Hofbrau Original

Big fan of both of them. The original is a pretty standard german lager and i have one on tap that is similar but nowhere near as clean and crisp and this. Also have a dunkel on tap and am pretty pleased with myself after tasting the commercial product. A malt driven lager. WIll be doing this one again.

Will be bottling the dunkel from the keg along with the last 6 pack to take along tonight and see what the mates think of a dark lager. WHen i had a few at a party recently they turned their noses up. They knocked back all my bottles of golden ale but the dunkel and alt were tooo much for them.

Also kegging an oktoberfest and bottling some from the keg this arvo so for a self confessed english beer fan, its a german beer night for me!

[Trough Lolly]

Save some for me....I'm on my way in the car. To hell with the petrol, it's one of my all time fav beers!

[drsmurto]

ANy idea how to brew a lager and clean as the original.

My lager on tap is 75% pils, 25% munich. Bittered with perle to 30 IBU. A plug of tettnang at 15 mins and FO. USed wyeast 2000 budvar yeast, lagered for >6 weeks.

Mine isnt as crisp. I mashed at 52/65/71/78 using boiling water to increase the temps. Normally works fine but in such a naked beer as this i clearly have an issue. The only thing i can maybe think of is i used tap water instead of rainwater (which i normally use for pilsners).

Very happy with my dunkel, it was a labour of love - double decoction. Beeewdiful.

The okky is unique. NOt quite what i was expecitng, the nelson sauvin is a touch overpowering after a few bottles. A tad undercarbed so hoping as the carb level increases the extra carbonic bite will balance it more. Still a nice beer IMO. WIll be buying a bag of vienna and munich in the next bulk buy me thinks!

[James L]

We have hoffbrau wheat and orig on tap in one of the pubs in the city... they are both great, but they are nearing 10 bucks a pint, so tastings a getting more and more scarce...

I havent tried their dunkel yet, but if its anything like the other examples you can get (weihenstephan, paulaner), i'm sure its great.

As for crisp beers... you could always mash at 62-63 instead of 65, this will mean that there is more opportunity for the beta glucanase to break down the complex chains carbs to simple sugars (which is alot more efficient than alpha amlyase which works at the higher temps), which should give you a crisper beer. I havent tried it, but i have read about it... you will have to bring the temp up to 70-72 for 15-20 before mashing out to ensure that everything is converted...

As i say, i havent tried this, but i have read alot about it...

[Trough Lolly]

ANy idea how to brew a lager and clean as the original.

My lager on tap is 75% pils, 25% munich. Bittered with perle to 30 IBU. A plug of tettnang at 15 mins and FO. USed wyeast 2000 budvar yeast, lagered for >6 weeks.

Mine isnt as crisp. I mashed at 52/65/71/78 using boiling water to increase the temps. Normally works fine but in such a naked beer as this i clearly have an issue. The only thing i can maybe think of is i used tap water instead of rainwater (which i normally use for pilsners).

Make your water hard Doc - Chalk is your friend - you need calcium to sharpen the lager. Wyeast 2000 is a nice lager yeast - I like to make a dortmunder with the fresh smack pack and then repitch an Oktoberfest on it after racking and trust me, it'll light your wick!

Cheers,
TL