I like to use different resources whenever I’m looking for beer recipes. This recipe is from Brew Your Own magazine and was orginally published in November 2000.
| Bitburger Pils Clone |
| by Scott Russell |
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| Ahh, Bitburger. It’s a long-time favorite of U.S. servicemen stationed in Germany. This beer is made in the town of Bitburg in the Eifel Lake region of Germany’s Rhineland. Bright gold in color, with a flashy carbonation and lasting pearly-white head, “Bit” is a classic northern German and Scandinavian style pilsner. All-malt Bitburger uses a proprietary yeast strain that gives the beer a super-clean finish.
I also had difficulty getting information from the brewery. They would only tell me that they use deep well water, their own yeast, summer barley, Hallertau and local hops. We can guess at Bitburger’s recipe and brewing process. Some German pilsners use a decoction mash procedure. I include a simple step-mash procedure for all-grain brewers who aren’t ready to tackle decoction mashing. For those who are, see “Starter Guide to Decoction Mashing” (BYO, October 1997) or “New Brewing Lager Beer” by Greg Noonan (Brewers’ Publications, 1996) for the best general explanation of this procedure.
Fermentation takes place at cold temperatures (45° to 50° F). The beer is then lagered at near-freezing temperatures (33° to 35° F) for three months or so.
Bitburger Premium
(5 gallons, extract and steeping grains)
OG = 1.045 FG = 1.008 IBU = 38
Ingredients
1 lb. carapils malt
6 lbs. Muntons extra-light malt extract syrup
6 AAU Perle hops (0.75 oz. at 8% alpha acid)
6 AAU Hallertau hops (1.5 oz. at 4% alpha acid)
German lager or pilsner yeast (Wyeast 2007 or White Labs WLP830)
7/8 cup corn sugar for priming
Step by Step
Steep the carapils (cracked) in a grain bag in 3 gallons of water at 150° F for 45 minutes. Remove grains, add malt extract and stir well. Bring to a boil, add Perle hops, boil 45 minutes. Add 4 AAU Hallertau hops, boil 40 minutes. Add remaining 2 AAU Hallertau, boil 5 minutes. Remove from heat, remove hops.
Cool and top up to 5.25 gallons with pre-boiled, chilled water. At 68° F, pitch yeast. Ferment at 68° F for two days, or until bubbling is sustained. Move fermenter to cooler location, near 50° F, and continue primary fermentation for seven days. Rack to secondary and lager at 35° to 38° F, for six weeks. Warm up to room temperature for a day, prime with corn sugar and bottle. Bottle condition warm for two days, then lager in bottles at 38° to 40° F for four to six weeks.
All-grain option
Crack 1 lb. carapils and 7 lbs. lager malt. Heat 8 quarts water to 136° F, mix in grains and hold at 127° F for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, heat 5 more quarts to 165° F, add after the 30 minutes are up and hold mash at 150° F for 60 minutes longer.
Sparge with 16 quarts at 168° F and proceed from boiling, timing your boil to reduce volume to 5.25 gallons (add more water to the kettle during the boil, if necessary).
Partial-mash option
Mash 1 lb. carapils and 3.5 lbs. lager malt in 6 quarts at 127° F (heat to 136° F) for 30 minutes. Raise temperature to 150° F by adding 3 quarts at 165° F, hold 60 minutes. Sparge with 12 quarts at 168° F. Add 3 lbs. malt extract, proceed as above from boiling. |
Technorati Tags: Beer, Recipes, Lager
April 21st, 2008 | Posted in Beer Recipes | No Comments
Making your first wine can either be a pleasure or a chore. Here are 4 tips to make your first winemaking experience a pleasure.
Use Juice - forget about crushing grapes or any other fruit, buy juice instead. Frozen Welch’s works great because it has no preservatives.
Start Small - Don’t decide to make a large batch of wine at one time. Instead work at making a gallon or two. Small batches are easy to make and clean up. Besides, making a lot of 1 gallon batches gets you more experience instead of 1 large batch.
Use Kitchenware - Instead of going out and buying tons of new equipment, use kitchenware instead. A new trash can makes a great fermenter. Just make sure it’s new, clean and sanitized. Plastic spoons, measuring cups, and measuring spoons can be easily found in most kitchens and will keep your expenses down.
Have Patience - It takes about 4 months before you can even think about drinking your wine. So kick back and wait. Most new wine after a month will taste pretty raw and nasty, so don’t rush it.
There 4 tips on making your first winemaking experience a pleasure instead of a chore.
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Technorati Tags: Wine, Winemaking
April 16th, 2008 | Posted in Wine | No Comments
I must admit, I do like a good Belguim-styled beer, but I have never brewed one. This recipe looked rather easy, so I’m posting it. This recipe and others can be found at Belguimstyle.com
OLD TUDOR WITBIER
I have heard that it does not matter whether or not your wheat is malted. When in doubt I stick to traditional methods. The unmalted wheat (”soft” winter wheat) can be found in a health food store.
GRAIN BILL
5 lbs. Belgian Pilsner
4 lbs. Unmalted Wheat
1 lb. Honey Malt
1 lb. Wheat Malt
8 oz. Rolled Oats HOP SCHEDULE
2.1 AAU Hallertauer for 30 minutes
2.9 AAU Saaz for 10 minutes
AAU: 5 ADJUNCTS
3/4 oz. Bitter Orange Peel (5 minutes)
3/4 oz. Corriander (knock out)
1/4 oz. Corriander (secondary)
YEAST
Brewtek Belgian Wheat
BREWING SPECIFICS
Combine 1 lb. of Pils malt, malted and raw wheat with 1 1/4 gallons of water in a 5 gallon pot (mini mash). Heat mini mash to 95 degrees and hold for 15 minutes. Raise to 125 and hold for 30 minutes. Raise to 155 and hold for 1 hour.
5 minutes from the end of the mini mash conversion, mash-in main grist with 3 1/2 gallons of water to achieve 125 degree protein rest.
Boil mini mash for 10 minutes and add to main mash, aiming to bring masher to 155 degrees. Hold for one hour. Raise to 165, hold for 5 minutes and sparge with 3 3/4 gallons.
Recommended boiling time: 45 minutes
SG:1.048
Technorati Tags: Ale, Beer, Recipes
April 15th, 2008 | Posted in Beer Recipes | No Comments
- 1 tbsp coriander seeds, crushed
- 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
- 2-3 dried chilis
- 4 cups shredded cabbage
- 1 cup diced carrots
- 1/3 cup chopped tomato
- 1/4 tsp tumeric
- 1 green chili, chopped
Pam or dry fry coriander, cumin seeds, and whole chilis, Stir for a min over medium heat, or until chilis darken. Add carrots, cabbage, tomatoes, then tumeric, green chilies,. Stir to mix thoroughly. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer 15-20 minutes. Veggies should be a little crunchy, but if you like softer, cook ‘em a little longer.
Technorati Tags: Indian, Recipes, Vegetarian
April 14th, 2008 | Posted in Vegetarian, Indian Recipes | No Comments
