Vienna Lager | All Grain Homebrewing | Grain to Glass

Added: 2026-05-19

[00:00:00][music] [music] >> Right.

[00:00:09]We're recording.

[00:00:11]Welcome back everyone. It's brew day.

[00:00:13]Apologies for the uh lapse in videos.

[00:00:18]Super busy with work, etc. etc. So, yeah. Here we are again. Um a bit rusty, so apologies for uh rubbish video, but you know, try and get back into the swing of it. I intend to do a few more videos in the next few months and over summer. Um I haven't stopped brewing, just haven't had time for videoing, so yeah.

[00:00:43]Um starting with this one.

[00:00:45]Vienna lager. So, quite fancy doing a sort of amber lager.

[00:00:51]Um brewed one before. I used the Greg Hughes recipe um from his uh yellow bible book. And uh yeah, it came out quite well.

[00:01:01]Um this version I'm sort of going leaning more towards the traditional recipe. By that I mean kind of mainly focused on just the Vienna malt.

[00:01:13]So, there's not really too much else going in this.

[00:01:16]I'll explain more as I go on, but there's no kind of Munich malt, there's no caramel malts or any of those kind of uh weird and wonderful malts that seem to have crept into a lot of the Vienna lager recipes.

[00:01:28]So, I think more traditionally it would have been, you know, mainly just Vienna malt.

[00:01:34]Um and that's it, and it would have been decoction mashed. Um so, you would have get some of those nice melanoidin type flavors coming from that.

[00:01:43]Um so, as this is mainly focused on Vienna malt, um I have kind of tried to get the best Vienna malt um that I can. So, I have got Well, I wanted to get the Weyermann Barke uh Vienna malt.

[00:02:01]Uh but my supplier only had a couple of kilos left. So, I've actually got half of it is the Weyermann Barke Vienna malt, and the other half of it is just the standard Vienna from uh Weyermann's. So, I've gone for a continental uh Vienna malt.

[00:02:19]Um not the cheapest, but you know, I want this I want that Vienna malt to be the star of the show here.

[00:02:27]Um so, yeah, this is a 20 L batch, and um it's going to hopefully come out about 4.9%, so around that sort of 5% mark.

[00:02:38]Uh IBU-wise, I'm probably shooting for about 23 IBUs.

[00:02:44]And yeah, it's pretty straightforward recipe, really. So, the Vienna malt is 4.4 kilos in this.

[00:02:53]Uh so, yeah, that's split. 2.2 kilos of the Barke Vienna malt, and 2.2 kilos of the normal Weyermann's uh Vienna malt.

[00:03:03]Um as I'm only doing single infusion mash here, I'm not bothering with the decoction mash. I'm adding in some melanoidin malt, probably only about 100 g. Use that sparingly if you've uh if you're going to use it. It can sort of overpower things if you go too heavy-handed on it. So, I'm only going to be using about 100 g of that. So, that's going to kind of build back into uh the flavor profile, some of those nice sort of melanoidin flavors.

[00:03:29]Um for color, uh I'm going to be using Carafa 2 from Weyermann's again. So, only 60 g.

[00:03:39]Uh that's going to bring in that nice golden amber colored um color to this beer, uh which is hopefully going to bring it up to about 21 EBC. So, not too dark. It's going to just have that sort of nice golden amber color, hopefully.

[00:03:56]And um I'm going to be adding back in 60 g as well of Cara Pils. So, in my case, it's just like um crisp dextrin malt. So, that's going to aid with the head retention and uh head forming type stuff.

[00:04:13]So, yeah. Mainly, the Vienna malt just with a couple of additions for really sort of stuff I'm missing out on by not doing a decoction mash and Carafa 2 just for a color.

[00:04:25]Hops-wise, uh what have we got? We've got I've got 100 g of Hallertau Mittelfrüh.

[00:04:32]Um so, what's this? 3.4% alpha acid. Um so, I'm probably going to need quite a bit of that. I'm doing a 60-minute boil. I'm going to need quite a bit of that at the start. Um probably around 60 g, I guess.

[00:04:46]Something around that mark. I haven't worked it out um properly yet.

[00:04:51]And then I'm going to be adding about 20 g in um for the last 10 minutes just as a bit of a sort of aroma um addition, I guess.

[00:05:01]Um yeast-wise, what we've got? Uh I'm using uh WHC Einstein. So, I've got two packets of this. So, it's a proper lager yeast. Um so, I'm going to be fin- fermenting it cool uh around about ooh Well, I'm probably going to start off about 10°.

[00:05:23]Ramp it up very gradually, half a degree maybe over the next few days.

[00:05:28]And then finish up sort of ramping it up after I don't know, a week or so, so get to about 18° and leave it there for um a few days just for a diastole um rest.

[00:05:42]So, yeah.

[00:05:44]Low and slow on the fermentation.

[00:05:49]Uh Uh water-wise, I mean, where I live in Kent, my water is very, very hard. It's not really suitable for this type of beer, so I'm using spotless water. I just um been to the filling station and filled up my uh my water carriers. So, I think I've got about 30 L of spotless water.

[00:06:11]Um I'm using the water profile from Brewfather for a Vienna lager, so I'm just doing a just adjusting it as it has suggested.

[00:06:20]Um I'll put all that stuff down in the comments or send a link to the uh recipe the Brewfather recipe at the bottom.

[00:06:30]Um and yeah, I don't know what else there is to say about it, really. So, it's a 60-minute boil.

[00:06:38]>> [snorts] >> Um yeah, and I guess it'll probably be fermenting over uh they'll be done in a couple of weeks and then I'm going to be lagering it for hm as long as I can hold out. Hopefully, probably 4 weeks, maybe.

[00:06:56]Um [snorts] and yeah, it should be lovely and toasty and rich and crisp and beautiful and all those things that Vienna lagers are. If you've never brewed a Vienna lager, then I would highly recommend it um cuz they are very nice or any kind of amber lager. So, uh good in my book. So, yeah. And then hopefully, what I'm going to be left with is a nice bit of uh yeast slurry after those 2 weeks. So, my fermenter's going to be full of lager yeast.

[00:07:28]I'm What I'm planning on doing is after I've finished uh after this brew's finished, I'm going to use that yeast slurry. So, I'm going to pitch another brew on top of it. As this is not being dry hopped or anything, um I'm going to have a pretty nice clean set of uh sludge at the bottom of my fermenter.

[00:07:51]Which I'm going to use for I'm thinking a West Coast Pilsner. So, that's what the plan is.

[00:07:57]I'm going to um So, once this is kegged up I'm going to brew up a West West Coast Pilsner. So, I've got I've already got some crisp Pilsner malt um in stock.

[00:08:08]And so, I've got a freezer full of hops. So, I haven't quite worked out the recipe, but that's the plan. So, I'm going to get twice the amount of brews out of these packets. They're not cheap these um packets of yeast these days.

[00:08:22]Um so, why not double pitch? I'm going to double down on my cleaning and sanitizing of my fermenter before I do this. So, I don't want to potentially ruin two beers by not having a perfectly clean um fermentation fermentation. There's also normal cleaning. I've got some sort of Milton sterilizing tabs. I'm going to sterilize the [ __ ] out of that fermenter.

[00:08:49]Um obviously use a no-rinse sanitizer after that. And um yeah, get this pitched. So, that is the plan. So, I'm going to get this brewed. Let's get mashed in and I'll see you in a few weeks uh for the tasting. See you then.

[00:09:04]Cheers.

[00:09:12]>> [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] >> Right, welcome back.

[00:12:08]And there she is.

[00:12:10]Vienna lager. So, this is now being in the keg for about 5 weeks.

[00:12:15]Um, yes, I have had a few pints here and there, but um try to hold off and give it a good lagering in the kegerator. So, yeah, um just coming up for 5 weeks.

[00:12:28]And I kicked it with some gelatin. It's cleared up quite nicely. Not crystal clear, but it's almost there. I'd say probably a another few weeks and uh that would have cleared up completely. But, yeah, I mean it's pretty clear. Hopefully, you can get a idea of the color of that. Um, it's a beautiful sort of copper amber color.

[00:12:49]Um, exactly what I was hoping for.

[00:12:52]Really looks the part. Nice tight foamy head on the top.

[00:12:57]Pretty well carbonated. So, hopefully, you can see that.

[00:13:01]Um yeah, in terms of looks I'm pretty happy with that, I have to say.

[00:13:07]Um what about aroma? Let's have a smell.

[00:13:12]So, there's a nice kind of floral waft of the uh Mittelfrüh hops.

[00:13:19]Um, but it's really you're getting that kind of that malt that Vienna malt coming through.

[00:13:25]Um, so it's a nice balance sort of floral hops and lovely toasty sort of malt um aroma.

[00:13:34]So, yeah, very appetizing on the nose and by sight.

[00:13:38]Let's go in for a taste.

[00:13:45]Yeah, it is really nice.

[00:13:48]It's toasty and rich, um but it's nice and crisp at the same time.

[00:13:53]Um, so yeah, it's a really nice beer.

[00:13:58]I'm glad um I went for the kind of more expensive continental Vienna malts. I think they've worked really well. Um, and it's just a nice balanced beer. It's um it's malty, um but there's a nice smooth bitterness coming from those Mittelfrüh hops, so it sort of stops it from being a malt bomb. Um, it is as I say, it's nice and balanced. Um, some nice flavor coming from the hops.

[00:14:30]Um, but it is predominantly sort of that toasty rich malt flavor um from the Vienna malt. Really happy with that.

[00:14:39]Um yeah, if I was going to re-brew it, which I almost certainly will, I would probably not change anything other than I think it's turned out about 5%, so it's a lovely drink to be having in the garden in the summer, but maybe not so many if uh it's 5%, so you know, if I was going to brew it again, maybe dial it down a touch on the ABV, but apart from that, um I wouldn't change anything in the recipe. I think Mittelfrüh hops work perfectly in it. It's absolutely beautiful.

[00:15:16]Malts are just absolutely delicious.

[00:15:19]Um, so yeah, lovely. As you can see, it's holding a nice tight head. Nice lacing on the glass.

[00:15:26]Ah, there's not much I can say really apart from it is a delicious beer. And I really like the style. So, if you haven't tried a Vienna lager before, have a go.

[00:15:37]Um if you've got temperature control like a cheapo fridge, you can pick them up off of Facebook like I got mine. I think I paid 20 quid for mine off somebody.

[00:15:48]You know, you can brew lagers all year round.

[00:15:51]Uh the only problem is course you've got to let them lager. So, you've got to kind of plan in advance and make sure you're well stocked and you're not laying into it too early. But, I don't know. I think uh this is pretty good after a couple of weeks, but it has definitely got better um up to now. So, yeah, have a go. It's great. Um it's beautiful style of beer and it makes a change from you know, those sort of hoppy pale ales that I tend to default to.

[00:16:19]And uh yeah, really enjoying this. So, it's Friday night. I'm going to finish this and probably a few more.

[00:16:27]And uh yeah, enjoy the weekend. So, cheers for now. Enjoy the weekend and hope you have a good one.