12/25

Mash @ 151 (160 strike)
Sparge @ 172 (165 by end) (183 sparge)
5.5 gal 1.6 og

1/1 Raised temp to 68 and held til eod 1/12

1/12 FG 1.012 Begin cold crash

1/28 kegged 5 gallons and carbed in chest freezer at 34f 11PSI

Grist. We scale this grist bill in this proportion to hit a starting gravity of 25° Plato after boil, and boil aggressively to ensure rich caramelisation.

58.9% Pilsner zero (Viking)
17% Munich (light) (Viking)
8.5% Carafa type 2 special (Weyermann)
4.2% Special B (Dingemans)
4.2% Chocolate malt dark (Viking)
4.2% Cara 300 (Viking)
2.8% Cara pale (Viking)
A further 15% of the fermentables will come from a dark sugar added at the start of the boil.

We mash for approximately 60 minutes at 62°C, then rise to 72°C for 15 minutes, before finally mashing out at 78°C and starting the latter.

We would look to start the boil at approximately 24°, with a pH of 5.1

Over the 60 minute boil we bitter to approximately 60—70 IBU with Magnum, and add 0.64g/L of Northern Brewer at the end of the boil

We ferment Öö at cool temps of around 18°C with WLP090, San Diego Super yeast, which we use as our house strain. We expect this to finish at approximately 7° Plato

Following the main fermentation, we’ll crash this to –1°c and hold it there until it’s tasty, removing the yeast. It’s not uncommon for this to sit for several weeks at cold temperatures lagering!

Additional notes:

We use Viking malt from Finland for the majority of our base malts and they have a very British style.

US-05 is an adequate substitute for WLP090, and may be preferable if you cannot create a healthy yeast starter

We’re using protafloc and yeast nutrients, these can be added as appropriate during the boil