Beer Recipe - Dad's Quantity Beer

So, my Dad and I recently built a kegerator for him in his expansive shop, which is also the home of my brewing equipment. We immediately loaded a keg of my dunkelweiss in it which had been kegged for about a year and a half. (It was originally bottled, but was poured into a keg and force-carbonated due to some carbonation issues I encountered).

Since this beer was so strong at over 8% ABV, it was safe to age for some time, but I had some misgivings about it before we connected it. I was wrong to doubt, though, as it seems to have become a very mellow, smooth, and malty treat over time. My dad, who is an avid fan of Aventinus, obviously loves this style of beer, and he enjoys that he has this version on tap. He calls it his “Quantity Beer.”

Since his kegerator has two taps, and this 8% monster is in one of them, Dad has commissioned the creation of another beer for the other tap. Knowing what I do about my Dad’s taste in beer, I was to design a beer which I felt he would be able to drink, and which would not be at a ridiculous level of ABV. In Dad’s words, he needed a “Quantity Beer.” Drinkability would be the key word for this design.

In 2007, I travelled to Europe with my parents. Ostensibly, the trip was to visit my brother and his wife while they lived in Brussels. In reality, the trip was beer tourism at its finest. We traveled in and around Brussels for several days before making a pilgrimage through Bavaria culminating in a day and a half in Munich during Oktoberfest. Along the way, my brother and I opened our parents’ minds about beer a little further and had a great time doing it. It was on this trip, actually, that Dad first discovered Aventinus.

Keeping this in mind, I decided to brew something along the lines of a Marzen or Oktoberfest beer, but without the added time and trouble of lagering. I used a hefty amount of Munich and Vienna malt along with some Pilsner malt, and hopped relatively lightly considering my usual habits. Instead of pitching lager yeast and trying to actually lager the beer (I don’t have a good way to keep the temperature low enough long enough to lager), I decided to pitch clean ale yeast and see how it goes. I settled on Fermentis US-05 dry ale yeast because of its clean profile.





I brewed a ten gallon batch, and split it into two fermenters. It made a beer which is very light in color and seemed to be extremely clear prior to fermentation. It will hopefully remain very clear in the keg.

In hindsight, I wish I would have pitched the US-05 in one fermenter and kolsch yeast in the second so Dad could decide which he preferred after they were kegged. Maybe next time, I will.

The original prediction was for a 4.5% ABV beer, but my brewhouse efficiency was a little higher than expected, resulting in what looks like a 5.1% beer (I haven’t taken actual final gravity readings. That will be done Sunday).

At any rate, I’ll hopefully be kegging Dad’s Quantity Beer on Father’s Day, which is fitting. We may even tap one of them (even though the carbonation won’t be equalized yet) and see how it tastes. If you want to brew some quantity beer for yourself, here’s the recipe:

Dad’s Quantity Beer (All-Grain version)
Recipe Type – All Grain
Batch Size – 5 gallons
Volume Boiled – 6.5 gallons
Original Gravity – 1.049
Final Gravity – 1.010
Color – 6.1 L
Bitterness – 25 IBUs
ABV – 5.1%

Ingredients:
8.5 lbs Pilsner malt
6 lbs Munich Malt
2.5 lbs Vienna Malt
10 HBU East Kent Golding hops (1.69 oz @ 5.9% AA) – boiled 60 minutes
1 oz. Hallertauer hops (3.6% AA) – boiled 15 minutes
1 tsp. Irish Moss – boiled 15 minutes

Procedure:

Mash at 152 F for about an hour, or until starches are converted. Mash out at 170 F. Sparge with 170 F water to make 6.5 gallons in the brew pot. Bring to a boil and boil for 30 minutes before adding first hop addition. Boil 45 minutes more and add Irish Moss and second hop addition. Boil fifteen minutes and cool as rapidly as possible to 70 F. Rack to fermenters and pitch US-05 yeast. Ferment 14 days and keg or bottle to 2.5-2.8 volumes of CO2.

Dad’s Quantity Beer – Extract with Grains

This recipe is a little difficult to make into an extract version unless you can get your hands on some Munich or Vienna malt extract. If you can, you can substitute 5.1 lbs of light DME for the pilsner malt and 5.1 lbs of Munich or Vienna DME for the specialty malts and make a purely extract version. You could also sub any part of the Munich and Vienna with DME. Just remember to use .6 lbs of DME for every pound of grain you are substituting. It should get you pretty close.

If you can’t get your hands on Munich or Vienna DME, you can try and substitute 8.1 lbs of light DME and 2.5 lbs of Munich or Vienna (or both mixed) for the entire malt bill. It won’t be exactly the same, but will make a tasty lighter ale, anyway. If you do, steep the grains at 152 F for at least 20 minutes, then heat the water to 170 F. At 170 F, pull the specialty grains and bring the pot to a boil. From there, follow the instructions from above.

As always, let me know if you brew a batch of this and what you thought of it.