Hi there, fair reader. Thanks for checking out this post. With homebrewing beer, like life, rewards are achieved with the simple act of getting up and trying again. When I brewed that Czech Pilsner earlier this year and wasn’t happy with the results, I knew I had to learn from my mistakes and try it again. That’s why this post isn’t just about the reward of homemade beer but of redemption, of making the best of a second chance. Watch this video about the German Pilsener that I brewed using the yeast cake of the Czech Pils and came out with a feeling of accomplishment.
The Great Taste of Redemption
I had Mike taste this beer and he said something funny like, “Sometimes your beer is as unpretentious as you are.” I think what he was getting at was that this beer tasted like how you expect beer to taste without any fancy gimmick or intense taste. If I was hearing him right, that’s a compliment.
This German Pilsener is clean, crisp, clear, and tasty. I really enjoyed this beer and was happy that it turned out the way it did. The yeast cake was the key. Having a large pitch really changed the game for me. It was so large, I have a bit of a mess on my hands on day 3 of fermentation. It was the first lager where the yeast activity was so robust that it blew the stopper right out of the carboy. Maybe a lesson is to use Fermcap more often, but I don’t want to overload everyone with lessons in this post.
The Lesson We Should All Learn
Make a yeast starter. There you go. That’s it. That’s the lesson. No, that’s not the lesson I am thinking about right now. It’s broader than that. The real lesson that I learned and hope we all can learn is that having time and taking time is necessary for making really great beer. TIhe issue I had was not about not knowing that a yeast starter would be good to make a good lager but not blocking off enough time to give myself a chance to make an excellent beer.
That’s what I want to pass along. Don’t rush it. Don’t take shortcuts. Make a plan and find the time. If your plan can’t be followed precisely, postpone and do it when you can.
Now that’s it. Hope that lesson finds you well.
Brew on!
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