Habsburg Revenge, Vienna Lager

A style that is rarely seen anymore, with the exception of a few macro breweries from Mexico. Vienna lager is a styled that changed the landscape of beer in Austria, but was ultimately surpassed by its paler cousins. Even in its home city of Vienna, it is rarely seen these days. If done right, this beer is a much more balanced beer than most Pilsner beers and provides the drinker with a burst of malt flavor that Pilsners - and American Lagers do not.

For the grain bill, we used about 80% Vienna Malt, 15 % Munich 10L, and 5% Victory Malt. This gave us a rich sweet malt flavor with a crisp bread crust and slightly nutty finish. This lager was perfect for cold weather.

Amount	Fermentable	PPG	°L	Bill %
9 lb	American - Vienna	35	4	78.3%
2 lb	American - Munich - Light 10L	33	10	17.4%
0.5 lb	American - Victory	34	28	4.3%
11.5 lb	Total

We used RO water and added brewing salts to bring our water profile as close as we could to a Vienna/Marzen style lager.

Ca+2	Mg+2	Na+	Cl-	SO4-2	HCO3-
66	11	32	56	125	83

We mashed in at 154 degrees Fahrenheit for 60 minutes. Heated up our sparge water and collected seven gallons of water for the boil.

We chose to use exclusively Saaz hops in the Vienna lager to try and give it as authentic of a feel as possible. It was also nice to make a beer with very little hop, much easier on the budget. We used 2 oz at 45 minutes, and .5 oz at 15 minutes and knockout.

Amount	Variety	Type	AA	Use	Time	IBU	Bill %
2 oz	Saaz	Pellet	2.8	Boil	45 min	19.47	66.7%
0.5 oz	Saaz	Pellet	2.8	Boil	15 min	2.63	16.7%
0.5 oz	Saaz	Pellet	2.8	Boil	1 min	0.23	16.7%

The yeast strain that we chose for this beer was Harvest (L17) from Imperial Yeast. We really like the clean profile from this yeast allowing the malt to really shine.

We fermented the Vienna lager at 53 degrees Fahrenheit for three days, then bumped the temperature to 56 degrees for another four days before bumping the temperature to 62 degrees and then 65 degrees for a diacetyl rest. We let it sit at 65 degrees for a few days before crashing and transfering into a keg for lagering. We let it sit in the keg for 24 hours under pressure before adding gelatin and allowing the beer to condition for another two weeks. 

We entered this beer into a local competition that had about 150 beers. We took first in our flight and made it to the Mini BOS scoring a 42/50 - but ultimately not winning. 

Final stats were an easy drinking 5% abv lager with about 22ibu. 

Appearance:

This beer was copper in color and clear enough to be able to read through. It poured a nice white head with a decent amount of lacing as the beer was consumed.

Aroma:

Strong and rich malt aroma with very little notes of hops. Clean and approachable.

Taste and Mouthfeel:

The malt in this beer was so clean and bright. It was rich and had a nice toasted flavor that hit you all the right ways. It had just enough hops to give the beer balance, but the malt was really the star. The beer was extremely easy to drink, being smooth, and moderately carbonated. 

Final Thoughts:

This was one of easiest drinking, and in theory simpler beers to make that we have done. It was a step away from what we usually do. This will be one that is going to be on tap regularly from here on out.