Munich Dunkel - Take III

This is my third attempt at the Munich Dunkel Style (read about the first and second).  This is one of my favorite styles of beer - I really love the bready malt character in these as well as the great drinkability.  

Like with my last 2 attempts I will be executing a decoction step mash for this beer.  With this procedure you pull grain from the mash, boil it, and then add it back to the main mash.  This provides a controlled way to raise the temperature of the mash through the conversion range.  Additionally the boil is thought to create some of the color and malty flavor elements in the beer.  This could probably be achieved with specialty malts but the process is kind of fun and it worked well last time so I'll do it again.

Like with my last beer I'll be using only Munich Malt.  I'm going to make 10.5 gal this time to fill 2 kegs with beer (the second 5 gal will have an extended lager time while I drink the first so it will be interesting to see if that changes the character at all).  The last beer came in at over 6% ABV as my efficiency was better than expected and it attenuated a higher percentage than I'd hoped.  I intend to bring this beer in at 5% ABV.

I'll be using low AA Tettnanger hops like last time and will try to bitter to about 22 IBU.  This style is balanced towards the malt so the hops are largely in the background offering just a slight bit of bitterness to offset any sweetness.

I'll be using Wyeast's Munich Later strain (my first attempt with it).  This will be started at 50 F.  It supposed to be supportive of malt forward beer.  I look forward to reporting on the results.

Recipe Details:

• Grain:
• 20 lbs Munich
• 4 oz Acid Malt
• Hops:
• 3 oz Tettnanger (Pellet, 3.9% AA) at 60 min
• Yeast:
• Wyeast 2308 Munich Lager Yeast
• Water:
• 16 gal spring water
• 2 tsp CaCl
• 1 tsp Irish Moss at 15 min

Process Details:

• Batch Size:
• 12 (Target 10.5 gal)
• Mash:
• Triple Decoction:
• See Brewing Notes
• Boil:
• 60 min
• Fermentation Temperature:
• 50 F for primary
• 65 F for Diacetyl Cleanup
• 35 F for Lagering
•  Primary Duration:
• 4 weeks
• Secondary Duration:
• 4 weeks (second fermenter will get as much time as it takes to kill the first keg)

Results:

• OG:
• 1.052 (Target 1.050)
• Efficiency:
• 85% (Target 71%)
• FG:
• 1.017 (Target 1.012)
• Apparent Attenuation:
• 66% (Target 75%)
• ABV:
• 4.6% (Target 5%)

Brewing Notes:

• 12/30/22 - Prepared a yeast starter and set this up on a stir plate to propagate over night
• 12/31/22 - Brew Day - 11:00 AM to 4:30 PM - Including setup and cleanup
• Brought 13 gal of spring water to 160 F
• Milled the grain and added CaCl to it so I would forget
• Moved 7 gal of strike water to the mash tun.  Added the grain.  Stirred well to eliminate dough balls.  Let this sit for 15 min.  Temperature settled at 146 F
• Moved 14 quarts of the mash (getting mostly grain and leaving behind most of the liquid) to a separate pot for the first decoction.  Heated this up to the high 150s and let it sit for 15 min.  Then brought this to a boil for 10 min
• Added the first decoction back to the main mash.  The temperature had fallen to 143 F.  This raised it up to 153 F.  Let this sit for 15 min
• Moved 10 quarts of the mash to a separate pot for the second decoction.  Boiled this for 10 min.
• Added the second decoction back to the main mash.  The temperature was still 153 F.  This raised it up to 156 F.  Let this sit for 15 more minutes.
• Heated 8 gal of sparge water to 180 F
• Moved 10 quarts of the mash to the separate pot for the third decoction.  Boiled this for 10 min
• Added the third decoction back to the main mash.  The temperature had fallen to 153 F .    Let this sit a final 10 min.  The mash fell to 151 F over this period.
• Fly sparged until 12.5 gal of wort were collected.  Started heating the wort after 4 gal were collected and had it at a boil shortly after sparging was complete
• Added the hops shortly after the hot break cleared
• Boiled for 60 min
• Added the Irish Moss at 15 min
• Added the wort chiller at 5 min to sanitize
• Chilled the beer down to 60 F
• Transferred the beer into 2 fermenters.  Let the beer fall a foot to aerate.
• Moved the fermenters into my chest freezer and chilled them down to 50 F.  Pitched the yeast onto the beer at this stage
• Collected 9.5 gal of beer.  Measured the gravity as 1.066.  This is an 85% efficiency when I only planned for 71% (highest efficiency I've ever gotten.  I'm going to top up the beers to 12 gal which should lower the gravity to about 1.052

• 2/11/23 - Time got away from me a bit.  I'm letting the beer rise up to the 60s for a diacetyl rest for a few days.
• 2/25/23 - Chilled the beer down to 35 F for lagering
• 3/25/23 - Added gelatin to help clear the beer
• 4/22/23 - Transferred the first fermenter into the keg.  Measured the gravity as 1.017
• 7/16/23 - Kicked the first keg and added the second fermenter of beer
• 7/29/23 - Tasting Notes - I really love the Munich Dunkel style.  I think this is a pretty good one.  The flavors are nice and it has a good bit of complexity.  It is also very drinkable and refreshing to have on tap here during the summer months

Mexican Pulled Pork

This is one of my favorite recipes.  It is based on a Carnitas recipe by America's Test Kitchen.  Carnitas are traditionally deep fried over a long period of time.  The America's test kitchen has a novel approach to replicating this by brazing the pork in a flavorful liquid until the fat has rendered out and the pork can be shredded, reducing the brazing liquid down to concentrate the flavors, and then crisping the meat up under the broiler with the brazing liquid used as a glaze.  

I've probably made this half a dozen times.  I've made some changes to it and the ATK recipe is hidden behind a paywall so I thought I'd document it here.

One of my favorite things about the recipe is that it is very good as a meal prepared in advance.  I freeze 1 meal portions of the meat (about 2 lbs worth).  To prepare the meal I just thaw them during the day we'll eat them and just have to perform the final, broiler crisping, step that evening.  The meat comes out as good as the day it was prepared this way.

With this in mind I've purchased a 16.5 lb pork shoulder butt to prepare several meals worth of Mexican pulled pork

Ingredients:

• 16.5 lb Pork Shoulder Butt

• 1 Bunch of Garlic - peeled and crushed
• 3 Small Onion - halved
• 2 Oranges - halved
• Juice of 3 limes
• 1 Cup Apple Cider Vinegar
• 2 7oz Cans Green Chillies
• 3 tsp Salt
• 3 tsp Oragano
• 3 tsp Cumin
• 2 tsp Black Pepper
• 1 tsp Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
• 3 Bay Leaves
• 4 Cups of Water (to cover the meat)

Process Details:

• 12/17/22:
• Cut my meat up into 2-3 inch square blocks.  Wasn't at all careful about this cutting step.  I did remove some of the biggest pockets of fat but left a lot of it in since the rendered fat is used to provide a fried character when the sauce is used as a glaze during the final broiler step

• Moved the meat to a large pot (5 gal in my case) and then added the other ingredients to it

• Pre-heated the oven to 300 F
• Brought the pot to a boil on the stove top
• Covered the pot with aluminum foil to minimize evaporation of the liquid at this step

Lid is upside down here because it wouldn't fit into the oven otherwise

• Moved the pot to the oven and ended up cooking it for 6 hours (3 hrs would probably have been enough but 6 hrs had no ill effect)
• Confirmed the mead was easily shredable with two forks and then moved it to another container while next steps were performed

• Scooped out all the other solids and threw them away

• Boiled the remaining liquid until it was reduced by about 50-75% (maybe 3/4 a gal left).  This is a step I feel could use some refinement

• Tasted the reduced brazing liquid and decided to add 2 more tsp of salt
• Put 2 lbs of meat, shredded into "bite sized" pieces, on a roasting pan lined with foil and poured 1/2 cup of the glaze over the meat

• Put the meat under the broiler, at the top slot of the oven, for a couple minutes and then flipped.  Repeated the process a couple times.
• Added another half cup of the glaze over the meat, did a bit more shredding, and then broiled for a couple more cycles until the meat had a nice crispy outside on all sides.  You have to get a feel for this as more time under the broiler makes the meat better but if you take it too far the meat will become dried out.  I'm thinking a third or fourth round of glazing could have improved the meat further.  Having a better feel for how much of the glazing liquid will be available for the leftovers is a tricky thing.

• The meat is now ready to be served.  We made taco with cilantro, red onion, avocado and lime.  The meat was very good.  Ended up with about half as leftovers which I ate over the next couple days

• Separated out the meat into 3 2 lb servings each in a freezer bag.  Saved off the remaining liquid into another gallon freezer bag.  Got a bit less than half a gal of liquid (although did spill a good amount which was heartbreaking).
• Moved the leftovers to the freezer to but eaten later

Updated Recipe - 12/26/23:

This is a large batch of pulled pork which should provide many easy week night meals for us.  I'm going for something very similar to what we made last time but am going to salt a bit more aggressively up front (am going to try adding 0.6% salt per weight of the meet.  I'm also changing up the spicing levels slightly and adding Chipotle Peppers which will give a bit of spice and the nice smokey flavor

Ingredients:

• 21.8 lbs of Pork (this is pretty close to 3 pork sholders)
• 59 g of Kosher Salt (this is 0.6% of 9888g of meat)
• 1 pork shoulder bone roasted at 425 for 45 min (completely option but used since I had it)
• 3 cups Apple Cider Vinegar
• 1.5 tbs Cumin powder
• 1.5 tbs Oragano Leaf
• 1.5 tbs Garlic Powder
• 1.5 tbs Black Pepper
• 1.5 tbs Green Chile Powder
• 3 bay leaves
• 7 oz can of Chipotle Pepper
• 3 oranges halved and juiced
• 3 onions halved
• 4 cups of unsalted beef stock which was just about enough to cover the meat

Process Details:

• Mixed the ingredients

• Heated up to a boil on the stove top
• Cooked in the oven at 250 F - let it go for about 8 hrs and it was fork tender

• Removed the meat from the pot and gave it an initial shred.  Discarded the other solids
• Reduced the sauce from maybe 1.5 gal to 8 cups on the stove top

• Prepared a 2 lb portion of the meat that night and used 2 cups of the reducing liquid for the glaze
• Prepared 7 1.5 bags of leftover meat.  Moved the meat and the 8 cups of sauce to the freezer for use later.  This will be 1 cup of the concentrated sauce per meal

Results:

• I think the salt level in this one was very good - definitely not too much and pretty much enough
• The Chipotle peppers add a nice flavor and a bit of heat but I think the recipe is just as good without them (might try something different next time)
• I was pleased with the large amount of leftover we got from this.  Cooking a 20 lb batch isn't really any more work than a 7 lb batch.  I think I'll do this again next time.  Also happy to be getting a better grip on how to manage the glazing liquid with this batch