It descended from my Mexican style Vienna I brewed for my father-in-law’s birthday and has shifted more and more Continental, hence the transition from a Spanish name to a German one. This recipe is my “all-in” Vienna malt version and is one of my simplest recipes. Try to find something in the 3-4 L range and I think you will be very pleased with the character! Geburtstagsparty I am personally a fan of Weyermann Vienna, which is right in the “Vienna sweet spot” for me: not too light, not overly toasty. The color greatly affects the toasty character and high Lovibond malts like Gambrinus’ are practically Munich territory. Vienna malts can vary anywhere between 2.5 L on the low end anywhere up to 7 L on the high end (looking at you, Gambrinus). One important note on Vienna malt: understand which Vienna malt you are using. Add a clean, low-sulfur lager yeast and enough bitterness to balance the malt and baby, you got a stew going! All you really need is just enough of your favorite roasted malt to get the color right (and you sure do not need much) and you can just let Vienna malt do its thing. ![]() So, what is a Vienna Lager? To call it the Vienna malt equivalent of a Pilsner sells it a little short, but also is not entirely inaccurate: Vienna Lager is a showcase for Vienna malt, plain and simple. I find with higher percentage of high-lovibond base malts (Vienna, Munch) add a non-trivial amount of not-caramel, not-ester pseudo-fruitiness that is plenty enough character to satisfy your C-tooth. ![]() C-malts – Just say “no!” Vienna does not need or require any caramel character and Crystal/Cara malts will make it overly sweet.Munich malt – Vienna malt is already plenty toasty and melanoidin rich, adding Munich malt will only make it over-rich and push you into Dunkel or Märzen territory.That said, in my opinion these are malts that should never be in a Vienna lager: If you are concerned with being over-rich just blend in some Pilsner malt. Simplicity is key and Vienna malt will get you as far as you will let it take you. There is no need to add Pilsner, Vienna, and Munich malts in the same batch. ![]() Vienna Lager is not a showcase for every type of base malt.The finish needs to be crisp, dry, and toasty–the opposite of caramel character. Mexican lagers have descended down that rabbit hole and are a pale shadow of their former glory. Vienna Lager is not caramelly or sweet.A Vienna, while toasty and rich, does not cross into the malt-bomb territory and should be well balanced by hop character. Vienna Lager is not a “Baby Märzen.” In my opinion Märzen is over-sweet, over-rich, and lacking in hop balance.I will start start by saying what a Vienna Lager is not: Needless to say I have quite a few opinions on Vienna Lager, lots of folks try to over-complicate things or just plain miss the mark. Read on for the recipe and some thoughts on making great Vienna lagers. I can hardly even think of things I would want to tweak with this recipe besides making more of it! Well, I am convinced: I have brewed this “traditional” version a few times now and have been very pleased with how it turned out. After publishing the article I got into correspondence with Andreas over at Daft Eejit Brewing (who has a great series on Vienna Lager) who convinced me to try brewing a more “traditional” version, consisting of mostly Vienna malt and just enough roasted malt for color. The last time I wrote about Vienna Lager ( Fiesta Cumpleaños) I came at it from the angle of a Mexican interpretation of the style, which tends to be a bit darker and with a lightly sweet/caramelly character. I like to think I am doing my part to keep this style from getting dragged into the historical category. □ My enthusiasm is infectious enough that now even my Internet buddies Marshall & Ray, Dan, Brian, and a few others have all jumped aboard the Vienna-train for NHC this year. Also, if you consume as much Mexican food as I do you know there are few beers that are as appropriate as a Vienna Lager to pair with a burrito. ![]() Something about it strikes all right right chords for me: crisp, clean, full-flavored, well balanced between malt and hops, and just uncommon enough that I feel motivated to brew it consistently. If you have spent even a little time reading my blog you know I am a big fan of Vienna Lager.
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