"22" / "22" Jr.

"22" was born from my desire to brew something strong. When this is done in an all-grain way, it would be silly to throw away perfectly good grains that have perfectly good sugar in them, so that is how "22 Jr." came along. He was a nice German lager while he lasted. Now it is "22"'s turn to shine (or at least get bottled) after mellowing patiently for nearly three months.

"22"'s malt bill was simple:

10 lbs Munich II
10 lbs Vienna

I considered calling this one a Salzberg beer since that is directly between Munich and Vienna, but I opted with "22" since this was the 22nd beer I ever brewed.

I mashed the 20 lbs of grain in 6.5 gallons of 170 degree strike water. The mash maintained a nice 155 degree temp.

I then ran off 4 gallons of wort for "22", then ran off the remaining water plus 170 degree sparge water until my 6 gallon pot was full.

I hopped "22" this way:

.75 oz Pearle (1st wort runnings)
.75 oz Pearle (60 Minutes)
1oz Hallertaur (15 minutes) (added Irish Moss)
1oz Hallertaur (End)

I hopped "22" Jr. this way:

.5 oz Pearle (first wort runnings)
.5 oz Pearle (90 minutes)
1 oz Hallertaur (15 minutes)
1 oz Hallertaur (End)

Gravities:

"22":
O.G. = 1.094 (yeah!)
F.G. = 1.022
9.4% Alcohol by Volume

1 week in Primary
3 months in Secondary


"22" Jr.:
O.G. = 1.040
F.G. = 1.012
3.6% Alcohol by Volume

1 week in primary
7 weeks in secondary
It took about two weeks to drink all the Jr. It was my first draft beer.

3.9.08 -- Bottled "22" after it spent nearly three months in the secondary. I could already tell it is going to be strong. I can't wait to see what it is like once it conditions. I am going to try to keep my hands off this one for a while, though I am sure I will have my first try in a couple of weeks.


3.23.08 -- Tasting notes from first bottle of "22": Hardy Carbonated: what a waste. It does have a lovely color, and a sweet malty taste that covers the alcohol content nicely. I think I will go shake the rest of these a little to make sure they carbonate.

4.28.08 -- Tried another tonight -- much, much better. This beer is going to age very well. It already has a very deep malt character, and the hops balance it nicely. The alcohol warmth comes through nicely. This will encourage me to brew a strong ass beer every winter.
3.1.09 -- It was snowing, so that made me want some strong lager.