Happy New Year!

Special thanks to Charlie Papazian, Brewers Association prez, for sharing this recipe with us! Charlie created this recipe shortly after Briess introduced Cherrywood Smoked Malt in 2009. He named it after Roger Briess, late owner of Briess Malt & Ingredients Co., and the recipe appeared in the Sept/Oct 2009 issue of Zymurgy Magazine. “He was truly a friend and fan of American homebrewers from the beginning of our hobby’s foundation,” Charlie wrote. “There’s always a good reason to celebrate Roger’s enthusiasm. For now it’s with Rogerfest Cherrywood Lager.”

More than 60% of the grist is Cherrywood Smoked Malt, after Charlie read that recommended usage is limited to 60 percent of the grist. “Holy moly!” he continued. “Is that a dare or isn’t it? There it was, confronting my homebrew sensibilities, saying to me, ‘I dare you to use more than 60 percent!’ So I did.”

This beer is designed with sweetness, body and floral-honey-like hop aroma and Charlie says it was a “grand slam!”. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do. For a printer-friendly full page version or 3×5 recipe card, visit the Briess recipe database. Cheers!

Rogerfest Cherrywood Lager

  • Type: Lager
  • Style: Smoked
  • Batch Size: 5 gallons
  • Recipe Type: All Grain
  • Recipe Contributed By: Charlie Papazian, president, Brewers Association. Recipe featured in Sept/Oct 2009 issue of Zymurgy Magazine and will appear in Charlie’s new forthcoming book, Homebrewers Companion, 2nd Edition (2014).

Ingredients

  • 6.5 lbs Briess Cherrywood Smoked Malt
  • 2.0 lbs Briess Munich Malt 10L
  • 12 oz Briess Aromatic Malt
  • 4 oz Sour Malt
  • 8 oz Briess Caramel Munich Malt
  • 0.75 oz Mt. Hood hops (5% AA) – 60 minutes
  • 1 oz German Hallertauer hops (4.3% AA) – 20 minutes
  • 0.5 oz French Strisselspalt hop pellets – 1 minute steep
  • 0.5 oz Mt. Hood hop pellets – 1 minute
  • 0.25 oz Crystal hop pellets – dry hop
  • 0.25 oz French Strisselspalt  hop pellets – dry hop
  • 0.25 tsp Powdered Irish Moss
  • Cry Havoc lager yeast
  • 0.75 cup corn sugar for priming bottles OR
  • 0.33 cup Corn Sugar for kegging

Procedures

  1. A step infusion mash is employed to mash the grains. Add 11 quarts of 140ºF water to the crushed grain, stir, stabilize and hold the temperature at 132ºF for 30 minutes. Add 5.5 quarts of boiling water, bring temperature up to 155ºF and hold for about 30 minutes. Raise temperature to 167ºF, lauter and sparge with 3.5 gallons of water. Collect about 6 gallons of runoff. Add 60-minute hops and bring to a full and vigorous boil.
  2. The total boil time will be 60 minutes. When 20 minutes remain, add the 20-minute hops. When 10 minutes remain, add the Irish Moss. When 1 minute remains, add the 1-minute hops. After a total wort boil of 60 minutes, off the heat and place the pot (with cover on) in a running cold-water bath for 30 minutes. Continue to chill in the immersion or use other methods to chill your wort. Strain the wort into a sanitized fermenter. Bring the total volume to 5.5 gallons with additional cold water if necessary. Aerate the wort very well.
  3. Pitch the yeast when wort temperature is about 70ºF. Once visible signs of fermentation are evident, ferment at about 55ºF for about one week or when fermentation shows signs of calm and stopping. Rack from your primary to a secondary and add the hop pellets for dry hopping. If you have the capability, “lager” the beer at temperatures between 35-45ºF for 3-6 weeks. Prime with sugar and bottle or keg when complete

Fermentation

  • Primary Fermentation: 55ºF for one week
  • Secondary Fermentation: 35-45ºF for 3-6 weeks
  • Prime with sugar and bottle or keg when complete

Stats

  • Original Gravity: 1.056
  • Final Gravity: 1.018
  • Alcohol by Volume: 5.0%
  • IBU: About 24
  • Color: Approximately 15 SRM