Thursday, January 30, 2014

Flathouse Saison

One of the many advantages of spending 18 hours brewing is that you're bound to have some wort left over. I realized when I overstuffed my mash tun on my Heady Topper clone that I'd have some strong last runnings in my mash tun. Once I collected that, I figured I'd collect the final runnings from the rest of the beers on the triple brew day and make something with it at my apartment. I had a pitch of WLP Saison II sitting around as well as some grown up dregs from The Bruery's Saison Rue, so I figured I'd make a Flathouse Saison (as opposed to a farmhouse saison) in the apartment.

The home brewery.
To make it even more special, I used the ounce and a half of hops that I yielded from my summer hop crop. One ounce of mostly dried then frozen Chinook at 60 minutes and a half ounce of Cascade at 5 minutes.

Home grown hops!
I combined the six gallons of final runnings from all of the beers and ended up with a 1.032 OG. I boiled it down to four gallons and still only saw about 1.045 gravity. Seeing how I wanted to have six gallons of moderate strength saison, I needed to add some more fermentables. In went a 1lb pack of amber DME and a 3lb liquid munich malt can, both I had sitting around. That gave me a final gravity of 1.070 for about five gallons of beer - too high. After I transferred to carboys, I added a gallon of chloramine treated tap water to each of the fermenters. According to Beersmith, this yielded a 1.055 OG on both. In went the yeast and I watched the race start.

Back to basics. This ice bath worked surprisingly well, taking about 25 minutes to 65 degrees.
I'm excited to see how it turns out. The malt will be pretty wild: traces of Pilsner, English pale ale malt, American 2-row malt, and of course Munich. Comparing the yeasts will be the most fun though. The Saison Rue yeast was finished fermenting in three days, while the WLP Saison II yeast took six days.


Early in fermentation

High krausen. The Saison Rue is on the right and is significantly lighter.

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

House Hefeweizen 1.5 tasting

Wheat beers are a big reason that I got into craft beer in the first place. When I was in college, I remember a friend of mine giving me a bottle of Hoegaarden and saying "this is my favorite beer." The translation being, "when I have a little extra money, I'll buy some of this stuff instead of a 30 rack of Natural Light." I can remember tasting it and being a little perplexed by the tart, yeasty flavor, but liking it. I remember coming home and looking around at local gas stations for the intriguing brew (then with a little bit of my parents' cash in my pocket) and, not being able to find it, settling for a six pack of Miller High Life. I tragically had no idea what a bottle shop or craft beer was at the time.

A few years later I realized that my Saxon Club, a group that I've been a fraternal member for all my life, had the Bavarian variation of wheat beer on tap in the form of Paulaner Hefeweizen. I love Paulaner Hefeweizen. I quickly switched from Warsteiner to Paulaner and eventually found that it was my favorite of the European wheat beers. After discovering home brewing a few years ago, it wasn't long after that I started brewing an attempt at the perfect hefeweizen myself. Rarely will I go a month without brewing a variation of my House Hefeweizen, a recipe I've settled on after brewing a handful of variations.

It's caught on too. I've got a large following amongst my friends and family for hef. It's a great gateway beer - BMC drinkers can tolerate it at first (what else will they drink on tap amongst IIPA, stout, and ESBs), but then come to crave it - and I find total non-beer drinkers are always intrigued by it. My Mom, who never drinks beer, will always pour herself a glass of hefeweizen after mowing the lawn if it's available.

What do I want in my hef? Simple. Apparent malt character - something where I'm able to pick out the bready flavor of a decent Pilsner malt and the sweetness of wheat malt - hefeweizen yeast - banana esters and a touch of clove and bubblegum flavor - a refreshing acidity that makes it great for summer drinking or quenching my thirst, and just a touch of bitterness to balance it. I like a more aggressive banana flavor than the style guidelines call for and have brewed my hefs to accomplish that. 

Last round I throttled back my fermentation temperature to get more within style guidelines with an eye towards the National Homebrewers Conference. I also cut out my decoction mash because of brew day constraints. I still used Safbrew WB-06, which I have come to love at 78-80 degrees fermentation temp, and kept everything the same. Here are the results:

Admire the head. It didn't last long.
Appearance: golden, hazy, yeasty. Just slightly off white color head with very big bubbles. Head recedes in less than a minute.

Smell: juicy fruit with a touch of bread.

Taste: bubblegum, banana, a hint of clove. It's got a nice acidity that I don't think I tasted in earlier batches. 

Mouthfeel: full and creamy. It quickly dissipates making me want to take another sip.

Overall: Solid iteration of hef. The more balanced approach allows the malt flavor to come out more than my more aggressive fermentations did. No discernible mouthfeel difference from my decoction hefs. The head retention is disappointing. I need to tweak the recipe because clearly the decoction does help with head retention. 

Next time? More carapils or maybe a bit of Munich to help with head retention. But I'm enjoying the balance and the fact that I can taste malt. I'm happy with the flavor and can confidently skip the decoction mash, unless I have the time on the brew day. Set the fermenter for 73-74-75. The new name of the game is assertive, but balanced banana yeast ester.

A minute and a sip later.

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Adventures in production home brewing part 2

Last week I filtered the session pale ale. Man. "The kit" from The Filter Store worked beyond my expectations. I'm ecstatic that I don't have to deal with paper filters ever again.

If you remember, I brewed the beer, fermented it for 5 days, pitched polyclar finings into it, and crashed it at 38 degrees for two days. Since I ferment in sanke kegs, I installed the sanitized spear in the sanke, applied 5 psi of pressure, then ran the cloudy beer through the filter. The picture below gives you an idea of what the .5 micron filter accomplished. For what it's worth, the finished beer was a bit clearer than the hydrometer jar would let on, as the test draw was still pulling sediment that from the bottom of the keg that ended up clearing out about a half gallon into the transfer.


As I was hoping, I was able to get the entire 10 gallons through the filter without it jamming up. With my paper filters, I was able to get about 6 gallons through one pair of filters.

Pushing from the sanke fermenter, through the filter, and into a sanitized corny keg at 5 psi
The filter during use
Just before backflushing. Look at all the yeast at the bottom.
Backflushing...the filter came back out clear with only 2 visible patches of yeast/residue
Filtered, force carbonated, then bottled. This was about 4 hours later once I was home.
I carbonated the beer by applying 30psi of pressure and shaking the keg for three minutes. Although it was "pouring" perfect drafts, I'm a little worried at how the carbonation level will be once it is in the bottles. It's really hard to tell what the actual carbonation level will turn out to be once it's pushed from the keg through the Blichmann beer gun and into a bottle. I've had best results getting the beer and bottles as cold as possible and pushing the beer as close to 10psi as possible, then capping on foam.

Once again, this is far from how I want to brew every beer, but it was a great exercise in process and equipment. I'm confident in this new filter to use on any batch that I want commercial beer clarity on and can't afford the time to allow the beer to clear via gravity.

How did the beer taste? I saved a bottle, so I will do an in-depth review later. It was tasty though. I did a side by side with the flat beers - pre-filtering and post-filtering - and did not notice a perceptible difference in aroma. This beer was not dry hopped though. More volatile dry hop aroma and flavor is where I would be most worried that I'd lose out. The flavor was much cleaner than the pre-filtered sample, as would be expected.

The plan worked: a tasty beer that accomplished what I needed it to, brewed, fermented, fined, filtered, carbonated, and bottled in 7 days.

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Adventures in production home brewing

I over promised beer. Again. It happens. This time it isn't a constraint of quantity or capacity, but rather time.

It was on Wednesday of last week that I realized I had a situation on my hands. I committed to brewing some beer for a event later this month. Unfortunately, I didn't take into account that I'd be out of the country for a week, pretty much blowing a giant hole into the conditioning, racking, and packaging period for the planned beer - a pale ale. I'd need to get the beer brewed, fermented, carbonated and packaged within 7 days.

I brewed on a Friday night and adjusted the recipe to account for the complete lack of conditioning time. Out of necessity this would be a very sessionable pale ale at 1.042 OG. In addition to 2-row, I used some extra grain that I had laying around: the last of a bag of C40, some Victory malt, and a pound of Carapils. For the hop bill, I rummaged through my freezer for hops with distinctive tropical flavor that might open the minds of the typical "that's too bitter" crowd. And I dosed my water with my go to pale, hoppy beer treatment for Warren, OH water: more gypsum than calcium chloride and a ml or two of lactic acid.

Since I wouldn't be able to dry hop it, I dumped a ton of hops into the knockout addition and used a 30 minute whirlpool steep at 180 degrees to get fresh flavor and aroma in the beer.

The result was surprisingly good. I sampled the beer on 1/14/2014 hoping that it would be fermented out completely after four days. The taste did not disappoint: it was dripping with grapefruit and tropical flavor from the Galaxy and Apollo whirlpool steep. But, it was still 10 points above the target FG. I let it sit for one more day then pitched 10g of Polyclar VT and loaded it up in the cooler where it would crash cool and prepare for conditioning. I've never used Polyclar before, but figured this was a perfect time to give it a shot. It would be fine for vegetarians, has a larger particle size to facilitate quick flocculation, and would be filtered out of the final product. The product specs say to allow 3-10 days for it to work. I've got 2.5. Given that I see gelatin work in 2 days, I don't see why the PVPP won't make a difference in that time frame.

For filtering, I recently picked up a beer filter kit from www.filterstore.com. I like the idea of a reusable cartridge filter rather than paper plate filters, which I haven't had good results with. That being said, I am a little worried that the .5 micron filter will strip out the delicate hop character that I achieved with late addition hops.We will see.

After 2.5 days of cold crashing, I plan on filtering this beer, force carbonating it, then bottling it. In one night. I don't know what to expect, but I've got a plan and frankly, not a lot of other options.

While I wish the process could have been less rushed with this beer, there's something exciting about being pressured to produce a quality product under the gun. I'm confident the beer will be good. At the same time, I'd be lying if I didn't say it the whole thing wasn't a carefully executed experiment of necessity.

Space monkey. Ready to sacrifice himself for the greater good.
We'll see how this guy works.

Recipe: Late Night Session Pale Ale
Brewer: Adam Keck
Date: 1/10/2014
Style: American Pale Ale
TYPE: All Grain

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Estimated OG: 1.043 SG
Estimated Color: 5.9 SRM
Estimated IBU: 39.6 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 80.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 81.8 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt                   Name                                     Type          #        %/IBU         
10.00 g               Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash 60.0 mins Water Agent   1        -             
5.00 g                Calcium Chloride (Mash 60.0 mins)        Water Agent   2        -             
14 lbs                Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)           Grain         3        84.8 %        
1 lbs                 Caramel Malt - 40L (Briess) (40.0 SRM)   Grain         4        6.1 %         
1 lbs                 Carapils (Briess) (1.5 SRM)              Grain         5        6.1 %         
8.0 oz                Victory Malt (biscuit) (Briess) (28.0 SR Grain         6        3.0 %         
1.00 oz               Bravo [15.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min          Hop           7        33.9 IBUs     
0.55 tsp              Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 mins)              Fining        8        -             
1.00 oz               Bravo [15.50 %] - Boil 5.0 min           Hop           9        5.7 IBUs      
2.00 oz               Apollo [17.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool  -30. Hop           10       0.0 IBUs      
2.00 oz               Galaxy [14.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool  -30. Hop           11       0.0 IBUs      
1.50 oz               Centennial [10.00 %] - Boil 0.0 min      Hop           12       0.0 IBUs      
2.0 pkg               Safale American  (DCL/Fermentis #US-05)  Yeast         13       -             


Mash Schedule: Temperature Mash, 1 Step, Medium Body
Total Grain Weight: 16 lbs 8.0 oz
----------------------------
Name              Description                             Step Temperat Step Time     
Saccharification  Add 20.62 qt of water at 161.4 F        150.0 F       60 min        
Mash Out          Heat to 168.0 F over 10 min             168.0 F       10 min        

Sparge: Fly sparge with 10.32 gal water at 168.0 F

Monday, January 6, 2014

New Year, New Beer

I'd taken about a month off from brewing over the holidays. That's not to say I wasn't busy with brewing related projects...A busy holiday brewing schedule meant I was racking beer, bottling, kegging, filtering, and sampling beer to get it packaged for holiday parties and, of course, giving out my Kexxxmas Ale as gifts. Unfortunately, I didn't get to bottle and label as much of my Christmas beer as I wanted to. There will be many friends and family who receive their Kexxxmas Ale gifts in the new year.

After the hiatus, I wanted to get back to brewing in a big way, so I put together a triple brew day and invited out a few friends. On deck was a Heady Topper clone (which ended up as an Imperial Heady Topper...yikes), House Hefeweizen 1.5, and a Munich Helles.

After 18 hours of brewing, sampling, and geeking out over home brew, I've got 30 gallons fermenting.

Brew madness

Details below:

Heady Topper Clone

I have a really solid Conan culture that I've used on a handful of beers. I made a 6L starter for this monster and more or less followed theveganbrewer's fourth and final recipe from HBT. I adjusted the recipe to fit my 15 gallon kettles and sized my batch for 12 gallons, but with increased efficiency and careful inattention to detail, I seemed to have overshot my original gravity by about 13 points. I ended up with an "Imperial Heady Topper" at 1.090. Other than that, the brew went perfectly. I finally have confidence in my whirlpool and Blichmann hop blocker combination to minimize kettle hop loss and separate the beer from the massive amount of hop pellet debris.

PB OG: 1.065 @ 13.5 gallons
OG: 1.090 @ 12 gallons

Hit with a solid 3 minutes of oxygen and pitched the decanted Conan starter.

I knew something was off with my recipe when I realized how full my mash tun was

22ml of CO2 hop extract warming up on the boil kettle

The best I've done at minimizing kettle loss and keeping that pellet junk out of my fermenter
Recipe: Heady Blunder
Brewer: Adam Keck
Style: Imperial IPA
TYPE: All Grain

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Estimated OG: 1.088 SG
Estimated Color: 6.5 SRM
Estimated IBU: 167.9 IBUs
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt                   Name                                     Type          #        %/IBU         
15.00 g               Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash 60.0 mins Water Agent   1        -             
24 lbs                Golden Promise (Simpsons) (2.0 SRM)      Grain         2        68.6 %        
6 lbs                 Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (3.0 SRM)           Grain         3        17.1 %        
2 lbs                 Caramalt (Muntons) (12.0 SRM)            Grain         4        5.7 %         
2 lbs                 White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM)               Grain         5        5.7 %         
1 lbs                 Turbinado (10.0 SRM)                     Sugar         6        2.9 %         
6.25 oz               Hop Extract [10.00 %] - Boil 90.0 min    Hop           7        113.2 IBUs    
22.00 ml              CO2 Hop Extract (Boil 90.0 mins)         Other         8        -             
2.00 oz               Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] - Boil 5.0 Hop           9        8.5 IBUs      
6.00 oz               Simcoe [13.00 %] - Boil 0.0 min          Hop           10       0.0 IBUs      
3.00 oz               Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] - Steep/Wh Hop           11       20.5 IBUs     
2.00 oz               Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Steep/Whirlpool Hop           12       8.3 IBUs      
2.00 oz               Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] - Boil 0.0 Hop           13       0.0 IBUs      
2.00 oz               Simcoe [13.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool  30.0 Hop           14       12.7 IBUs     
1.00 oz               Centennial [10.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool   Hop           15       4.9 IBUs      
1.0 pkg               Conan (Mad Fermentationist #) [35.49 ml] Yeast         16       -             
2.00 oz               Simcoe [13.00 %] - Dry Hop 8.0 Days      Hop           17       0.0 IBUs      
1.00 oz               Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Dry Hop 8.0 Day Hop           18       0.0 IBUs      
1.00 oz               Centennial [10.00 %] - Dry Hop 8.0 Days  Hop           19       0.0 IBUs      
1.00 oz               Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] - Dry Hop  Hop           20       0.0 IBUs      
0.50 oz               Apollo [17.00 %] - Dry Hop 8.0 Days      Hop           21       0.0 IBUs      
2.00 oz               Simcoe [13.00 %] - Dry Hop 4.0 Days      Hop           22       0.0 IBUs      
1.00 oz               Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Dry Hop 4.0 Day Hop           23       0.0 IBUs      
1.00 oz               Centennial [10.00 %] - Dry Hop 4.0 Days  Hop           24       0.0 IBUs      
1.00 oz               Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] - Dry Hop  Hop           25       0.0 IBUs      


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Light Body, No Mash Out
Total Grain Weight: 35 lbs
----------------------------
Name              Description                             Step Temperat Step Time     
Mash In           Add 42.50 qt of water at 163.5 F        150.0 F       75 min        

Sparge: Fly sparge with 8.95 gal water at 168.0 F
Notes:
------
20ml of hop extract

House Hefeweizen 1.5

I kept the recipe the same for this iteration of House Hef, but opted for 1lb of Melanoidin malt in lieu of a decoction. When you're brewing 30 gallons of beer in a day, or brewing commercially for that matter, an extra 1.5 hours and the logistics of decoction make it a nightmare. I'm also fermenting it in my 67 degree basement without a fermentation wrap. This should get it up to 72-73 degrees at peak fermentation, which should result in a little less banana character than I've pushed this beer previously. Although I really enjoy heavy banana flavors, the style is technically less aggressive. We'll see how it turns out compared to the last iterations of the recipe.

Speck und Zwiebel to go with our Bavarian brew

PB OG: 1.042 @ 12.5 gallons
OG: 1.05 @ 11.5 gallons

Gave it 2 minutes of oxygen and pitched 15g of rehydrated Safbrew WB-06.

Recipe: House Hefeweizen (1.5)
Brewer: Adam Keck
Asst Brewer: 
Style: Weizen/Weissbier (Wheat Beer)
TYPE: All Grain

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Estimated OG: 1.052 SG
Estimated Color: 4.7 SRM
Estimated IBU: 10.6 IBUs
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt                   Name                                     Type          #        %/IBU         
11 lbs                Wheat Malt, Ger (2.0 SRM)                Grain         1        52.4 %        
8 lbs                 Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (2.0 SRM)            Grain         2        38.1 %        
1 lbs                 Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM)             Grain         3        4.8 %         
1 lbs                 Melanoiden Malt (20.0 SRM)               Grain         4        4.8 %         
0.50 oz               Hallertauer [4.80 %] - Boil 60.0 min     Hop           5        5.3 IBUs      
1.00 oz               Hallertauer [4.80 %] - Boil 30.0 min     Hop           6        5.4 IBUs      
0.50 oz               Hallertauer [4.80 %] - Boil 0.0 min      Hop           7        0.0 IBUs      
2.0 pkg               Safbrew Wheat (DCL/Fermentis #WB-06) [50 Yeast         8        -             


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body
Total Grain Weight: 21 lbs
----------------------------
Name              Description                             Step Temperat Step Time     
Mash In           Add 28.25 qt of water at 162.8 F        152.0 F       60 min        
Mash Out          Add 14.70 qt of water at 202.9 F        168.0 F       10 min        

Sparge: Fly sparge with 4.98 gal water at 168.0 F

Munich Helles

I had some aging Oktoberfest lager yeast in my fridge. Now that my 1972 Delfield cooler is up and running, I can finally dial in temperature control to the precision that I need for both lagers and ales. Of course, on my 14th hour of brewing I had to hit a snag: I ran my pump too aggressively at first while recirculating my mash and it sucked enough grain up to clog the wet end of my pump. Everything worked fine after I disassembled/reassembled it. I cooled to 45 degrees before pitching my WLP 820 starter - 6L decanted. Lager cooling is such a breeze in the winter time. I have an external 1/8th HP pump connected to a bucket that I use to clean kegs out. Dual purposing it couldn't be simpler. I just fill it with cold water and ice/snow and set the outflow to the input on my wort chiller and recirculate the ice cold water. After I got the temperature down to ~ 65 degrees with well water, I switched over and dropped it another 20 degrees in about 15 minutes.

PB OG: 1.042 @ 12.5 gallons
OG: 1.059 @ 11 gallons

Applied 3 minutes of oxygen and pitched the decanted 3L starters of WLP 820.

So much yeast for such a delicate beer.

Transferring to the last boil of a long day.
Brewer: Adam Keck
Asst Brewer: 
Style: Munich Helles
TYPE: All Grain

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Estimated OG: 1.049 SG
Estimated Color: 3.6 SRM
Estimated IBU: 18.6 IBUs
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt                   Name                                     Type          #        %/IBU         
20 lbs                Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (2.0 SRM)            Grain         1        100.0 %       
3.00 oz               Hallertauer Hersbrucker [2.60 %] - Boil  Hop           2        17.1 IBUs     
1.00 oz               Hallertauer Hersbrucker [2.60 %] - Boil  Hop           3        1.5 IBUs      
2.0 pkg               Octoberfest/Marzen Lager (White Labs #WL Yeast         4        -             


Mash Schedule: Temperature Mash, 1 Step, Medium Body
Total Grain Weight: 20 lbs
----------------------------
Name              Description                             Step Temperat Step Time     
Saccharification  Add 25.00 qt of water at 163.7 F        152.0 F       60 min        
Mash Out          Heat to 168.0 F over 10 min             168.0 F       10 min        

Sparge: Fly sparge with 11.15 gal water at 168.0 F
Notes:
------

Update:

Heady Blunder (Heady Topper clone gone imperial)

I fermented this at 68 degrees for four days then bumped up the temperature to 71 degrees. On 1/8/2014, it recorded a ~1.030 specific gravity. The color is a very intense dark orange. Probably darker than Heady Topper. The flavor was extremely fruity with signature Heady Topper dankness. I didn't taste any of the sweetness that comes with a 1.030 gravity, as the hops covered it up entirely. The Conan "peach" flavor was there, but not pronounced.

Fiery orange.
I took the heat off of the fermenter on 1/13/2014 and will let it crash cool to 38 degrees while I am on vacation next week. I opted to let the beer sit, rather than rush to dry hop it. This will be the first time I do a two stage dry hop in earnest. I want to do it right.

House Hefeweizen 1.5

Transferred 10 gallons to kegs on 1/14 after 10 days in the primary. FG: 1.010, kegged at 30 psi. The sample was as expected: a little more reserved on the banana notes due to the cooler fermentation. It also had a different texture than I remember in the last batches. This could be a result of it not being carbonated and not representative of how the final beer will come out or it could actually be a result of skipping the decoction mash (and the protein rest that comes with it). We'll see on the final beer.

Munich Helles

Checked the gravity on 1/15 to see if it was ready for a diacetyl rest. SG: 1.020. Bumped up the temperature to 57 degrees. I'll leave it set for 2 days then I'll begin to cool the beer down to lagering temperature. This is probably the most malt focused beer I've done and even with the unfinished yeast business, the prominent taste was bready, pilsner malt. I used 100% Avangard Pilsner malt in the grist and it shows off.


Update 2:

Heady Blunder

After crashing for a week, the beer came out much clearer. I transferred with CO2 by installing a spear in my sanke fermenter. I added the first round of dry hops on 1/27, the second round on 1/30, then put the corneys in the fridge for crashing on 2/2. I've been dry hopping in the keg with nylon socks. Looking forward to tasting what the 2-stage dry hop will do for this beer. Later this week, I'll pull samples of the beer till it is clear then transfer to clean kegs for serving. 

One week @ 38 degrees cleared the beer out really nicely, even without finings

Munich Helles

I was thinking about filtering this beer into serving kegs, but then I drew a sample and saw how crystal clear it was after two weeks of lagering. I tasted it for any diacetyl or off flavors before deciding whether I'd lager it longer or package it for serving. There were no off flavors. It tastes delightful. I transferred it into two corney kegs then set the kegs on 10 psi of gas. I intend to serve one keg within the week and bottle a few of them and the other I'll allow to lager longer to see if there is a noticeable flavor improvement.

I'm a little thrown off by the FG: 1.020. I suppose I could have allowed it more time to ferment, but I really thought that the diacetyl rest at 58 degrees for two days would have finished it out. It didn't move a single point of gravity. The attenuation for WLP820 lager is 65-73% and from 1.059 to 1.020, I hit the low end of the scale at 66% apparent attenuation. Next time, I'll pitch a larger starter (easier now that I've salvaged the yeast) and I'll allow it a full 2.5 weeks to ferment.

The sample was excellent though, and I didn't sense any extra sweetness.

Crystal clear.