M84 - Bohemian Lager Yeast

Well, my first pilsner (circa 2 years ago) was a bomb.
Full of Diacetyl, hazy and I struggled to drink it. but it got drunk at my birthday, and funnily enough was the first keg to kick.....

Anyway, with a long weekend coming up, and some time away organised, I figured it would be a good time, to brew another pilsner.
A Nice simple recipe, as I've been trying to simplify my recipes a bit more recently.
A Base of Pilsner and no specialties. NZ Hops at F/O and dryhop.

I figured it might be time to review another MJ yeast. M84 Bohemian Lager.
3 Packs in 1.050 wort. rehydrated and added.

the idea was to brew something Pivo pils like (READ: Firestone Walker), but without access to hops like spalt or Saphir in this copuntry, I made the decision to turn it into something more "Kiwi"

so, here it is:

EMPTY SHELL PILSNER

Batch Size: 21 Litres

Estimated OG: 1.052

IBU: 35

EBC: 6.4EBC

Efficiency: 74%

Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Grain:
     3.2kg Pilsner
     0.2kg Acidulated

     

Hops:

     60min - 17g Pacific Jade

     00min - 30g Wakatu

     00min - 25g Wai-iti

Dryhop:  30g Each of Wakatu / Wai-iti

Yeast: 
     M84 Bohemian Lager (3 Packs R-hydrated in 200ml Water)

Mash Schedule: Single Infusion Mash 66 Deg C
Mash out 76 Deg C

Brewing Notes: 

29 October 2016: Brewed aiming for 1.052, 22 litres of wort at 1.050 got. 10 min hop steep at flameout.

4 November 2016: FG Reading 1.038 - ramped temp as per brulosophy fast lager method.

Temp raised by Deg C every 12 hours until 20 degrees is reached.

8 November 2016: 20 degrees reached, and held for 7 Days - Dryhopped 3 days prior to cold crash.

15 November 2016: set for lagering/cold crash for 2 days

17 November 2016: Kegged with gelatin, and force carbonated

Left for 2 weeks in keg prior to tasting (Giving it a bit more time to "Lager")

Notes - 

     Appearance: Crystal clear - typical Pilsner coliurs. not alot of head to speak of.

     Aroma: Crisp pilsner malts, and plenty of flowery tropical hop character. I think I also get a touch of apples (which is a shame, as its a nice easy drinker)

     Flavor: The hop flavor dominates here, with a nice crispness to the boy, sweeter than I expected, but nice. A Little green apple again.

     Mouthfeel: sweetness keeps this from being dry, but nice body. head retention is an issue.

     Overall: its nice, I think this particular lager yeast (dry) is not  overly suited to the faster lagering mathods detailed in Brulosophy, the beer was 1.050 and went to 1.011 i pitched 3 packs to be safe on pitching rates, and to gt enough cells for clean fermentation.

YEAST INFO:
This yeast is slow and took forever to take off. at 5 days, the FG had dropped from 1.050 to 1.038, i ramped the temp at day 8 (FG 1.026) and ramp 3 degrees every 12 hours to get to 20 deg C. This was left for 10 days to clean itself up, then kegged/gelatined/carbonated.

Next Lager will be a Baltic Porter, for a special occasion. mostlikely brewed early in the new year.