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Phoney Peroni No.2

I did enjoy drinking my first attempt at Phoney Peroni last year and so today I brewed it again with only a very minor change in that I included 5% wheat malt to give it a bit more of a sticky head.

The key to the light body and creamy feel found in the commercial Peroni beer is that a large portion of the grist is corn. I believe the original has 25% corn but in my recipe I'm using 20% because that works out at 1kg which is the size of the bags that flaked maize is sold in.

Brew day

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Recipe: Phoney Peroni
Date: 16 May 2021
Batch Size (fermenter): 24.00 L
Estimated OG: 1.047 SG
Estimated Color: 6.1 EBC
Estimated IBU: 29.6 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 75.6 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes
Finished water profile: Ca:28, Mg:3, Na:9, SO4:10, Cl:44

Ingredients:
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Amt         Name                                        Type          %/IBU         Volume    
3.70 ml     Lactic Acid (Mash)                          Water Agent   80%           -            
1.20 g      Calcium Chloride (Mash)                     Water Agent   -             -            
3.60 kg     Weyermann Bohemian Pilsner (4.0 EBC)        Grain         74.2 %        2.35 L       
1.00 kg     Crisp Flaked Torrefied Maize (1.3 EBC)      Grain         20.6 %        0.65 L       
0.25 kg     Weyermann Wheat Malt (3.9 EBC)              Grain         5.2 %         0.16 L       
0.30 g      Calcium Chloride (Sparge)                   Water Agent   -             -            
0.20 ml     Lactic Acid (Sparge)                        Water Agent   80%           -            

18.00 g     Hallertau Magnum [10.70 %] - Boil 60.0 min  Hop           21.5 IBUs     -            
10.00 g     Saaz [4.70 %] - Boil 15.0 min               Hop           2.6 IBUs      -            
15.00 g     Saaz [4.70 %] - Boil 10.0 min               Hop           2.9 IBUs      -            
1.00 Items  Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 7.0 mins)            Fining        -             -            
25.00 g     Saaz [4.70 %] - Boil 5.0 min                Hop           2.6 IBUs      -            

1.0 pkg     Munich Lager II (Wyeast Labs #2352-PC)      Yeast         -             -            

Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 4.85 kg
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Name              Description                             Step Temperat Step Time  
Mash In           Add 24.55 L of water at 70.9 C          65.0 C        60 min    

Sparge: Dunk sparge with 5L of 75C water.

The flaked, torrefied maize has already been cooked to gelatinise it so it goes straight into the mash without the need for grinding or pre-cooking.

The stickiness of the corn is evident in the thick clumps you can see in the spent grain. Mindful of falling short on the mash extraction last time I had a bag of dextrose ready in case the same happened again this time. I was only point short of the expected pre-boil gravity this time so I added 77g of dextrose into the boil to bump it up a point. I also used 30g instead of 25g of Saaz at 5 minutes to use up the last of the pack that I had. I don't think you can overdo noble hops.

Everything else about the brew day was completely normal and I collected around 23.5 litres of 1.046 wort.

The wort was extremely pale as expected. I got it down to about 23C with the immersion chiller in half and hour and it's now coming down the rest of the way to the pitching temperature of 13.5C in the brew fridge.

The 3.2 litre Wyeast 2352-PC starter was all finished on Friday morning and I successfully removed 500ml to keep in the fridge for the next lager. This is a very flocculent yeast so I'll have no trouble decanting most of the spent wort when it comes to pitching time which should be tomorrow morning.

Fermentation

The Phoney Peroni fermentation has started well. I pitched the decanted 2.7 litre starter of Wyeast 2352-PC at 8:00am on Monday morning at 13.5C and 14 hours later it had started bubbling through the blow-off tube. That could be one of the fastest starts I've seen to a cold lager fermentation. I'm usually used to waiting 18-24 hours for any visible action when fermenting cold. Re-used yeast from an overbuilt starter always seems to me to be more eager to get going and this is beer #3 from this pack of yeast.

Kegging

I kegged the Phoney Peroni yesterday afternoon after 3 weeks in the fermenter. It had about 5 days at 13.5C then the rest of the time at 17C to finish and clear up.

FG was 1.005, more-or-less the same as the first time I brewed this and the ABV will be 5.4%.

The sample was nice and clear, and of course as pale as they come for a lager. I got a keg and 3 bottles from the left overs. The keg was fined with Clear-It, purged at 5x15psi and is sitting there at 20psi and 6.5C for the carbing and conditioning. Hopefully we'll get some nice days in July and August when I can enjoy drinking this outside in the sun.

Tasting notes

This recipe is a great one to enjoy in the garden during summer. Get the barbecue on, pull yourself a pint and relax.

Referring back to my Beersmith notes I can see that I wrote Excellent. Really smooth due to the corn. Really close to the original. At 5.4% it's got a bit more punch and I need to restrain the urge to quaff it too quickly. This is certainly a recipe that I'll brew again each summer