This is my second go at brewing  Vienna Lager but this time it isn’t just practice – this ones going to NHC assuming it is one of my better beers at the time of submission.  some small (ish 🙂 changes from my last Vienna.  I moved from Weyerman to Best Malz for my base malts (Pilsner, Vienna, Munich).  I also added a bit of color using Briess Midnight Wheat.  Lastly I used the German Lager strain from White Labs.
I did a 2.5L starter of 2 yeast vials that were under 1 month old.  Starter went well except stir plate is kicking the bucket.
I went to a different homebrew shop which is closer since they carry the Best Malz but their crush was a bit coarse.  My own fault since I set the crush.  Boooo me.  Efficiency were spot on though it appeared to not make any difference.  That said, my wort was a bit hazier than I’m used to so I wonder if there was some left over starch in there.  We’ll see.
SG was right on which may well be a first.  I ended up adding 1 L of filtered water to boil to hit my end of boil gravity on the nose.
I used the same cooling technique again (kill whirlpool but leave cooling water on when I let it sit for 20 mins before going to fermenter) and it worked perfectly.  I cooled to 47 and after 20 minutes of settling time it was down to 45 and up to 48.5 by the time I got it in the fermenter, oxygenated and pitched.
Vienna 3
3-A Vienna Lager
Size: 7.5 gal
Efficiency: 80.0%
Attenuation: 80.0%
Original Gravity: 1.052 (1.046 – 1.052)
Terminal Gravity: 1.010 (1.010 – 1.014)
Color: 12.87 (10.0 – 16.0)
Alcohol: 5.47% (4.5% – 5.5%)
Bitterness: 29.4 (18.0 – 30.0)
Ingredients:
6 lb (42.3%) Best Malz Pilsen Malt – added during mash
6 lb (42.3%) Best Malz Vienna Malt – added during mash
14 oz (6.2%) Best Malz Munich Malt Dark – added during mash
14 oz (6.2%) Weyerman Caramunich® TYPE I – added during mash
3 oz (1.3%) Briess Midnight Wheat Malt – added during mash
4 oz (1.8%) Weyerman Acidulated Malt – added during mash
1 oz (50.0%) Northern Brewer (9.9%) – added during boil, boiled 60 m
1 tsp Whirlfloc Tablets (Irish moss) – added during boil, boiled 20 m
1 oz (50.0%) Czech Saaz (3.9%) – added during boil, boiled 15 m
1 tsp Wyeast Nutrient – added during boil, boiled 10 m
2 ea White Labs WLP830 German Lager
Notes
vienna 2 was a bit light so darkened up w/ midnight wheat
mash salts:
1.1g Gypsum
2.7g CC
sparge salts:
2g Gypsum
5g CC
acidify sparge to below 5.8 (~10ml of 10% phosphoric in 10G of water)
should give mash pH of 5.3
14.44 lb of grain
1.5 qt/lb = 21.7 quarts = 5.4 gallons
mash @ 152
mash in water temp 162.4 so ~163.4 into mash tun
pitch @ 45 and ramp to 50 over 2 days then hold for two weeks than raise 5 degrees a day to 60 and hold.  on day 21 rack to keg and drop 2 degrees a day to 35 and lager for one month.  rack to clean keg and force carb to 2.4 volumes.
11-10-14 brewday.  pitched at 48.5F and raised it over 24 hours to 50 and held it there till diacetyl rest at 2 weeks.
11-11-14 little bit of bubbling but no real kreusen
11-12-14 nice 1″ kreusen and strong steady bubbling
11-15-14 seems to be starting to slow.  still 1/2″ kreusen and steady bubbling.
11-16-14 still a little kreusen.  bubbling every ~3 sec.
11-17-14 ~5 sec
11-18-14 ~12 sec
11-23-14 no bubbling