Hoppy NZ-ish Pils

Today I'm brewing a variation of my New Zealand Pilsner. The biggest change is I'm trying out some Viking Pilsner malt. I'm also trying out a new ingredient, BrewTan B (more info here). Long story short, it's supposed to help with a few things, including "improve the shelf life and enhance the flavor and colloidal stability of your beer". Dosage/usage info from Wyeast:

Dosage rate: In the mash: 8 grams per barrel of mash liquor (8 g/1.17 hL). In the boiler: 5 grams per barrel of wort (5 g/1.17 hL).
Usage: Dissolve powder in warm water; add solution to mash, boil, or both.
In the mash: Add solution to mash water prior to dough-in.

On the homebrew scale, that translates to .25g per gallon of mash liquor.

Other changes, I'm going with a bit more Carared, and I'm experimenting with some Loral cryohops in the mix. Lastly, I'm swapping the amounts of the late hop additions. Here's the recipe as I'm making it today:

6.75# Viking Pilsner Malt
0.75# Avangard German Pale
0.3125# Weyermann Cara Red
0.25# Pale Wheat Malt
3ml Hopshot (60 min)
14g Motueka (1 min)
14g Rakau (1 min)
14g Waimea (1 min)
7g Loral Cryohops (1 min)
21g Motueka (Whirlpool @170F)
21g Rakau (Whirlpool @170F)
21g Waimea (Whirlpool @170F)
7g Loral Cryohops (Whirlpool @170F)
(2) Global Yeast
Whirlfloc
Yeast Nutrient
28g Motueka (Dryhop)
28g Rakau (Dryhop)
28g Waimea (Dryhop)
14g Loral Cryohops (Dryhop)

Mash at 151F, 90 min boil, start fermentation at 46F, ramp up to 52F over 6 days, diacetyl rest when gravity ~1.016.

Water Profile
To 11 gallons of distilled water, add:

• 4.0g Gypsum
• 2.8g Epsom Salt
• 4.8g Calcium Chloride

Brewing Notes

No major issues. One minor issue, I over-sparged and wasn't paying attention, and ran off about 8.25 gallons rather than my normal 6.75 gallons for a 5 gallon batch. I ended up boiling longer in order to concentrate the wort down to the appropriate volume. So, I likely have a little more caramelization and a bit more mineral content than I was planning on. Time will tell how close this version is to the previous versions.  OG into the fermenter was 1.052.

Update 6/18/2019
Gravity is down to 1.044 tonight, roughly 24 hours after pitching.

Update 6/28/2019
I went to Denver last weekend (6/21 - 6/24) and I set my temp controller to slowly ramp the temps up for a diacetyl rest. It's been sitting at about 65F since 6/25 and I added the dry hops today. I'll leave it there for about 48 hours, then hook up my CO2 reservoir and start lowering the temps in preparation for kegging.

Update 7/1/2019
I swapped out the blow-off for my CO2 reservoir yesterday, and started cold crashing.

Update 7/16/2019
I pulled a couple samples of this beer. I think the color is perfect now, exactly where I want it. Flavor and aroma are always really nice, but there is a touch of diesel character from the hops. I didn't notice this character at all in the previous batch, so I'm assuming it's from the Loral, or the Loral is bringing this character out. Some people love this character, but I'm not a huge fan. It's not bad by any means, it's just not something I really like. There's also some bright grapefruit character. The next time I brew this beer, I'll probably cut the Loral in half and see what happens.

Update 10/14/2019
Just a quick note, this beer took 1st place for Czech and New Zealand Lager, plus 2nd place Best in Show in the 2019 Beehive Brew-off.