20l Stovetop All Grain Aussie Lager

[bum]

There will be crap. But there will be crap anyway.

Rad name, brah. For reals.

 

[Nick JD]

Bum has caught another case of verbal diarrhea.

 

[bum]

There will be crap, Nick. You know this. You have posted pictures of this. In your own beer glasses.

 

[technoicon]

hahaha. yeah cool. i just decided to just try it. Crushed my 4.5kg last night and brewing tonight. If i use 2 bags it almost doesnt come out. so still not sure if i want to because it might filter it to much.

I've taken photo's along the way so i will make my own post with how it went.

 

[Nick JD]

I've taken photo's along the way so i will make my own post with how it went.

Good stuff.

 

[Nick JD]

There will be crap, Nick. You know this. You have posted pictures of this. In your own beer glasses.

Bazinga!

 

[Bribie G]

Nick, just caught up with this thread. I was off the Internet at the Beginning of May while moving house. Awesome tutorial. I've recently brewed up a batch of Oz Lager for a forthcoming comp and it's amazing just how close you can get. I find a great addition is 300g of Carapils to give a long lasting creamy head and lacing, although it lifts the beer more into premium class and away from swill class. I agree with you about the Polyclar, I used to stir it for 20 mins but now I do the boiling water trick as well. It doesn't degrade it and in fact there is a type of Polyclar you can add to the kettle (Brewbrite).

 

[Nick JD]

Nick, just caught up with this thread. I was off the Internet at the Beginning of May while moving house. Awesome tutorial. I've recently brewed up a batch of Oz Lager for a forthcoming comp and it's amazing just how close you can get. I find a great addition is 300g of Carapils to give a long lasting creamy head and lacing, although it lifts the beer more into premium class and away from swill class. I agree with you about the Polyclar, I used to stir it for 20 mins but now I do the boiling water trick as well. It doesn't degrade it and in fact there is a type of Polyclar you can add to the kettle (Brewbrite).

I think leaving the sugar out elbows it out of the swill class too - lowering the body lowers the head retention a little. I often sneak in a few hundred grams (10%) of wheat malt and that also slips it into the "nice beer" category! I've moved all lagers now to S189, possibly the finest dry yeast available. Not much difference in taste with 34/70, but much easier to use :icon_cheers: .

I'm about to finish the last bottle of my best lager yet with two additions of green bullet to 25IBU - an Aussie Lager with the PoR substituted for GB is sensational. Just bought a kilo of PoR and a kilo of Cluster, so there's plenty more refining to come...

Does Brewbrite take out the chill haze in the kettle? So chill haze isn't a yeast by-product? Hmmm, will check that out.

 

[Bribie G]

Chill haze is caused by Polyphenol-Protein complexes that get carried over into the fermenter as part of the cold break. Brewbrite is a mixture of a PVPP cousin of Polyclar and Irish Moss and I guess that when added to the kettle in the last ten minutes of boiling it flocs the Polyphenols down to the bottom of the kettle as part of the hot break instead of the cold break. It's hard to get hold of - Tidal Pete and I are getting some from a Member who bought a sack some time ago - apparently the only way you can get it at the moment - at $30 a kilo. Said anonymous guy brought a keg along to Chapchap's brew day and it was cold and crystal.


I'm keen to trial it, if it works hey we might even see about a BB? I wonder if we can get it from China?

Here we go again :blink:

I've looked on the Polyclar product range page and apparently the Polyclar VT that we get is really for the wine industry, but obviously works with beer. Be nice to have the version-for-beer instead. However as you can imagine a Polyclar/Irish Moss mix would probably cruel the sales of Whirlfloc by Home Brew suppliers so it's understandable that they stick to their tried and tested product range.

 

[MarkBastard]

That sounds awesome Bribie.

 

[Nick JD]

Here we go again :blink:

Powdered melamine has just so many uses! :lol: Delicious beer ... why do my kidneys hurt?

 

[Acasta]

How much Swiss Voile is needed to make a bag to fit into the 20L pot roughly?
What do you do with your sparge and green bucket sugazzzzz? Back into the 19L pot and let it all cool together?
How important is the gelatine and whirfloc? For the 1st few brews is it nesecary?
I had more questions but forgot them. Im suring ill post more soon.

 

[Bribie G]

If you get a metre and a half from Spotlight you are just about on the money. Then take it to your local curtain lady to get a bag made up. I would (no affiliation) go a bag from Gryphon brewing. By the time you have paid someone to make the bag, driven to and from spotlight etc etc you are definitely ahead and the thing is just about everlasting.

I use a 40L urn and can't comment on the sparging, plenty on the forum who do, however and will help you.

For your first few brews, if you aren't worried too much with clarity, forget the gelatine and polyclar, won't affect the flavour too much. It's an extra stage you can bring in later when you have become comfortable with what you are already doing.

 

[RdeVjun]

How much Swiss Voile is needed to make a bag to fit into the 20L pot roughly?
What do you do with your sparge and green bucket sugazzzzz? Back into the 19L pot and let it all cool together?
How important is the gelatine and whirfloc? For the 1st few brews is it nesecary?
I had more questions but forgot them. Im suring ill post more soon.

Yeah, like Bribie says, maybe a metre and a half of fabric and I'd be happy. A couple of measly dollars for one of the most foolproof and simple lautering interfaces/ manifolds around!

With sparge liquor, yes- add it to the stockpot for the boil, it definitely does need to be boiled. If there's too much to fit it all in at the beginning of the boil, that's fine, use it to fill the stockpot almost to the brim to start the boil, then just use the leftovers to top up evaporation losses during it. This will increase efficiency and translates to more beer in bottles/ keg.
Start heating sparge water before the mash is due to finish, I just run a couple of batches through my 1.75L domestic kettle- you want to lift the bag, give it a gentle squeeze and dunk it into the bucket with the hot sparge water so it needs to be ready beforehand. If you're using a 10L plastic bucket, just add 3 or 4 litres to start with, dunk the bag, stir the mash and then top it up from the kettle. I always stir it thoroughly a couple of times, lift the bag after 10 minutes and drain into the bucket- sparging is just a simple rinsing process and will become second nature with this method. If the sparge liquor is >1.030 I will redo it, perhaps with a bit less water than the first pass, though any excess sparge liquor that doesn't fit into the boil can be used for yeast starter propagation (ditto with kettle trub- drain it through a sieve).
A couple of tips for adding sparge- I wouldn't add any later than 10 minutes from the end of the boil, also pre- heating it will mean that the boil isn't paused by adding cooler liquor- I use the microwave!

WRT gelatine and Whirlfloc- no, not absolutely necessary at all, your first beer will still most likely be fantastic without either of them. I use Whirlfloc in the boil, does a fairly good job at precipitating gunk, occasionally I use gelatine in the fermenter and add it with some hops tea, when I can be bothered but next up I'm trying agar just for an experiment. But initially, you don't need to use them at all, they're just an incremental change you can make to refine your beers.
Chill haze is about the only fault (largely cosmetic) that these two additives don't take care of either separately or combined, but I find that it is only occasional anyway, it doesn't worry me so I just ignore it, Polyclar or BrewBrite as BribieG mentions should sort out chill haze if it really bothers the brewer. A longer boil (90- 120 minutes) can help to make a brighter, clearer beer too, it can also pick up a hint of caramel from this which is quite a helpful little bonus for ESBs in particular.

I've said this a few times before, but I'll repeat it again- I actually have a couple of stainless firkins (40L kegs), gas burner, esky and bibs & bobs set aside for a multi- vessel brew rig, but I don't really see the need now to actually build it as this very simple method produces excellent beer from a trivial equipment outlay and so simply with minimal fuss, all that gear has become largely redundant to me now. If you're already brewing kits then you don't need much additional equipment to start AG at all! (/ob plug!)

Hope this helps! :icon_cheers:

Edit: Clarity.

 

[Siborg]

Well done Nick... another great thread!

You've actully inspired me to put down a simple lager on the stovetop now. I haven't done one since I subbed manticles recipe in to your method.

I've done a few AG batches on my setup, but the effort of setting up and ceaning everything has been putting me off. I will definitly get back into it when spring/summer comes around, but in the meant time I just CBF...

However, I've been meaning to do a lager while the weather is cold, and a stovetop means I can do it from the comfort of my ducted-heated home and watch some TV while I'm brewing.

I might play with the recipe a bit... maybe a touch of carapils or wheat or both... maybe some rice.

Again: Excellent post Nick!

P.S. was that special note around the hops in the bag relating to the balls up I did?

 

[thanme]

Man...You make me feel like a bit of a ***** for not wanting to try 5kg of grain in my 30L urn....

Anyway, how big a grain bill would you tackle with your setup?? And is that just a 20L stock pot you're doing your boil in?

 

[Acasta]

Hi just went to get a coffee grinder and after checking it out i realised that my Foor processor (like this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_processor) would proberly do the same thing but in a bigger batch right? Would the Food processor work?

Also, do you need to crush up the specialty grains? ie Carapils and stuff?

 

[Nick JD]

Anyway, how big a grain bill would you tackle with your setup?? And is that just a 20L stock pot you're doing your boil in?

I get the best efficiency with 3.5kg of grain and a fermenter volume of 15-18L (boil of 12-15L). The sky's the limit with high gravity brewing but your efficiency will suffer, and possibly also your flavour. 4.5kg in a 19L pot is doable.

As Thirsty has said before, liquid malt extract is high gravity brewing taken to the extreme.

 

[Nick JD]

Hi just went to get a coffee grinder and after checking it out i realised that my Foor processor (like this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_processor) would proberly do the same thing but in a bigger batch right? Would the Food processor work?

Also, do you need to crush up the specialty grains? ie Carapils and stuff?

Food processors are great for chopping, but not so good for grinding. Yes, you need to mill all your grains, even the spec ones.

 

[Acasta]

Ah kk thanks mate. Also, maybe the coffee grinder i was looking at was not so good? All it was was a blade that spun inside the cylinder.