2nd brew and looking for advice on temps and sugar

[Diced]

Hi All, hoping to get some advice after hours of reading.
I bottled my first brew a week ago, it was a basic Coopers APA with BE2. Now while i am waiting for that to condition i am looking to start my second brew. There is no homebrew shop nearby i am limited to what IGA sell which is limited.

What i have to work with:
-A black rock lager
-a mangrove jack dry blonde (not sure what type of beer this is, i like crisp but not watery so hope this suits)
-2x15gm amarillo hops
-1kg dex
-500gm light dry malt

The only BE2 they had was hard as a rock so i passed.
My questions are:
-does anyone know a recipe i can make using what i have?
-does anyone know if the supplied yeast packs are lager yeast or generic ale?
-i have read these beers should ferment at 12-15deg, can you do this with the generic yeasts?

Any help would be appreciated!!

Cheers

Luke

 

[BDD]

Have not used either of the cans of extract before so cannot comment on them but i would assume (and you know what they say about assumptions) that the yeast would be ale yeast, although i could be well wrong. I would mix the 500gm LDME with 5L of water. Bring it to boil and do some late hops additions with the amirillo hops say 15g at 20min and 15g at 5min. Then remove from boil and mix with can of goo and 700g of dextrose. Pour into fermenter and fill to 20-23L. Assuming the yeast is an ale yeast i would then try to keep the fermenting temp to around 18 degrees.

 

[Diced]

Beauty thanks!
So i bring to the boil with lmde then add the first bag, boil 15mins add the second bag boil 5 more mins then remove from heat?
Do i remove the hops bags or do they go in the wort?
Which can do you think would suit this recipe best(on a hunch seeing you havent tried them)?

Cheers

 

[Rocker1986]

You'll get better results with more malt than dextrose; unfortunately though, you don't have it so moot point for this brew but something to keep in mind for the future.

Anyway, yes you've got the hop boil process right there. Set a timer for 20 mins, get it boiling, when the foamy shit subsides, start the timer and add the first bag, when there's 5 mins left add the second bag, when timer goes off, so does the heat. The hops don't go into the wort in the fermenter, no. I'd probably take the hop pellets out of the bags and let them 'swim free' in the boil, then use a strainer to strain the wort into the FV.

Hard to say which can would be best as I've never used either of them either. My suspicions though are that both cans would probably work well as they sound pretty bland - perfect for tarting up with late hops and specialty grains

 

[Diced]

Thanks for all the advice.
If i can get another 500gm of ldm would you just add that instead of the dex? I don't mind if it is a lower alcohol content? So 1kg ldm and say 100gm dex?

Sorry one question i forgot to ask, does it matter if my bottled apa gets hot. It has been sitting in 21deg for 5 days but i want to put my next brew in the fridge, does it matter if my bottles get to high 30's as it is around 38 most days here.

Thanks again for all you help!

 

[Rocker1986]

Given you don't care about the alcohol content, I'd go with that suggestion of 1kg LDM and 100g dex. I think it would turn out nicer than using 700g dex personally.

I'd be trying to keep the bottles cooler than high 30s. Is there anywhere else you can put them that will be cooler than that? Mid-high 20s would be ok but high 30s would be pushing it a little I'd reckon.

 

[Gr390ry]

Welcome to the forum mate. My second brew was similar to what BDD and Rocker are advising. I too haven't used either of the above cans you've mentioned, I know you're limited but there are some excellent home brew shops that are online and deliver so you can have access to more range if that's what you are after. National Homebrew was the place I went to, they have a great range and will be able to help you out if you wanted a different range of hops or anything to help you out. Good luck!

 

[Diced]

I got another 500gm of ldme so my hops are boiling as i write this. I found a brew shop in Newcastle and put a huge order in so i can experiment some more. So looking forward to that arriving.
Thanks guys for you help it has been great. I am a little worried this may become an obsession rather than a hobby and i haven't even tasted my first batch yet!!!

Ps if the smell of amarillo hops is anything to go by i am a fan, it smells awesome!

 

[Rocker1986]

It will become an obsession, it's only a matter of time... :lol:

 

[Diced]

I had a little hiccup. The wort was 32deg even after adding cold water. I chilled it in the fridge and after 30-45mins pitched the yeast at around 29deg as i read it is best to pitch the yeast as soon as possible. It was down to 26.5 an hour after pitching the yeast and down to 23 an hour after that.
I am basing my temps on a thermo probe taped to the side of the fv backed with foam to insulate.

Do you think i will get any nasty flavours from the temp?

Cheers

 

[Rocker1986]

It's possible, but if you leave it sit in the fermenter for a week or two after fermentation has finished then the yeast will probably clean up a lot if not all off flavours that may have been produced. The temp was probably brought down quickly enough that not too many were produced.

FWIW I pitch all my ales at room temp, which obviously varies with the seasons, so lately they've been going in at about 26C. Same process of using a fridge to start bringing it down to fermentation temp straight away. Have not had any off flavours from doing this - although I do make yeast starters as well which no doubt helps.

 

[Diced]

Thanks, will have to wait and see.

Cheers

 

[Grott]

What's your temp now?

 

[wynnum1]

I had a little hiccup. The wort was 32deg even after adding cold water. I chilled it in the fridge and after 30-45mins pitched the yeast at around 29deg as i read it is best to pitch the yeast as soon as possible. It was down to 26.5 an hour after pitching the yeast and down to 23 an hour after that.
I am basing my temps on a thermo probe taped to the side of the fv backed with foam to insulate.

Do you think i will get any nasty flavours from the temp?

Cheers

If you mix up and boil in a stock pot then put the hot stock pot in a water bath the room temperature water will lower the stock pot temperature because of the big difference in temperature and when water bath warms up change that water then pour the warm wort into the fermenter and then rinse the stock pot with cool water and pour that into fermenter .

 

[Diced]

I will have to try that, what max time post mix that you would pitch the yeast?
It is sitting at 18deg now.

 

[Digga]

I will have to try that, what max time post mix that you would pitch the yeast?
It is sitting at 18deg now.

That is a good question I've been wondering the same thing if I have the brew under 30c and its night time and I've had to many beers I pitch. Would it be better to fridge over night.. 8hrs ish and then pitch?

 

[Rocker1986]

Ideally you'd pitch the yeast as soon as possible. The longer you leave it, the more chance there is of infections or wild yeasts taking hold. It helps to have a fair amount of chilled water available when mixing up the ingredients, as this will help bring the wort temp down closer to the ferment temp, or even to the ferment temp, so you don't have to wait around for the it to come down before pitching the yeast.

Personally, in that situation I'd just pitch the yeast and start bringing the temp down straight away rather than leave the wort sitting around with no yeast in it.