Ag Lager

[lobo]

hi all,
will be making my 2nd ever lager next sunday. i am making up my own recipes latley and would love some feedback.

lobo's lager

A ProMash Recipe Report

BJCP Style and Style Guidelines
-------------------------------

01-C Light Lager, Premium American Lager

Min OG: 1.046 Max OG: 1.056
Min IBU: 15 Max IBU: 25
Min Clr: 2 Max Clr: 6 Color in SRM, Lovibond

Recipe Specifics
----------------

Batch Size (L): 23.00 Wort Size (L): 23.00
Total Grain (kg): 4.80
Anticipated OG: 1.048 Plato: 12.03
Anticipated SRM: 4.8
Anticipated IBU: 25.2
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75 %
Wort Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Grain

% Amount Name Origin Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
83.3 4.00 kg. JWM Export Pilsner Australia 1.037 2
6.3 0.30 kg. Weyermann Carapils (Carafoam) Germany 1.037 2
6.3 0.30 kg. Weyermann Melanoidin Germany 1.037 27
4.2 0.20 kg. Hoepfner Wheat Malt Light Germany 1.040 2

Hops

Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
10.00 g. Cascade Whole 8.00 10.4 60 min.
10.00 g. Cascade Whole 8.00 5.3 30 min.
10.00 g. nelson sauvin Pellet 10.50 4.0 15 min.
15.00 g. nelson sauvin Pellet 10.50 3.8 5 min.
10.00 g. Cascade Whole 8.00 1.7 5 min.

Grain kg: 4.80
Notes
-----

yeast is 2001 urquell lager, dry hop with both hops.


is it worth going to the effort/cost of using spring water because its a lager? we all know how good adelaide water is.

also latley i have been having trouble with under attenuating beers, and was thinking of making this activator into a 1L 1040dme starter on wednesday or thursday ready for sundays brewday.

any comments/thoughts would be much appreciated.

cheers,

Lobo

 

[ozpowell]

Hi Lobo,

I know I'll probably be flamed for saying this, but I always brew with Spring Water. Coles brand, in fact, because their label has all the ions and minerals I need for my brewing calculations. Gold Coast water is sourced from several different dams and reservoirs, so GC Water was unable to give me a definitive composition report (in fact, the one I did get from them indicated that the pH was about 2 points different to my own measurments...).

I brew for fun and flavour, not to save a few pennies, so springing an extra $20.00 for water in a 5 gallon AG batch is fine by me.

Edit: Also, on the starter front, depending on how you're planning on pitching (ie. pitching into warm wort and then lowering temp, or pitching into cool wort), you will need a much bigger starter. If pitching into cool wort, you will need at least a 4L starter. Take a look at Jamil's pitching rate calculator. With that size starter, you may also want to consider chilling it and decanting the starter beer before pitching.

 

[warra48]

300 grams of Melanoidin might suit your taste, but for me it would be too much. Personally, I'd knock it back to 100 grams.

 

[phonos]

Personally I would have saved the cascade whole hops for an american pale ale. You'd be better off replacing it with a more neutral bittering hop or perhaps even going all nelson sauvin

 

[lobo]

thanks guys, i might as well lash out and buy some spring water for this one, i dont care how much my brewing costs, im still in front if i had to drink commercial beer.

warra48, i have never used melanoidin before, in fact havnt used much specialty malts, so i cant get into my head that something as little a 100g in a grist of 4 to 5kg would make that much of a difference. basically im worries if i add too little i wont notice the difference!

phonos, thanks for the input, the reason i chose the csacade is i have previously made 2 all nelson sauvin ales, and i found it to be a little harsh for bittering. the last beer i made an all cascade flower apa, and found it to be much smoother in the bitterness way of things. i dunno if thats right but thats my thoughts so far in my short ag career. would amarillo pellets be a better choice?

i think i will take your advice warra, i dont want the melanoidin to overpower everything.

cheers,

Lobo

 

[geoffi]

300 grams of Melanoidin might suit your taste, but for me it would be too much. Personally, I'd knock it back to 100 grams.

Agreed. Melanoidin is one of those things that's 'a good servant but a poor master'. 300g would really take over.

 

[drsmurto]

Lobo, you are more than welcome to as much rainwater as you want if you fancy a drive up to the Hills. My tanks have been overflowing since May. I analysed the water 6 months ago so its a bit out of date (technically you need to analyse it after every rain) but its effectively a blank canvas, perfect for pilsners. I use it for my lagers and also for chilling.

Even with the price of petrol you end up with cleaner water - spring water is normally quite high in carbonates (as well as minerals) and you can take as much as you can fit in the car.

As for the recipe...

Go 100% nelson sauvin aiming for a sort of Knappstein clone.

If it was me i would ditch the carapils and reduce the melanoidin (as others have said) down to 100-150g.

 

[3G]

Go the rain water for pilsner style lagers

 

[lobo]

thanks dr smurto, i have sourced rainwater from my old's place. this is the recipe as it stands now. i will save the cascade flowers for an american ipa mixed with amarillo.



lobo's nelson lager

Grain/Extract/Sugar

% Amount Name Origin Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
87.5 4.20 kg. JWM Export Pilsner Australia 1.037 2
8.3 0.40 kg. Weyermann Pale Wheat Germany 1.038 2
2.1 0.10 kg. Weyermann Carapils (Carafoam) Germany 1.037 2
2.1 0.10 kg. Weyermann Melanoidin Germany 1.037 27

Hops

Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
15.00 g. nelson sauvin Pellet 10.50 11.5 30 min.
15.00 g. nelson sauvin Pellet 10.50 6.0 15 min.
15.00 g. nelson sauvin Pellet 10.50 4.5 10 min.
20.00 g. nelson sauvin Pellet 10.50 5.0 5min

Water Profile
-------------
rainwater


Notes
-----

1.5l starter from activator pack, yeast is 2001 urquell lager, will pitch at 18deg, bring down to 10deg after 24hrs.

dry hop 10g nelson sauvin.

 

[stowaway]

Lobo, you are more than welcome to as much rainwater as you want if you fancy a drive up to the Hills. My tanks have been overflowing since May. I analysed the water 6 months ago so its a bit out of date (technically you need to analyse it after every rain) but its effectively a blank canvas, perfect for pilsners. I use it for my lagers and also for chilling.

Even with the price of petrol you end up with cleaner water - spring water is normally quite high in carbonates (as well as minerals) and you can take as much as you can fit in the car.

As for the recipe...

Go 100% nelson sauvin aiming for a sort of Knappstein clone.

If it was me i would ditch the carapils and reduce the melanoidin (as others have said) down to 100-150g.

I have access to rain water from a Tank. But i havent been game to use it yet.
I saw a news report saying the rain water in the cities (im on the gold coast) are full of chemicles or some shit from polution.

Also wouldnt it be abit dirty going thru all the pipes and roof tiling?

 

[therook]

I made a Pilsner 5 weeks ago and it has turned out pretty good and i'm on rain water.

100% Galaxy malt
100% Saaz

No additives

As Zwickel keeps telling us, KISS

Rook