Milky11111
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Greetings again my brothers in brewing!
Lately I've been on a brewing hiatus due to my areas temperatures, hitting ~26*C during daytime and as low as -1*C overnight however I can still not shake the itch to brew more tasty beer. I'm toying with the of making my first lager, using my beer fridge (it DOES NOT have a temperature controller.) It's default temperature is around 10-14*C and can go as low as 4-6*C when turned down. I have read some Lager threads over time but I want to clarify some information. I'd hate to spend all the time a Lager takes to brew just to have a bad end result so I'm trying to go in well informed.
First is my recipe, I am a kit brewer but I do steep grains and use extracts from time to time. For this brew I was thinking just a can of Thomas Coopers Heritage Lager, but I'm unsure of my yeast strain, can anybody point me in the direction of a dependable lager yeast? I'll also steep around 250-300g of Crystal Malt and for hops probably just some Pride of Ringwood at 15, 5 and dry. Now PoR is fine but I'm open to suggestions for a different kind of hop, trying new flavours is always good fun.
Second my method, assuming my mash and boil goes good, topped it up to ~23L. First I activate the yeast in around ~30*C water (not sure of the ratio of yeast:water) do I then want to pitch it around 18*C then chuck it in the fridge, or cool the wort to ~13*C and pitch?
Assuming again the fermenting goes well :lol: , for the chill phase I could MAYBE talk my boss into letting me chill it at the work fridge, which sits around 3.5*C, would this be cold enough? If so, about a month in there or less? I see most people chill at around 0.5-1*C but I cannot get a chilling fridge that low.
One last thing. I have access to a secondary but have never racked to secondary when I brew my ales due to risk of infection. I do hear that it improves clarity though and clarity being a key characteristic of lager at some point should I rack it to a secondary?
Thanks in advance for taking the time to read this thread and help me. :icon_cheers:
Lately I've been on a brewing hiatus due to my areas temperatures, hitting ~26*C during daytime and as low as -1*C overnight however I can still not shake the itch to brew more tasty beer. I'm toying with the of making my first lager, using my beer fridge (it DOES NOT have a temperature controller.) It's default temperature is around 10-14*C and can go as low as 4-6*C when turned down. I have read some Lager threads over time but I want to clarify some information. I'd hate to spend all the time a Lager takes to brew just to have a bad end result so I'm trying to go in well informed.
First is my recipe, I am a kit brewer but I do steep grains and use extracts from time to time. For this brew I was thinking just a can of Thomas Coopers Heritage Lager, but I'm unsure of my yeast strain, can anybody point me in the direction of a dependable lager yeast? I'll also steep around 250-300g of Crystal Malt and for hops probably just some Pride of Ringwood at 15, 5 and dry. Now PoR is fine but I'm open to suggestions for a different kind of hop, trying new flavours is always good fun.
Second my method, assuming my mash and boil goes good, topped it up to ~23L. First I activate the yeast in around ~30*C water (not sure of the ratio of yeast:water) do I then want to pitch it around 18*C then chuck it in the fridge, or cool the wort to ~13*C and pitch?
Assuming again the fermenting goes well :lol: , for the chill phase I could MAYBE talk my boss into letting me chill it at the work fridge, which sits around 3.5*C, would this be cold enough? If so, about a month in there or less? I see most people chill at around 0.5-1*C but I cannot get a chilling fridge that low.
One last thing. I have access to a secondary but have never racked to secondary when I brew my ales due to risk of infection. I do hear that it improves clarity though and clarity being a key characteristic of lager at some point should I rack it to a secondary?
Thanks in advance for taking the time to read this thread and help me. :icon_cheers: