Brewing A Clean Crisp Lager

[sgw86]

Hi All,

I have been doing a bit of reading lately on the Morgan's Blue Mountain Lager and have heard some good things about this kit. I have only just got back into home brewing and having just completed a Pale Ale and Golden Ale though now really want to put down a nice clean crisp lager for the hot weather.

I have a temp controlled fridge (FridgeMate), 27L fermenter and I am not bottling, rather putting my brews into 5L mini kegs from minikeg.net.au.

After reading a few posts I think the following seems to be the way

- 1 x Blue Mountain Lager (use the Yeast supplied)
- 1KG Coopers Brew Enhancer 1 (some have suggested swapping for 1KG of Dextrose?)
- Hallertau hops (7-10g?) (steeped in hot water for 10mins and then drain liquid into the fermenter)

Ferment at 15C for 14 days (will the yeast work at this low temp?)

I have read that Cold Conditioning will help alot. So I was thinking of dropping the temp of the fridge to 4C for a further week and then transferring into the minikegs and storing at 20C+ for a further 14 days.

Is it worth Cold Conditioning and if so can I do this in the primary fermenter (as I do not have two available), or am I better off after 14 days just putting the brew into the mini kegs and letting sit at room temp for 14 days, ignoring the Cold Conditioning stage?

I also presume I prime the mini kegs as normal with about 23g of dextrose per mini keg (5L)?

Thanks for your help.

Cheers,

Sam.

 

[seemax]

Is it a real lager yeast?

If you want a real lager yeast, try S-189 or W34/70 ... you'll need 2 packets to get enough yeast... pitch and ferment at 10C for super clean... then lager it as long as you can

 

[pimpsqueak]

When you prime your mini kegs, you will only need 1/2 the amount of dex/L you would normally use if bottling.

 

[Amber Fluid]

If you ferment at 15C and are kegging in 5L kegs then you only need 15g Dex to prime your keg.

 

[Yob]

- 1 x Blue Mountain Lager (use the Yeast supplied)
- 1KG Coopers Brew Enhancer 1 (some have suggested swapping for 1KG of Dextrose?)
- Hallertau hops (7-10g?) (steeped in hot water for 10mins and then drain liquid into the fermenter)

Hay Sambo.. Ive not used the kit you mention and dont know what the yeast is so wont comment, however, whatever fool told you to sub out for a kilo of dex needs a slap.. even the BE1 has too much dex for my liking (75% Dex 25% maltodex from memory)

Typically I like to use all malt and minimise the use of dex which I find thins a beer out 'orribly', Id go with a kilo of Light Malt Extract and maybe 200-300g BE1 tops (if you already have it you might as well use it up over a few brews)

For the hops Id up it a bit more, many start with 1g per litre and end up going north from there.. I havnt brewed Lagers though (Cmon winter) so I dont really know, nor have I looked into, how much is appropriate for a beer of this style.

Yob

 

[sgw86]

Hay Sambo.. Ive not used the kit you mention and dont know what the yeast is so wont comment, however, whatever fool told you to sub out for a kilo of dex needs a slap.. even the BE1 has too much dex for my liking (75% Dex 25% maltodex from memory)

Typically I like to use all malt and minimise the use of dex which I find thins a beer out 'orribly', Id go with a kilo of Light Malt Extract and maybe 200-300g BE1 tops (if you already have it you might as well use it up over a few brews)

For the hops Id up it a bit more, many start with 1g per litre and end up going north from there.. I havnt brewed Lagers though (Cmon winter) so I dont really know, nor have I looked into, how much is appropriate for a beer of this style.

Yob

Hey mate,

Thanks for the feedback.

So really I should be going for 1KG of Coopers Light Dry Malt...do I really need the Brew Enhancer 1 then?

I havn't bought any of the ingredients as yet just scoping what ingredients and how much I should be using.

Also from the other comments I presume 15g dextrose in the minikegs should be fine?

As for the hops...I really havn't seen anyone use more than 12g of hops.

I don't really want the lager to have an overly strong hop flavour either.

The yeast that comes with the Blue Mountain Lager (from what I have read) is hyrbid and can ferment as low as 15C....I believe Morgan's range for that kit is 15-30C.