Cheap Wanders - Recipe Hints?

[Fermented]

It's true, you can't polish a turd but you can roll it in glitter. I'm looking to roll one in glitter.

By sheer luck, I picked up a couple of cans of Wanders Munich Lager at the local K-Mart for $0.05 each. Yes, five cents. And no, there's no more left or I would have bought it for cheap and cheerful purposes. The expiry is December and I'm about to bottle a batch today, so thought to use these up while I have the chance.

What do you think might be a good way to use these? How about:

Toucan
I thought to do a toucan, 500 g LDME, 15 g Hallertau @ 30, 12 g Saaz @ 15, 15 g Saaz @ flameout.


Cherry Beer
The other idea I had was to make a cherry beer. I found some Amarena (Sour Cherry) Syrup in my pantry. The nutritional label mentions 480 kj, 30 g carbohydrates with 29 g carbohydrate from sugar in a 35 ml serving (i.e. 83 g / 100 ml). Ingredients are listed as 65% concentrated fruit juice, citric acid, sugar and water.

So maybe 1 x Wanders, 1 litre cherry syrup, 500 g LDME, 15 g Hallertau @ 15 mins, 12 g @ flameout?

Would this give too much cherry flavour and end up like one of those really crap Krieks that are around sometimes? Love to hear your ideas.


Cheers - Fermented.

EDIT: Am planning to repitch on 250 ml S-04 slurry for a toucan or on a fresh US-05 for a single.

 

[rclemmett]

I wouldn't do the toucan as it will likely turn out twice as bad. I have done a couple of cheap can (farmland lager) half batches, essentially a toucan, and I speak from experience when I say twice as bad. If you use them as a base though you can mask the turdness, and put more emphathis on the glitter.

Try the cherry and let us know how it goes.

 

[microbe]

I used one of those cans in a barebones toucan with a end of line Coopers Bavarian Lager (not quite 5c each though, but still cheap - batch cost $4.50). My (not extensive) notes here say it was quite bitter but very drinkable (except by the crew at work - they are big fans of the Morgans Blue Mountain brew I do - and probably XXXX to boot)

IMHO - as a toucan probably a good base point to start at, but cherry sounds interesting too.

Cheers,

microbe

 

[Fermented]

Thanks for the heads-up on the quality issue for the goo.

I'll do some taste testing of the syrup at a couple of dilutions before I toss it into the mix and report the recipe & result later on.

Cheers - Fermented.

 

[Fermented]

Just did the day 3 SG test on this one and it seems to be rather pleasant.

Final recipe was:
* Wanders Munich Lager goo
* 1 litre sour cherry syrup (83% sugar)
* 500 g LDME
* 200 g Caramalt steeped 30
* Hops as 15g Hallertau @ 30, 12g Saaz @ 15, 15 g Saaz @ flameout
* White Labs WLP550 @ 22C, Fermenting @ 22C.
* 24 l
* OG = 1052

Mild sour cherry nose, suble cherry taste, very slight hoppiness. Area around the fermenter smells like pleasantly funky cherry sourdough.

Cheers - Fermented.

 

[quantocks]

It's true, you can't polish a turd but you can roll it in glitter. I'm looking to roll one in glitter.

By sheer luck, I picked up a couple of cans of Wanders Munich Lager at the local K-Mart for $0.05 each. Yes, five cents. And no, there's no more left or I would have bought it for cheap and cheerful purposes. The expiry is December and I'm about to bottle a batch today, so thought to use these up while I have the chance.

and I thought I was lucky with cheap cans of that from the Coles at Westfield

5 cents is great, but the one I did was pretty awful. Not as bad as Brigalow, but pretty close. Definitely try and modify the taste, I tipped 23litres down the bath drain only the other day

lets just say the kit yeast that came with it looked off, smelt off, didn't even put it within 50m of my brew and now it's happily growing in the water in the bottom of the wheelie bin I think.

let me know how the glitter goes though, I'm pretty keen to know if you can put enough glitter on there to make it taste good

 

[The Big Burper]

Hello dere,

I remember the Wander Munich lager to be an OK drop.

Haven't done one for years, but I didn't have any complaints about it.

Cheap is not necessarily nasty.

Although the date of the batch could make it so.

cheers

Dave

 

[BobtheBrewer]

I used one of those cans in a barebones toucan with a end of line Coopers Bavarian Lager (not quite 5c each though, but still cheap - batch cost $4.50). My (not extensive) notes here say it was quite bitter but very drinkable (except by the crew at work - they are big fans of the Morgans Blue Mountain brew I do - and probably XXXX to boot)

IMHO - as a toucan probably a good base point to start at, but cherry sounds interesting too.

Cheers,

microbe

A little o/t, but could you pm me your recipe for blue mountain lager? [email protected]
Thanks,
Bob

 

[Fermented]

Quantocks: I didn't even notice a yeast in there to be quite truthful. However, I've given up on the supplied yeasts and am using mostly S-04 and US-05 for the moment until I get my wings properly. The WLP550 was a bit of a flight of fancy.

Big Burper: I think it may have been on the turn because the goo's colour was not quite what I've seen before in 'lager' tins and the taste was rather ordinary (yes, I taste a little of the different goo each time to get a better impression of what does what).

It's only day 4 in the fermenter, so am guessing that it will be about 18 days before the 2 weeks test. Will report live and direct from Royal North Shore Hospital Intensive Care Ward.

Cheers - Fermented.

 

[petesbrew]

I wouldn't do the toucan as it will likely turn out twice as bad. I have done a couple of cheap can (farmland lager) half batches, essentially a toucan, and I speak from experience when I say twice as bad. If you use them as a base though you can mask the turdness, and put more emphathis on the glitter.

+2... I scored 5 cans of Bi-Lo draught for $1.50 each. NONE of them turned out anywhere near half-good, no matter what I did.

Use them as a base and see how you go.

 

[The Big Burper]

Will report live and direct from Royal North Shore Hospital Intensive Care Ward.

Cheers - Fermented.

:icon_drunk: :blink:

 

[BobtheBrewer]

I used one of those cans in a barebones toucan with a end of line Coopers Bavarian Lager (not quite 5c each though, but still cheap - batch cost $4.50). My (not extensive) notes here say it was quite bitter but very drinkable (except by the crew at work - they are big fans of the Morgans Blue Mountain brew I do - and probably XXXX to boot)

IMHO - as a toucan probably a good base point to start at, but cherry sounds interesting too.

Cheers,

microbe

Microbe,

Thanks for the PM. I got dragged away from the computer and wasn't sure if I had sent that msg or not,

Bob

 

[Fermented]

Well, this one's out of conditioning for a taste and it came up rather nice.

Slight cherry nose, lingering polite sourness (syrup had citric acid in it), short lived head, moderate carbonation, slight zing on the tastebuds from the Saaz. Served at 3C it's not too special, slightly warmer at 8 - 10C it's more interesting and opens up. Overall it's quite pleasant but could do with some more aging to mellow out the more aggressive flavour elements.

Mission accomplished. Turd rolled in glitter.

Cheers - Fermented.

PS - And the $0.05 price tag was still on the shelf in K-Mart when I walked through last week. Maybe they have more?

 

[fiat84]

How is the cherry flavor in your brew holding up, curious with aging if any cherry flavor/aroma's remain? Made up a brew because of Fermented's nice review:

Day 1 - January 27, 2009 8:00PM a Coopers Stout kit with Sour Cherry Syrup:

• 1 can Coopers Stout
• 500g Dark Malt powder
• 1L bottle Paola sour cherry syrup(contains 633g sugar which is less sugar than Fermented's syrup had) ingredients: Sour Cherry's, water, sugar.
• Filled pail to 22L mark with warm water.(read after Coopers website advises fill to 20L initially then top up after foaming has calmed down in a few days)
• Sprinkled yeast on top.

Followed kit instructions did not add any additional malt or sugar as the sour cherry syrup contains 633g of sugar. The sour cherry syrup is very sweet and tastes very good(much better than the black cherry concentrate tasted which had a medicinal taste.)

Day 1 at the 22 hr mark foam has reached lid of big pail, added airlock and snapped lid shut, pail in bathtub. Looks like foam art, room temp was 68 degrees. Next morning 6:00AM room temp 66 degrees, airlock top blown off with the foam leaching out. Cleaned up foam mess on pail and airlock, then replaced airlock. Foam level was down 2" from top of the lid now. Future: only fill pail to 20L initially and delay adding sour cherry syrup until topping up.

Will do a 3 week single stage pail fermentation in cool temperatures then bottle when the SG = 1.015 or less. When bottling will do a taste test and if needed add either sour cherry juice, or the two cherry concentrates(Tart and Black) or some combination to get subtle cherry flavor.

FYI, did up an apple cider Blackrock kit a few months ago which was very clear after a 3 week primary pail fermentation. Bulk primed after racking and the bottles carbonated well. An easier process for me and the now slightly cloudy, carbonated cider bottles have no sediment yet.

 

[fiat84]

February 15, 2009 Day 20 so bottled pail was lower than 22L mark, finished SG = 1.010, room temp 66 degrees most of the time. Tastes like Guinness. Bitter, black, smells like dark malt with no cherry aroma or flavor but pleasant enough taste at room temp. Racked and added 4oz sugar to prime the pail, ended up with 58 glass bottles and 2.5 500ml plastic bottles so about 21L of bottled beer. Most of the solids fell out and the beer seemed clear enough.


Decided against any additional cherry flavoring at bottling at the request of fellow drinking buddies...will have to add some sour cherry juice to each pint when drinking.

 

[Fermented]

Hey Fiat

How did it come up after aging?

Cheers - Fermented.

 

[fiat84]

Tried a bottle last night after our last outdoor ice hockey game of the season as its supposed to warm up above freezing now. Remarkably most of the bitterness is gone and the stout is very nice at this young age, smoothed out nicely compared to the last tasting with some residual bitterness. No cherry flavor or aroma but foams ups maybe too much carbonation for a stout and almost not sediment in the bottle. Will definitely be making this stout again and want to see how it develops with at least three months aging until May. It still has a very strong hoppy aroma now. Will probably go with 1KG medium or dark dry spray malt as a control test next time added to the coopers stout kit since its good all by itself. Would be nice to have gotten some cherry flavour but am happy with how it turned out.

Am sure a few birds will enjoy this stout with some additional cherry juice after an ice cold stay in an eskee during the summer.

FYI. was able to leave my plastic fermenting pails by a sunny bedroom window upstairs and within a few weeks all the beer smell has disappeared. Amazing what you find out reading this forum.

 

[Fermented]

Birds? Ornithologist are you?

Yes, it is a foamy one. However it does behave a better with a little more time. I had the last one of these in January (? I think ?) and it was very pleasant indeed.

I'm kinda keen to give it a shot again as a stout and maybe go for a Cherry Ripe (toasty coconut and cherry and chocolate) influence.

Winter beckons... all too soon.

Cheers - Fermented.