First recipe attempt

[TheBaron]

Hi all,

I've recently gotten into kits and bits brewing and have started using grains and hops which I've found have greatly improved my beer. I've currently got 30 plastic longnecks which have been empty for far too long (a couple of days now) and would like to remedy this situation.

My last few brews have been hoppy ales, but for this I'm hoping to try and make something in a 'lager' style that I can give to friends who are used to only drinking popular commercial beers. I won't be able to ferment at lager temperatures so it'll have to be an ale posing as a lager.

I'm also hoping to keep it relatively cheap so if it comes out well I can replicate it regularly. Here's what I have so far:

1x can Coopers Lager (Original series)
250g Carapils (already have)
1kg dextrose
250g Dried Light Malt Extract (maybe, could be cut to keep prices down)
20g Saaz
Yeast? (not sure which but not keen on using kit yeast)

Made up to 23l, fermented at 18C.

It would be great if anyone had any ideas about how to make this cheaper without sacrificing quality too much, or better without inflating the price too much. I'm also up for suggestions on yeast and how to use the Saaz hops.

 

[wereprawn]

Mate, looks like your on the bones now. Use all of your ingredients , get some us-05 yeast, 20 g saaz @ 10 min.

 

[yum beer]

Yep go with what you have.
Try and get your temp lower if you can...us05 will work down to 15c, though slower than normal, but will be much cleaner.
Give it time to clear up before bottling.

 

[hwall95]

If you can I would suggest adding some more light malt extract rather then 1kg straight dextrose. It does add cost to the brew but in my opinion the extra taste and the less aging required is worth it. Maybe keep it half/half ratio and it would still be light body yet good flavour?

 

[TheBaron]

Thanks, I'll definitely consider that. I was just going for more dextrose in order to keep costs down, but the beers I've had with a large quantity of dex haven't been particularly good so I'm starting to think it may be worth the extra few dollars.

Does anyone have experience using Coopers Lager tins? Is there any noticeable difference between the original series, euro lager and heritage lager?

 

[wereprawn]

From what i understand the euro and heritage come with lager yeasts and are bittered with different hops. If you want a better beer sub the dex for the same amount LDME as suggested.

 

[hwall95]

It's not bottled yet but I currently have a coopers heritage lager cold crashing and when I transferred it for cold crashing it tasted great. It was pretty simple recipe, just heritage tin, 1kg LDME, 20g saaz toward end of boil, 300g carapils and then i used W37/70 yeast. That being said it's pretty light beer (Compared to my normal 5%), so if you want to make it heavier and lighter bodied you could sub/add some dextrose I guess. Personally I can't speak with too much confidence as I haven't tried the finish product but currently I'm fairly optimistic about