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NRB

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I know this is a broad classification, but I thought I'd ask for a nice easy recipe.

I'm about to go all grain, as in I've basically got all the equipment I need to start it up, but have yet to do one on my own. Until I prep my kegs as HLT and boiler, I'm limited to a 20L stockpot.

Today I picked up a few bottles from a German Club and told the bloke there I'd give him some brews for giving me the bottles... he obviously likes German beers.

I've not got a lager/fermenting fridge, so I'd say a lager is out of the question. I guess I could always brew a Coopers Bavarian Lager following their Burly Bavarian Lager recipe, but I'd prefer to brew an AG beer and use a nice liquid yeast. Or possibly a partial mash with an unhopped liquid extract.

Does anyone have a suggestion for a recipe that would be a nice easy (and forgiving) one to try?

Thanks guys,
Nick
 
I'd spend the weekend looking in the local 'trader' for a fermenting fridge.....
Fridges, you'll quickly learn are one of the cheapest part of homebrew... And fermentation controll the most crutial...

If you feel you need to go AG 'now'. Maybe make a Dunkleweizen. The HBD recipator Vlad pointed out is one of my favourites for inspiration/guidance when formulating recipes too.....

Asher for now
 
If you can find a chest freezer even better, they are much more versatile and efficent. You will need to sort out something to control the temperature though, an external thermostat that turns the freezer on and off is good, that way you dont touch the electrics of the freezer.
You can use if for fermenting, lagering, serving or even its intended use as a freezer. I picked mine up for less than $100.
:D
 
Thanks for the link.

I have every intention of getting a fridge/freezer with thermostat similar to the details posted on AHB. The problem for me at the moment is lack of space - I'm looking for a new house, but until I've bought that a fridge is not an option. I've got a dead barfridge (170L) which I usually leave my fermenter in, but it won't be able to get down to lager temps :(

I hope a suitable property comes on the market soon!
 
well do an alt beer then using the 1007 it doenst need to be brewed as low as a lager does but still needs a reseonble cool fermation temp
 
NRB said:
I've got a dead barfridge (170L) which I usually leave my fermenter in, but it won't be able to get down to lager temps :(
Wouldnt freezing a bunch of 2lt PET/milk bottles full of water drag the temps down???

Fit as many frozens in there ABOVE and next to the fermenter and keep on the change over???
 
I've thought about that Linz, but wouldn't having the bottles touching the side of the fermenter mean "cold spots" in the order of freezing temps? There's no room to place any above the fermenter either.

Here's a pic of the inside of the fridge.

DSC01396.jpg
 
Are you a fan of wheats? Ive never tried a dunkelweizen, but I love the lighter coloured ones. They ferment well at about 20 degrees or so.
 
I'm quite partial to wheats. They don't keep particularly long either, do they?
 
Here's a nice "pilsner" recipe using Wyeast 1007 German Altbier yeast, which will produce excellent pilsner-like results as long as it is kept under about 65F. I primary in a water bath in the sink and add bottles of frozen water a few times a day to keep the temps down.

This is an attempt to clone a Black Forest pilsner. I call it Pine Cone Pils because the target brau is Rothaus Tannenzaepfle.

Pine Cone Pils
5 gallon batch

5lbs German Pilsner malt
5lbs 2-row Pale Malt
0.5lbs Carapils malt
0.5lb Munich (or Vienna) malt

Strike at 160F with 3.5 gallons
Mash 60 minutes at 150F
Batch sparge 4 gallons at 170F

Boil:
1oz Tettnanger 60 minutes
0.5oz Tettnanger 15 minutes
0.5oz Hallertauer 15 minutes
1oz Hallertauer 1 minute

Wyeast 1007 German Altbier yeast
Ferment between 50-65F

Sorry about the English units, we haven't quite figured out the French ones yet.
 
NRB

I see no probs with cold spots - commercial breweries use glycol jacketd fermentation tanks.
The wort on the outside is decidely cooler than the wort in the centre due to the heat given off by the active yeast.

Hope this helps

Ken....
 
NRB said:
There's no room to place any above the fermenter either.
What about if you turn the airlock, so it runs along the centre line of the lid, and put 2 square 2lt PET milk "bottles" either side of the airlock and then another 2 at 90 degrees to the first 2, etc, etc??

They would be "above" the fermenter and cooling the space inside the fridge.
 
I'm collecting my new "cooling bottles" now... will be interesting to see how things go.
 
I use frozen bottles to maintain fermentation temperatures in Summer.

Make up a strong salt water solution and fill the bottles with that and they will freeze at a lower temperature than straight water.

Steve.
 
NRB,
I humbly recommend a wheat beer. Perhaps he might like a Berliner Weisse with a real sour mash. Is this batch of beer for you or him?

I've not yet made an Altbier , so I would give that a go.
U can make a decent wheat from DME and Wheat DME, so why make it ag, for the first time (at least).
Maybe a Helles, and brew with Bohemian lager yeast (it's actually good up to 15 C), or at 18 C you could use a California Lager yeast to make a pilsner.

Sour Berlin wheat beer?

Kellermeister said:
Sorry about the English units, we haven't quite figured out the French ones yet.

...and Kellermeister, I thought the metric system was a Euro thing, not just in France. What is it with you yanks and the French? My opinion only, of course


Weizguy


:chug:
 
Weizguy said:
...and Kellermeister, I thought the metric system was a Euro thing, not just in France. What is it with you yanks and the French? My opinion only, of course
Well, to be fair to Kellermeister, SI units, or should I say Le Systme International d'Units, were invented in froggyland. Some parts of Europe, like those pommies, are still struggling to get to grips with it.
 
Weizguy said:
...and Kellermeister, I thought the metric system was a Euro thing, not just in France. What is it with you yanks and the French? My opinion only, of course


Weizguy
Sorry, that was meant to be humor. I work with a lot of road contractors and when they bid on state or federal projects, the US government requires that the engineers draw the plans in metric units. When they bid on municipal or private projects (the majority of projects), the plans are in English units. Contractors are a complaining bunch, and I have heard them complaining about those d@%& French units. Most of these guys couldn't find France on a map and they are really complaining about the US gummint.

Er, let me rephrase:

Sorry that I was too lazy to convert this recipe into metric.

:D
 
Weizguy said:
Perhaps he might like a Berliner Weisse with a real sour mash. Is this batch of beer for you or him?
The batch is for me mainly, but a few bottles will be for the guys at the club - I'd prefer to make something up they'd be used to drinking rather than a Cascade-riddled APA!

Weizguy said:
U can make a decent wheat from DME and Wheat DME, so why make it ag, for the first time (at least).

Hmm... might have to look into this. Might be a go-er.

Chiller said:
Make up a strong salt water solution

Will give that a crack.
 
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