Honey And Orange Lager/ale

[Helmut]

Hey Guys, wanted to get an opinion on a brew I will be attempting tomorrow.

1 x Morgans Blue Mountain Lager (1.7kg)
750g x Light LME
500g Dextrose
300g Honey
15g Saaz hops (pellets) @60mins
10g Saaz @15mins
10g Saaz @0mins
Zest from 6 x oranges
1 x Morgan's Lager Yeast 6g (From Kit)

Planning to boil the hops in the LME then add the orange zest with 15 minutes to go then add the Morgans kit. Mix it up, add to the fermenter with the Dex and Honey.
Does this sound like it will taste any good?
First step up to boiling LME and hops.

Cheers,

Leon

 

[Synthetase]

I assume the final volume is 22-23 litres?

At that volume I find two oranges to be sufficient. I think 6 is overkill, but horses for courses.

 

[beerdrinkingbob]

I assume the final volume is 22-23 litres?

At that volume I find two oranges to be sufficient. I think 6 is overkill, but horses for courses.

I agree, a mate has experimented with wheaties and two was a good number, but it's all about your taste :kooi:

 

[matt white]

I dont think you will taste the honey. I made a honey wheat beer a few weeks ago using 2kg of honey, 1.5kgs of pilsener malt and 1.5kgs of wheat malt and got no sign of the honey at all. I added it only for 5 mins at the end of the boil and it made no difference.

 

[Helmut]

Put this down last night. First time I had done a boil before, what lovely aromas it produces in the kitchen.
Ended up dropping the honey from the equation. Also got a bit greedy and extended it to 24L. Still gave a 1040 OG reading. Tasted very hoppy from the fermenter, probably should have filtered out the hop and orange peel but hopefully this will fall out into the trub.
Pitched the yeast at about 8pm last night but as of 8am this morning can't see any action going on. No Krauzen not bubbling from the airlock. Should I be worried?

 

[bconnery]

Put this down last night. First time I had done a boil before, what lovely aromas it produces in the kitchen.
Ended up dropping the honey from the equation. Also got a bit greedy and extended it to 24L. Still gave a 1040 OG reading. Tasted very hoppy from the fermenter, probably should have filtered out the hop and orange peel but hopefully this will fall out into the trub.
Pitched the yeast at about 8pm last night but as of 8am this morning can't see any action going on. No Krauzen not bubbling from the airlock. Should I be worried?

If that is a lager yeast in the kit then I'd say you've very much underpitched.
Lager yeasts need a higher yeast count. I'd expect it might start slow, especially if you are fermenting at lower temps.

Even 6g of ale yeast isn't really enough.
Personally I'd get some more yeast in there ASAP.

 

[Helmut]

Brewing at about 17-20 degrees. SG has dropped to 1036 does this mean something is going on or should I go ahead and pitch another yeast. Only have a leftover sachet from a Coopers Kit.

 

[seemax]

Lager yeast at 17-20C ... it will ferment but expect some funkiness.

As a general rule you need twice the amount of yeast for lagers (ie 2 packets of dry). Best pitched and ferment at close to 10C, although BribieG seems to have good success with S189 up towards 15C.

 

[Helmut]

Apparently this is yeast is some sort of hybrid lager yeast that will brew at ale temps of 15-30C. Just unscrewed the lid and had a quick look. Appears to be a layer of foam on top. Taste is still very sweet. Screwed the lid on real tight so I think I'll give it another few hours to see if the airlock starts bubbling, otherwise will pitch the other yeast.

 

[Helmut]

Made this brew up last week sans the honey. OG was 1040 and now 7 days later its sitting at 1016. Active fermentation took about 2 days to start, brew bubbled away for about 3 days and has been dormant ever since. Should I let this sit for another week untouched or would pitching another yeast be an idea.
Tastes pretty good at the moment, not sweet and with a nice Saaz zing to it. Surprising that the orange hasn't come through stronger, very strong orange aroma during the fermentation phase.