Lager Extract Recipe Advice

[!@~@!]

Ive made bunch of kits but this is my first extract brew. Can I get some guidancepls. The recipe has been suggested by a friend.


3kg Thomas Cook LME

75gm Nelson Sauvin

500gm malted wheat

7gm s04

I don't have a brew fridge but should be able to keep the brew @ 22max not ideal but there it is.

- crack the wheat lightly, steep in 4l water,strain

- add 4l water, add malt, 40gm hops and gently boil 60mins

- turn off heat, stir in 20gm hops, let itsit 15-20mins

- cool to ferment temp, put in fermenter, add yeast

- after a week add remaining 15gm hops and leave for 2 weeks

- assuming stable sg, bottle and leave for at least a month


Any comments welcome.

 

[iralosavic]

Ive made bunch of kits but this is my first extract brew. Can I get some guidancepls. The recipe has been suggested by a friend.


3kg Thomas Cook LME

75gm Nelson Sauvin

500gm malted wheat

7gm s04

I don't have a brew fridge but should be able to keep the brew @ 22max not ideal but there it is.

- crack the wheat lightly, steep in 4l water,strain

- add 4l water, add malt, 40gm hops and gently boil 60mins

- turn off heat, stir in 20gm hops, let itsit 15-20mins

- cool to ferment temp, put in fermenter, add yeast

- after a week add remaining 15gm hops and leave for 2 weeks

- assuming stable sg, bottle and leave for at least a month


Any comments welcome.

You pretty much have an APA recipe right there and your ale yeast will make sure of it. Based on the ingredients and hopping scheduled listed, you're looking at around 1.046-1.048 OG and about 40IBU bitterness. In the bottle it'll probably be a little under 5%abv.

 

[!@~@!]

Thanks for that. I'll make a note of the OG. No reason to change anything? I'm just after a simple recipe to start with and this sounds like it will go ok.

 

[Rina]

You have to mash the wheat at 65C for an hour not steep it. Also 40gms @ 60mins give you a bittering addition of 50ibu (which is too much for an APA) and you still need to still boil the hops for a flavour addition. Also I'd advise against at dry hopping at this stage since it is a good way to introduce an infection.

Personally:
3kg Thomas Cook LME
20g Nelson Sauvin @ 60
15g NS @ 30
10g NS @ 5 or flameout
7gm s04

The hop additions are up to your personal preference. Use IanH excel spreadsheet it's a good resource.

 

[Amber Fluid]

Assuming you are doing a 20-23L batch, I would use a full packet of S04.

Why only 7gm in this recipe?

 

[iralosavic]

You have to mash the wheat at 65C for an hour not steep it. Also 40gms @ 60mins give you a bittering addition of 50ibu (which is too much for an APA) and you still need to still boil the hops for a flavour addition. Also I'd advise against at dry hopping at this stage since it is a good way to introduce an infection.

Personally:
3kg Thomas Cook LME
20g Nelson Sauvin @ 60
15g NS @ 30
10g NS @ 5 or flameout
7gm s04

The hop additions are up to your personal preference. Use IanH excel spreadsheet it's a good resource.

I just used the kit and extract beer designer spreadsheet to calculate gravity and IBUE - I guess it has NS hops at a lower AA% than whatever you based your calcs on Rina, as even with the 40gs @ 60mins, the final IBU was 40, which is in the upper end for an APA, but still acceptable.

Well, like Rina said - if you're after simple, I'd go to your local home brew store and buy dry wheat extract and use that in leiu of mashing malted grains. 250g will be enough to aid head retention and add a bit extra body.

 

[!@~@!]

ok, so revised:

- crack the wheat lightly, (mash) boil in 4l water @65c for 60m, strain to remove wheat, retain liquid

- add 4l water, add malt, 20gm hops and gently boil 30mins then add 20gm ns and boil another 30mins

- turn off heat, stir in 10gm ns,

- cool to ferment temp, put in fermenter, add yeast

- after a week add remaining 15gm hops and leave for 2 weeks

- assuming stable sg, bottle and leave for at least a month

Sound ok?

 

[Rina]

Sounds okay- I haven't used NS so I cant tell you how much to use from personal experience and am just basing it on AA. If you are going to dry hop anyway there may be no point in doing a flame out addition.

You might want to look at sparging (or rinsing) the grain after mashing to get the most out of your grain but of course will make the process longer and more complicated.

 

[iralosavic]

Sounds okay- I haven't used NS so I cant tell you how much to use from personal experience and am just basing it on AA. If you are going to dry hop anyway there may be no point in doing a flame out addition.

You might want to look at sparging (or rinsing) the grain after mashing to get the most out of your grain but of course will make the process longer and more complicated.

It makes me nervious when I read "boil" when referring to a mash, but I see you have specified 65c

Do a search on the forum for the 'kit and extract beer designer spreadsheet', so that you can key in the hops and see the resulting level of bitterness. You'll find it particularly useful.

When you're sure the yeast is done and the final gravity is good, I'd personally cold condition for those two weeks instead. All you need is a fridge set to coldest that fits the fermenter. Two weeks probably won't change the flavour much, but it will clear it up nicely while leaving plenty yeast behind for bottling. I've done this for 5 weeks and the bottle sill carbonated fine... if you're not in a hurry, 3 or 4 weeks at 0-1c would further improve the beer.


By the way, how are you planning to "cool to ferment temp"? 4L boiling water will be close to 20c if topped with ~20L cold water, so you may be right to go. 8L boiling , for example, will be around 40c topped up. I personally prefer to pitch the yeast a couple of degrees cooler than what I plan to ferment at and if I stuff up the temp off the mark, I just put the lid and airlock on and put it in the fridge for 30 mins and check again etc.


Good luck

 

[!@~@!]

Thanks for the help and hints. I will look at sparging, and the s/sheet, and grab an additional pack of yeast.

As for cooling to ferment temp iralosavic - either wait patiently or get the bread and vegemit out of the fridge.

 

[!@~@!]

Just as an update, I brewed this as revised a couple of posts up. I didnt take any readings which was daft but there you go. However I left it in the fermenter for 3 weeks then bottled it and have just started drinking it. Beats any of the kits I have tried hands down. Definitely sold on moving away from them and playing with some more extract recipes before taking the next step down the road. Thanks again for the advice to get me started.