Lager Recipe Advice Needed

[kalbarluke]

All,

I'm looking for some advice on making a lager. It will be an extract/kit and kilo and I will be using s23 yeast. I have temperature control and the following products:

1 x Canadian Light tin of goo
1 x tin of Light LME
1kg light DME
800gm rice malt

I also have the following hops (with approximate weights):

Galaxy (20g), Cascade (20g), Saaz (30g), Motueka (35g), Perle (50g), Hallertau (15g), Summer Saaz(30g), Amarillo (15g)

Was thinking of putting maybe 20g of Perle at 60m for bittering, 10g galaxy at 15m and 10g galaxy at 5m or 0m. I haven't used Perle yet and don't know if these flavours would work.

Any advice would be welcome.

 

[Dazza88]

Can't comment about Perle from experience but Galaxy is a pretty cool late hop to use. Stone and Wood Pacific Ale is an example of Galaxy. Galaxy is very much passion fruit for me.

1 x Canadian Light tin of goo - do you mean Cooper's Canadian Blonde Kit?

If so, it is hopped to come out at 22 IBU when made to 23L so doing your stated hop schedule will produce a beer that is around 35 IBU - that's a little on the bitter side for lagers but in range for pilsners.

How about this:

The can of goo
1kg DME
Most/all of the rice malt (to get the OG to 1.048 - 1.050 ish)
10 g Perle at 60
10g of Cascade and Motueka each at 15 min
10g of Cascade and Motueka each at 5 min (gets IBU to about 30)

Have you got the Kit & Extract Beer Designer spreadsheet? If not, see http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...showtopic=29655, it's very useful for making recipes.

Craftbrewer has got very good descriptions about hops. It states Perle is suitable in lagers.

If you wanted a Euro type lager Czech Saaz and Hallertau are better late hop addition.

Your other hops are more usually utilized in ale styles. Though there are examples of their use in commercial lagers: Little Creatures Bright Ale uses Cascade and B Saaz (that's Moteuka right or similar to), Cricketers Arm Lager uses Amarillo.

Or go with the galaxy, it will make a good beer. The s-23 is fruity at higher range temps so it might be pale ale ish.

 

[kalbarluke]

Dazdog,

The goo is Morgans Canadian light which is hopped to 16 IBU @ 23L. I have the spreadsheet on my old (dying) computer and am using a mac. The mac can open the spreadsheet using its default program but can't perform any of the calculations..

Thanks for your input. Much appreciated. I like your suggestion but I might lift the perle to 20g becuse I have to make up another 6 IBU.

 

[waggastew]

In terms of your original recipe it has an estimated ABV of >7%, thats a big lager which would need alot of yeast and alot of lager time. I would suggest ditching the LME and just using the rice and DME. That will put you at about 5% which is within spec.

As for the amount of hops I think that its worth erring on the side of 'over bittering'. In my experience extract/K&K lagers tend to end up a bit sweeter/under attentuated with lager yeasts. I did two last winter that really lacked hop punch and were a bit sweet.

The varieties of hops used is of course up to you, Cascade tends to be more of an American Ale yeast but rules are made to be broken.

If you decide to go with Perle it is one of the main hops in Grolsch. It is somewhat in the range of Hallertau, just not as delicate and a bit more grassy. It is mainly used as a bittering hop but can be used for flavour/aroma ala Grolsch. A mate of mine used some recently as a dry hop in a Blue Mountains Lager and it had that Grolschy aroma to it.

Perle would work well in combo with Hallertau so i would suggest using Perle early and Hallertau later if your going for a Euro-style thing. Maybe:

10g Perle at 60min
15g Hallertau at 10min

That puts the bitterness at 33IBU, high for an American Premium Lager (like Grolsch) but right on spec for a Pilsener.

I have a Grolsch clone currently lagering to the following recipe. Have not tried it yet so cannot vouch for the result:

1 can Coopers Euro
1kg Extra light DME
100g Carapils (steeped, used for head retention and grainyness)
500g dextrose (dry the beer out)
15g Perle 15min boil
Danish 2042 yeast fermented at 8degC

Stew

 

[manticle]

What kind of lager do you want to make? Anything European screams Saaz and hallertau from your inventory.

Galaxy will give you passionfruit lager, Cascade will give grapefruit lager, amarillo mandarin/stonefruit lager, summer saaz and motueka I've never tried.

Haven't used perle either - is it considered a fairly neutral bittering hop?

 

[kalbarluke]

I don't really know what style of lager I want to make. I just want something that is inoffensive and fairly easy to drink. I usually make ales (APAs mainly) and wanted to make something different this time, but I don't really know which hops will (and won't) go well together. And I don't really want to "experiment" because if it turns out tasting like armpit, 8 weeks (fermentation,lagering,bottling) is a long time to wait for such a poor result.
I bought the perle for the intention of making a lager so I'd really like to use that. At this stage it looks like I will use it as bittering at 60min (thanks for your input waggastew. much appreciated). Does galaxy ever get used in lagers? Do certain hops clash with perle?
I do like the idea of perle at 60min and hallertau at 10min. I won't be making it until later this week so I have a few days to make up my mind. Thanks to people who have inputed already. Any suggestions welcome. Will keep you informed as to what I do.

 

[yum beer]

hey Luke,

sounds like a difficult decision to make, I always find it easier when you have only 1 kind of hop to chose from...

anyway, I have used Galaxy in both a Euro lager and a Canadian(coopers) and its quite nice, though it is fairly distinct. You get a lot of the hops come through with the light kits like the canadians. I find that about 8gm additions are nice.
Also be sure of your yeast type for temps, I dont know about Morgans but Coopers Canadian comes with an Ale yeast, not a lager yeast. You may need to get a lager yeast, or keep your ferment in the lower ale ranges 16-18c to keep it clean.
It will take a litlle longer to brew, but will be worth it.

+1 for waggastew's recipe, I do similar but use Hallertua instead of perle, similar malts...yummy.

 

[yum beer]

hey Luke,

sounds like a difficult decision to make, I always find it easier when you have only 1 kind of hop to chose from...

anyway, I have used Galaxy in both a Euro lager and a Canadian(coopers) and its quite nice, though it is fairly distinct. You get a lot of the hops come through with the light kits like the canadians. I find that about 8gm additions are nice.
Also be sure of your yeast type for temps, I dont know about Morgans but Coopers Canadian comes with an Ale yeast, not a lager yeast. You may need to get a lager yeast, or keep your ferment in the lower ale ranges 16-18c to keep it clean.
It will take a litlle longer to brew, but will be worth it.

+1 for waggastew's recipe, I do similar but use Hallertua instead of perle, similar malts...yummy.

Just noticed your using s-23 in the OP. sounds good.