Lager Recommendation?

[appius]

Im thinking of doing my second brew in the near future. I want to make a lager this time as it is more my taste. Ive looked around on the forum but havent been able to find any good kit & kilo recommendations. So as the title says i would appreciate suggestions/recipes!

Cheers,
Appius

 

[Reon]

Hi

Do you have temp control? Do you add hops and or steep speciality grains? I can give some ideas but need to know where your at with your brewing and your limitations with your equipment.

Reon

 

[appius]

Hi

Do you have temp control? Do you add hops and or steep speciality grains? I can give some ideas but need to know where your at with your brewing and your limitations with your equipment.

Reon

Ive got temp control. I added cascade hops to my cooper IPA that i made last time, it was a bit too hoppy for me tho. I havent tried steeping yet. Not kegging yet, but have all the standard gear u need to brew kits.

 

[bum]

IPA is a very hoppy style - then you added more hops. It's gonna be hoppy. If you ever want to go down the ale road again the Coopers Australian Pale Ale or the Real Ale tins are very good as a base and you won't get the same effect as with the IPA tin. Haven't seen many people recommending good lager kits. I know many like the Coopers larger kit but I find it very bland and it probably is technically an ale anyway(?).

 

[bum]

There's a few good suggestions in here:
http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...84&hl=Lager

 

[Reon]

I like to use a lager kit (usually coopers lager as it is cheapest) as a base then using beersmith I create a brew. My last one:

Morgans Blue mountain lager
1kg LDME
250gm Dex
350gm Carramunich Steeped
25 gm spalt pellet @ 15 min
15 gm Spalt @ 5 min
Wyeast bohemian lager
Set temp 10 c.

Comes to about 28 IBU from memory. The higher end of the scale for the style.

I just boil my hops in the runnings from the steeped grains. I also dont usually use Dextrose but if I do it is never alot. Any lager yeast will do if you have good temp control but I have heard that S23 gives fruity esters, not what I want. S189 (swiss lager yeast) is my favourite so far. Hope this helps.

Reon

 

[Phoney]

If you want to step up to an extract, I can recommend this:

2x tins of 1.5kg Coopers LME
500g LDME
200g caramel / crystal malt (30L)
30g Hallertauer @60min
25g Hallertauer @2min
Saflager S-23 @ 10C for 14 days
Rack to secondary and keep @ 4C for another 14 days.


Comes out very similar to Becks.

 

[mwd]

For kits the Morgans Blue Mountain is very good.

 

[appius]

If you want to step up to an extract, I can recommend this:

2x tins of 1.5kg Coopers LME
500g LDME
200g caramel / crystal malt (30L)
30g Hallertauer @60min
25g Hallertauer @2min
Saflager S-23 @ 10C for 14 days
Rack to secondary and keep @ 4C for another 14 days.


Comes out very similar to Becks.

Would i need any more equipment to step up to extract?

 

[bum]

Would i need any more equipment to step up to extract?

See if this answers you questions:
http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...showtopic=33700

Personally I'd think about having more than one kit under my belt before moving on to extract (even though it really isn't a great deal harder).

 

[The Big Burper]

For kits the Morgans Blue Mountain is very good.

Ill drink to that!

At the moment I'm drinking a Morgans Blue Mountain Lager, made as per directions on the tin. A good light type of lager/ale (as in taste) and with a kilo of dextrose makes it about 5.5% ABV.

A good sort of "few beers after work" type.


cheers
BB

 

[Phoney]

Personally I'd think about having more than one kit under my belt before moving on to extract (even though it really isn't a great deal harder).

x2

Sorry I missed the bit about it only being your second batch.

Yeah get half a dozen k&k's down & get used to adding hops & steeping grains before taking the next step

 

[altone]

Yep, the ESB 3l kits are quite good and I still brew them even though I've dipped my toes into allgrain brewing.

Make sure though to use the recommended grain enhancer as it does make a difference.

I also always use White Labs or other top quality yeasts rather than the supplied ones.

Once you've made one, try experimenting with additional aromatic hops - they're a must for me but sounds like
you're not a hop junkie like I am.

Fermenter1 Modified ESB kit Bavarian Lager
Fermenter2 Modified ESB kit Czech Pilsner
Fermenter3 Bostons Czech Pilsner
conditioner Scratch Extract Pilsner brew - recipe will be posted if good
Drinking Scratch Extract Vienna style lager - not good enough to post -but good enough to drink

 

[AussieJosh]

If its your second brew id keep it simple.....Coopers European Lager with 1kg Coopers brew enhancer 2. I am also making that tonight and i have heard good things about it from this site.

 

[manticle]

IPA is a very hoppy style - then you added more hops. It's gonna be hoppy. If you ever want to go down the ale road again the Coopers Australian Pale Ale or the Real Ale tins are very good as a base and you won't get the same effect as with the IPA tin. Haven't seen many people recommending good lager kits. I know many like the Coopers larger kit but I find it very bland and it probably is technically an ale anyway(?).

Essentially it doesn't matter what the kits are as you can make them a lager simply by adding a lager yeast and fermenting it at correct temps, then cold conditioning.

The coopers Bavarian lager kit yeast is a genuine lager yeast I believe. The heritage range also has a pilsner that the website recommends fermenting at lower temps so I assume likewise there.

I can't recommend either as I haven't tried them but for basic kit brewing Coopers produce some reasonable stuff that you can spice up yourself (extra hops, malt, different yeasts etc)

What characteristics are you looking for in your lager appius?
Dark, light, strong, mild, pilsner, pilsener etc etc?

 

[discoloop]

Agree with above posts re: Morgans Blue Mountains kit. It's a cracker. One of the very few straight K&K's I've done was using this kit and a kilo of LDME and it turned out beautifully. I used Saflager w34/70 at proper temps but I've read somewhere around here good things about the kit yeast. Yet to try it, though....

Edit: Thinking about this kit, I made an absolutely stunning beer with it as follows:

1 x Morgans Blue Mtns Kit
1kg Liquid wheat malt
250g dextrose
12g Cascade hops teabag
W34/70 fermented at 10C

One of the best beers I've ever made...

 

[GregVR]

Agree with opinions on Morgan's Blue Mtn. I have used it for several lagers, all with different additions, all good. The kit yeast was better than expected, and recently had good results with S23.

 

[Beerbuoy]

One of my best kits was Morgans Chairman selection Cerveza. I'm not really into those girly kind of mexican beers with lime h34r: but I do like this one for a nice easy drinking light lager. With some aging the lime flavor is hardly noticeable. Goes down well on a hot qld day.
It also comes with a reasonable lager yeast rather then the normal crappy kit yeast.
I used 500gm dextrose for lighter alc content.

Cheers

 

[appius]

Essentially it doesn't matter what the kits are as you can make them a lager simply by adding a lager yeast and fermenting it at correct temps, then cold conditioning.

The coopers Bavarian lager kit yeast is a genuine lager yeast I believe. The heritage range also has a pilsner that the website recommends fermenting at lower temps so I assume likewise there.

I can't recommend either as I haven't tried them but for basic kit brewing Coopers produce some reasonable stuff that you can spice up yourself (extra hops, malt, different yeasts etc)

What characteristics are you looking for in your lager appius?
Dark, light, strong, mild, pilsner, pilsener etc etc?

Im not sure how to put the characteristic but something like the boags/cascade premium lager styles. Also since i made the IPA im a bit cautious about adding extra hops to the brew. I want to try the flavour differences but dont want over do it. Any recommendations on how to limit this?

 

[manticle]

Use a pale based kit, 1x kg pale dried malt, (around 500g- 1kg dextrose if you want it a little stronger and drier) a dried lager yeast (like saflager or brew cellar lager yeast), ferment below 14 (preferably below 12 if you can) for at least 2 weeks. Allow to warm up a little over 24 -48 hrs (18 deg if you can hit it) then cold condition in a fridge for at least one more week - longer if you can (2 degrees).

If you get into racking and or fining do it before placing the beer in the fridge. if you don't do one or the other don't worry too much. The ferment temps and yeast will give you a nice, clean refreshing beer and it will be quite simple to do. Lagers take a bit longer to do properly so be patient.