Need some advice - Mangrove Jacks Blonde Lager

[Bracko74]

Hi everyone, I'm new to home brewing and got my first kit last weekend for my birthday. I got the Mangrove Jacks starter kit with the blonde lager and did as the instructions said - cleaned & sterilised everything. Made up the wort and added in the water and yeast as per the packet instructed. Only thing I didn't do was an OG reading before fermenting as I found out after.

So it had been going well at 20-22C. watched the airlock and waited until there was no activity i.e.. bubbles and then did a reading with the hydrometer. Left for another day and did another reading and it was stable. I then added in the Mangrove Jacks beer finings and waited another two days.

Just wondering if there was anything I have missed - other than the OG reading. It smells good - like beer should, had a taste and seems ok. It's just still cloudy.

Should I leave it for a couple more days or bottle it and see how it goes?

Any advice for a newbie would be great .
Thanks.

 

[Lethaldog]

I've never done one but sounds pretty close to me, sounds like you nailed it! The OG would have helped you determine how strong the beer is (abv%) but not overly important for a kit as you can find all this information out anyway, I haven't done a kit for years but it would probably be around 4.8-5.2% depending on what you added!
Leaving it longer will help but sounds to me like your ready to go now and considering its your first brew you must be itching to see how it turned out ( if your anything like me) do another reading now and if it's still stable bottle it!

 

[Danscraftbeer]

The beer will clear in the bottle conditioning with time. Then when you chill the bottles you will probably get chill haze. That can take a week in the fridge to get totally clear again.
Did the instruction say to brew at 20 -22c? Just curious because true lager should be brewed colder like around 11c range.
Also good practice to leave the ferment for 2 weeks with kits. Mainly because they often don't recommend or supply enough yeast. Something that always surprizes me from learning to pitch correct amounts of yeast is that home brew stores and kits information recommend an amount of yeast less than what is best.
Eg. 1 packet of yeast recommended when it should really be 2 packets or maybe more for a good yeast count.
I hope that's not confusing the issue.

 

[Bracko74]

Thanks guys. Sounds like I better get my bottles ready.

Both the kit instructions and info sheet from the home brew store stated around 18-25C for fermenting. So I had it in the pantry - which was perfect for this temp range.

Just wondering what would the best time frame for the bottles to sit for? In the fridge or just at the same temp as fermenting?

Cheers

 

[Lethaldog]

Same as fermenting for a week or two then into the fridge!

 

[Danscraftbeer]

Yep. Keep them in the dark at room temp. 2 weeks minimum is what I do. You can chill 1 bottle at a time to test them if your impatient which is perfectly normal for new brewers. We've all been there. If you want clear beer you need to be patient and chill for some time. Like 2 weeks sometimes for the haze to drop out. This will happen the same with the Coopers commercial product that are bottle fermented too.

 

[LAGERFRENZY]

Did the instruction say to brew at 20 -22c? Just curious because true lager should be brewed colder like around 11c range.

Just to clear any confusion most non-premium kit lagers are shipped with a general purpose Ale yeast not a true Lager yeast. Probably best to brew them around or just under 20c.

 

[Danscraftbeer]

Good point Lagerfrenzy. Its been years from my first brew now. That I did by the kit instructions that got me beer that I thought was preferable to shelf product. That's what gets you hooked.
Now I don't even brew Ale at that higher temperature ha.