Please Help A New Guy Out.

[razE]

Hey guys,

I am wanting to make a hahn premium lager style beer. Please critique my recipe as i am still quite new and would appreciate some advice.


Morgans Blue Mountain Lager 1.7kg Beer Concentrate
Brewing Sugar (1kg)
Summer saaz hops (90grams)
Malt Extract - Light - Dried (1kg)
Wyeast 2308 Munich Lager Yeast

Ok, I have not tasted Morgan's Blue mountain lager before so is it a good choice or is there a better tasting beer concentrate out there?

How much malt extract and sugar should I use to get me around a mid strength? Also someone told me that to create good beer you shouldn't use brewing sugar when making beer but you should use other fermentables like malt. Can one do away with the brewing sugar and just use the malt extract?

I want the Hops to come through moderately, so roughly how many grams should I boil and how for how long? Should any Hops be boiled and added to the secondary?

Last but not least is my yeast a reasonable choice?

Thanks to everyone in advance!

 

[bradsbrew]

Mate I would dump the sugar and just use the light malt.
Dissolve malt in cold water then bring it to a boil then boil for 20 min throw in 15g of hops for the last 10 min of the boil then when time is up throw in another 10g.
wack the lid on your saucepan.
While you are doing your boil tip your goo can in the (sanitized) fermenter and rinse the can out with 1lt.
Strain your boiled malt into fermenter to remove hop sludge.
Fill up with cold water to desired amount.
Don't add your smacked yeast until the temp is down to at least 20 degrees.
Try to ferment at 10 to 14 degrees.

Hope that helps a bit.

Cheers Brad

 

[razz]

Morning razE. I think you should drop the sugar and add half the malt. Some of the things you are asking need to be put through some brewing software. Try Beersmith for a free download, you will be able to do a couple of recipes for free. How much summer saaz to add depends on it's alpha acids and if you want the hops for bittering, flavour or aroma. Use this yeast if you have already got it, if not, some of the dried yeasts are great for beginners. Can't help you on the Hahn premium question as I don't drink it. Good luck !
razZ lol

 

[Bribie G]

Hi, I think you will find the Morgans Blue Mountain lager has quite enough bitterness in its own right and I would personally use the hops as follows:

Boil about two litres of water in pan with about 200g of dextrose and add 20g of hops, boil for 15 mins then add another 20g and boil for only five minutes then strain through a sterilised wire strainer into the fermenter.

I reckon Hahn premium is one of the best mainstream beers originating in Australia and can easily hold its own against brewed under licence such as Heineken and shytes all over crownies. However it is not in itself a bitter beer and I would be very careful with the hops as you might end up with a German-bitter beer which is not Hahn at all. 90g is definitely overkill.

Forget the brewing sugar and add dex (750g, of which you have taken out 200 for the hop boil) and 750g light dried malt extract.

Hahn was a 5% brew so you'll need the extra stuff for the strength. Probably been watered down in the last watering down exercise. Also that yeast sounds fine but keep it as cool as possible. Purists on the forum will shudder at using it above 10 degrees but I have had success using lager yeasts at up to 18 here in the Qld 'winter'... but definitely no hotter.

Sounds like you now have your hands full :lol:

Happy brewing and you know what I'll have a couple at the RSL tonight to reaquaint my taste buds

Also at the prices we are paying for WYeast, while it's fermenting, bone up on saving and reculturing yeasts and you'll get quite a few brews out of that smack pack.

 

[razE]

Thanks for the responses so far guys! Everyone has been most helpfull. One question what will be the difference if i was to use just malt as bradsbrew suggested or using malt and dextrose as BribieG suggested?

 

[bradsbrew]

Thanks for the responses so far guys! Everyone has been most helpfull. One question what will be the difference if i was to use just malt as bradsbrew suggested or using malt and dextrose as BribieG suggested?

Mate i dont use dextrose I like the full malt flavours.
I think there is also something to do with malt doesnt ferment out into alcohol as much as dextrose which will give you a higher final gravity and not so dry but there are more knowledgable people on this forum that will be able to explain this to you.
Also with only using 200g of the dex in your boil has to do with hop utilisation. As you will see there are alot of different methods be open to resonable suggestions and find what works best for your taste and equipment.

If you go to the recipe and ingredients section type malt and dextrose in the search engine you should find bucket loads of info.

Cheers Brad

 

[razE]

Ok well thanks to everyone again, using the information above how does this sound?

Morgans Blue Mountain Lager
Add 700g malt to cold water and bring to boil then add 200g dextrose with 20g Summer Saaz hops and boil for 15 mins then add another 15g and boil for 5 mins.
Add concentrate and 500g sugar to the fermenter with 2l of boiling water, rinse can out and mix thouroughly.
Add boiled hops, malt, sugar through a strainer to fermenter.
Fill up with water to the 23L mark.
Bring wort temp down to < 20 degrees, pitch yeast and ferment at 9 degrees.
At the end of primary fermentation raise temperature to 14-15 degrees for 24 - 48 hrs

Lager in secondary at 4-5 degrees for 5-6 weeks.

 

[Gavo]

I would add the dextrose to the fermenter or at the end of the boil. As for adding the 700 grams of malt to the water and boiling I would use a boil volume of 6 liters as this would give a better hops usage due to the pre-boil SG being around the same as your OG. I would ditch the 500 grams of sugar and use dextrose instead as it ferments with no added flavor or better still use all malt and up your hop additions to suit.
Also I don't see a need for adding another 2 liters of boiling water to the fermenter as the hot wort will dissolve the concentrate and the sugar, just don't splash the hot wort about (do a search for hot side airation). You can top up your fermenter with chilled water to get your final volume and get the wort to pitching temp.

I hope this makes some sense.

Cheers
Gavo

 

[The Big Burper]

r,



What I do is boil up the day before. Add the hops and use a brew booster 250g dex, 250g of
the dreaded corn syrup, and 500g malt to 2 /12 litres water. No more than 12g hops, Saaz would be nice, and slow boil or simmer for 15 minutes. Leave the lid on the pot, cool it in the sink in a water bath, and store in the fridge overnight.

Don't lift the lid until you are ready to go the next day. Cooling it this way helps to have the wort at the correct pitching temp. All you do then is dissolve your extra 500g dex in boiling water, pour in the tin, stir it up, add the cold hop extract and cold water.

Hopefully the wort will be at pitching temperature, more so than if you added the hop mixture hot. The quicker you can pitch the yeast and seal the fermenter, the better.

Hope that makes sense.

 

[achy02]

Hi razE,

Im a week off putting down the following brew:

1 x 1.7kg Morgans Blue Mountain
500g Dex
500g LDME
15g Saaz Dry hopped
US05 re cultured yeast

I am making this for a mate who enjoyed the Blue Mountain kit (my first ever brew). I am using ale yeast because of the heat in sunny qld. Im not quite sure how that will effect the overall brew. I do remember the Morgans kit being pretty tasty and it was a bare bones K & K effort in March. Hope fully it can only get better.
Good luck

aches

 

[razE]

Hey achy,

Sounds good mate, i'm looking forward to getting my brew put down this weekend

If you have an old bar fridge/fridge around or maybe an old one a mate might not be using/want you can pick up these fridgemate temperature controllers which are easy to use and cheap to buy and can keep your brew at the right temperature . Here is a link to my LHBS where you could purchase online if you cant find locally.

http://www.craftbrewer.com.au/shop/details.asp?PID=718

Work a treat, I would say its made the best improvement in my home brewing.