Style Of The Week 2/8/06 - Australian Lager

[Stuster]

I wanted to look at a beer we all know (and love?), Australian Lager. The BJCP guidelines for light lagers are of no use to us as they reflect at the similar but slightly different world of American lagers. So using the famous SABSOSA guidelines for Pale Australian Lagers, from here. I thought it'd be best to look at all three styles together to avoid confusion as they are fairly similar. Shoot me down if you think that's not true.

So what about some recipes for these easy drinkers. Grains, hops, yeast, etc. This is definitely one style that lots of kit brewers make, so which kits are good and how about some ideas for making the best of that kit?

Tell us all you know. :chug:

PS. I couldn't immediately find any good threads on this topic, but I'm sure there are heaps. If you can think of one, can you post a link to it.

10 PALE AUSTRALIAN LAGER
10.1 AUSTRALIAN LAGER
AROMA
General: Little to no malt aroma. Hop aroma may range from low to none and may be flowery.
Specific: Slight fruity aromas from yeast and hop varieties used may exist. No diacetyl.
APPEARANCE
Very pale straw to pale gold colour. White head. Carbonation medium to high. Clarity good to excellent.
FLAVOUR
General:. Crisp and dry flavour with some low levels of sweetness. Hop flavour may range from low to medium. Hop bitterness low to medium.
Specific:. Balance can vary from slightly malty to slightly bitter, but is usually close to even. No diacetyl. No fruitiness. Finish tending
dry.
BODY
Low to low medium. Well carbonated. Slight carbonic bite on tongue is acceptable.
OVERALL IMPRESSION
Light, refreshing and thirst quenching. Fosters Lager Carlton Draught, XXXX and Tooheys New are typical examples.

10.2 AUSTRALIAN BITTER
AROMA
General: Low to medium hop aroma. Little to no malt aroma.
Specific: Fruity, yeasty characters may be evident.
APPEARANCE
Colour pale gold to golden. Carbonation medium.
FLAVOUR
General:. Low malt sweetness with low to medium bitterness.
Specific:. Fruity esters acceptable. Can contain some phenols and
low amounts of diacetyl.
BODY
Light to medium. Medium carbonation.
OVERALL IMPRESSION
Some fruity, sweetness in finish with a low to medium bitterness and hop character. Victoria Bitter, and Tooheys Red are typical examples.

10.3 PREMIUM AUSTRALIAN LAGER
AROMA
General: A mild, malt aroma, which may be supported by low to moderate, possibly noble, hop notes.
Specific: Estery fruitiness, diacetyl, and phenolic or yeasty notes should be absent.
APPEARANCE
General: Straw to pale gold. Bright, with a reasonable head.
Specific: Darker than common Australian lagers, due to the use of less adjuncts.
FLAVOUR
General: A low to moderate mild malt flavour may be supported by low to moderate hop flavours. Bitterness can range from low-medium (lagers) to high-medium (pilsners), resulting in a neutral to slightly bitter malt/bitterness balance. Medium to medium-high carbonation. Crisp and dry.
Specific: Any fruity flavours, phenolics, yeasty flavours, diacetyl, astringency or harshness, should be penalized.
BODY
Light to light-medium.
OVERALL IMPRESSION
A clean, crisp lager, designed basically for quaffing, but containing more interest and more malt and hop character than the typical Australian session lagers. Examples of the style include Malt Shovel pilsner and Boags premium lager.
.

 

[Steve]

One kit that I have fond memories of was the Coopers Heritage Lager (from the premium range)....done with a bag of "The Right Stuff" from local HBS. I think it had 500 gms dry malt, 250 gms dextrose, 250 gms dry corn syrup, done with W34/70 in the fridge. After 4-5 months it was the clearest beer I have ever made, crisp, dry, thirst quenching. Very happy with that one.
Cheers
Steve

 

[Samwise Gamgee]

Tooheys New won the Champion Trophy for this catagory at the 2006 AIBA

 

[THE DRUNK ARAB]

Hope Arnie doesn't mind me posting this link from OCB.

http://oz.craftbrewer.org/Recipes/beerstyl.../AustLager.html

C&B
TDA

 

[Stuster]

Tooheys New won the Champion Trophy for this catagory at the 2006 AIBA

I think that tells us a lot about AIBA. :unsure:

Arnie's recipe looks simple and tasty. :super:

 

[James Squire]

Just kegged up what I called an Aussie *ALE* last night. Tasted nice out of the fermentor. The reason I bring up the ale here (in the lager thread) is that, as far as a partial recipe goes, trade the US56 for some W34/70 and it should go down nicely. Perhaps halve the wheat and up the pils a little but....

Couple of Kilo's unhopped extract
1 Kg Pils malt
0.5 Kg Wheat malt
0.2 Kg med Crystal
20g POR @ 60min
10g Hallertau @ 20 min
10g Hallertau @ 10 min
US56 @ 16-17C

Cheers and good beers,

JS

 

[berazafi]

Wheres DC, he would be an expert at this style

 

[therook]

My mate is one of the arrogant types that wont drink anything other than Victorian Bitter, if someone has a recipe for this then i'll give it a go, he can drink it while i enjoy a more enjoyable one.

Rook

 

[Adamt]

My mate is one of the arrogant types that wont drink anything other than Victorian Bitter, if someone has a recipe for this then i'll give it a go, he can drink it while i enjoy a more enjoyable one.

Rook

Sad... how about you let him drink his own VB, and spend your time/money on making real beer

 

[berazafi]

You will have a hard time getting the metalic taste into the beer, you would need the CUB yeast strain probably, you would have to also brew with mostly chemical hop extracts and malt extract and sugers as i dont think they use much fresh malt or hops

 

[warrenlw63]

I suppose if you wanted to make some authentic Australian swill you'd need to get your hands on some Schooner Malt for that dextriny, yucky malt profile that needs sugar to thin it. Not as prolific as it used to be when I first started AG brewing (thankfully). <_<
If you can't get Schooner lower your sugar content to 20% and add extra malt.

You'd go something like this. Take me as seriously as you like. :lol:

OG 1.045 IBU 25

65% Schooner Malt
5% Medium Crystal
30% Cane Sugar
25IBU POR Hops
(a little Golden Cluster as a 15 min addition if you like that Fourex character)

Neutral Lager yeast (pref Wyeast Danish 2042) fermented at about 14-15 degrees. Make sure you've got enough POR and fermentation byproducts to create the "wet-dog" character. Don't lager just sit in a secondary for a week or two.

Yum! h34r:

Warren -

 

[berazafi]

Neutral Lager yeast (pref Wyeast Danish 2042) fermented at about 14-15 degrees. Make sure you've got enough POR and fermentation byproducts to create the "wet-dog" character. Don't lager just sit in a secondary for a week or two.

Yum! h34r:

Warren -

UM YUK

 

[James Squire]

65% Schooner Malt
5% Medium Crystal
30% Cane Sugar
25IBU POR Hops
(a little Golden Cluster as a 15 min addition if you like that Fourex character)

Only thing missing is the Sweat Sock steeped in secondary for 2 weeks! h34r: :lol:

JS

 

[ArnieW]

Hi TDA,

you made my job easier - I was going to look up that article and quote it myself ... :beer:

Actually, I wrote that quite a long time ago now, and my recipe has evolved a bit since then.

You might want to add a little sugar (to make it an authentic Aussie lager), although I've become quite fond of using flaked maize.

Also, I wouldn't dry hop hallertau - it tastes like grass :blink:

So, my latest recipe of this very yummy interpretation (read much nicer and flavoursome - particularly in the hop department) is:

42 litres
=========
1.1 kg flaked maize
7.6 kg pilsner malt
400g wheat malt

15 IBU of Hallertau at 60 mins
about 70 g of Hallertau at 10 mins
and 70g of Hallertau at knockout.

And ferment with any good lager yeast - the last one I used was Wyeast 2206 - Bavarian.

To make an 'authentic' premium aussie, I reckon I'd halve the last two hop additions.

cheers, Arnie

 

[Steve]

Hi TDA,

you made my job easier - I was going to look up that article and quote it myself ... :beer:

Actually, I wrote that quite a long time ago now, and my recipe has evolved a bit since then.

You might want to add a little sugar (to make it an authentic Aussie lager), although I've become quite fond of using flaked maize.

Also, I wouldn't dry hop hallertau - it tastes like grass :blink:

So, my latest recipe of this very yummy interpretation (read much nicer and flavoursome - particularly in the hop department) is:

42 litres
=========
1.1 kg flaked maize
7.6 kg pilsner malt
400g wheat malt

15 IBU of Hallertau at 60 mins
about 70 g of Hallertau at 10 mins
and 70g of Hallertau at knockout.

And ferment with any good lager yeast - the last one I used was Wyeast 2206 - Bavarian.

To make an 'authentic' premium aussie, I reckon I'd halve the last two hop additions.

cheers, Arnie

Arnie - thanks for bringing this back on topic with your recipe instead of the usual boring slagging off swill posts.
Cheers
Steve

 

[DrewCarey82]

Wheres DC, he would be an expert at this style

Just about 2 head home as sick as a dog and was off y'day and will be off for the week, will view when I get back with great interest.

Cheers.

 

[warrenlw63]

Arnie - thanks for bringing this back on topic with your recipe instead of the usual boring slagging off swill posts.
Cheers
Steve

Steve. I don't think the topic's totally gone O/T per se. Even a bit of cynicism by everybody isn't totally O/T either. The fact is most Australian Lagers be they everyday or premium will usually always contain some degree of Pride of Ringwood, sucrose and abreviated fermentation regimes. That's just a fact of life. Personally speaking the vast commercial consensus (but not all of them) are indeed poorly made beers.

Arnie's recipe will produce a very nice beer I'd say having tasted one of his Oz Premium interpretations previously. OTOH it's easy to misconstrue to the genre with something more in the line of a European Pale Lager style.

The Pils Malt, flaked maize and Euro noble hops could also be deemed a good approximation of Heineken, Grolsch et al. As can a lot of CAP Classic American Pilsner interpretations. The differences are divided by a very fine line.

IMHO Australian Lagers can only "just" be perceived as a style full stop.

Warren -

 

[ArnieW]

The Pils Malt, flaked maize and Euro noble hops could also be deemed a good approximation of Heineken, Grolsch et al. As can a lot of CAP Classic American Pilsner interpretations. The differences are divided by a very fine line.

IMHO Australian Lagers can only "just" be perceived as a style full stop.

I'd have to agree with Warren. I don't think the recipe I've posted is authentic to style because I have changed it a bit to suit my own preferences. So back off the level of maize and replace it with sucrose, mash at about 65degC to end up at the dry end of things; substitute PoR for the bittering hop and halve the other hallertau additions - and you would be close to a Boags Premium (before they changed the recipe again for the worst about 2 years ago).

The hallertau I think is authentic because it is grown in Tassie.

The lager I make certainly has more hop character than either Heineken or Grolsch also. But Dutch lagers are much closer in breed to Australian lagers than their German neighbours.

cheers, Arnie

 

[ArnieW]

Just another thought,

I'd actually rate Cascade Premuim lager as a flagship of the style, and much more interesting than Boags. You can actually perceive some hop character in this one.

So when I'm back in my homeland and away from my own crafted beverages, this is my preferred lager.

I'm not sure how the James Squire line compare though.

cheers, Arnie

 

[DJR]

Boags Premium (before they changed the recipe again for the worst about 2 years ago).

What? Commercial brewer changing recipes? Never... That would probably be about the time that San Miguel bought them out... I hope they still stick to the double decoction method, at least they still use that for the Draught not sure about the Premium.

Do you think that some aussie-grown tettnang would be a good match for an aussie lager? What about Pride Plus, 13%AA so you don't have to use as much - seems to have lower co-humulone as well.