advise on lager please

[chris_cov]

hi everone, im heading down to coventry market today to get some ingredients for my next lager. just after any advise on what i should use for sugar, carbonation etc. also what would be a nice lager to try? and one last question will it make any difference if i use bottled water or tap water as iv heard we have hard water? thanks for any help. chris. :

 

[Vossy1]

Carbonation of the bottles, just use table sugar.
If you use tap water you might have to dechlorinate it with campden tablets, using bottled water you won't have to.
I can't really help on the lager front as I haven't done any, sorry.

Happy shopping :party:

 

[chris_cov]

thank you for ur help. any advise is better than none. think il take a trip down aldi and use bottled water. :

 

[phettebs]

Is this a kit or AG?

As far as lagers go, make sure you get a proper lager yeast and make sure you ferment at lager temps.

 

[chris_cov]

ended up getting muntons gold pilsner. doesnt need any sugar adding untill bottling. iv just a basic kit phettebs. :

 

[artiums_enteri]

Lagers are very temperature specific, and should be crisp and clean.

The lager should be kept in primary at about 55*; this is the temp of the liquid in the fermenter, not the temp of the ambient air. A diacytal rest should be used where the beer is brought up in temp by 1-2 degrees per day until it's at around 61* F. This will allow the yeast to eat more rapidly the byproducts created by fermentation which are not appropriate in a lager. Next lagers usually get cold crashed to get them to clear up, and held at 32* for two or three weeks. This is all done in the fermenter prior to bottling.

 

[Runwell-Steve]

Lagers are very temperature specific, and should be crisp and clean.

The lager should be kept in primary at about 55*; this is the temp of the liquid in the fermenter, not the temp of the ambient air. A diacytal rest should be used where the beer is brought up in temp by 1-2 degrees per day until it's at around 61* F. This will allow the yeast to eat more rapidly the byproducts created by fermentation which are not appropriate in a lager. Next lagers usually get cold crashed to get them to clear up, and held at 32* for two or three weeks. This is all done in the fermenter prior to bottling.

I imagine the kit that chris_cov has bought has an ale yeast with it rather than a lager yeast, so unless he changes the yeast for a lager one he will want to ferment at a warmer temperature.

 

[chris_cov]

will it make much difference steve if i use lager yeast?

 

[pittsy]

prob best to stick with what you've got , kits are ok but you won't get great results with em , in brewing there are different ways to brew , starting with kits on there own then up a level using kits with adding things like dried malt extract etc then there's extract brewing using mainly liquid or dried malt extracts and maybe using hops too then there is partial mashing using mainly extract with some grains and hops and finally there's all grain brewing with hops . The more you do the better the results . Yeasts play a huge roll in your success of brew however if its a kit brew then you'd prob be best off sticking to the instructions on the kit for now and as you learn you'll understand what tweaks you can do to improve your kit and then move onto extract where you'll notice a big improvement , and so on . :thumb:

 

[artiums_enteri]

So then this would be a blonde ale then? Honestly I'd use the same practice just not lager as long.

Ales use sacchrmyces and lagers use sacchrmyces pastorianus. The yeast cells look the same under a microscope, but perform very differently. The lager yeast is a bottom fermenter which works at low temps creating a crisp clean flavor with little esters in the beer. Ale yeast is a top fermenter giving off a lot more fruity esters at warmer temps. Ale yeasts typically perform better at temps in the high 50s low 60s.

 

[chris_cov]

thanks for your help. will just stick to the instructions. and move on from there. no point in running before i can walk lol. :drunk:

 

[pittsy]

you have to remember this lad is on his early brewing , to much techno is as bad as none at all , he has to learn to walk before entering for the 100m olympics dash , when he's asking those sort of questions he's prob ready for those sort of answers

 

[chris_cov]

lol iv got an addictive personality, im not even a massive drinker cuz im an amateur boxer but as im off work and training with a bad back i decided to give it a go. im quite addicted constantly on youtube and internet looking for advise and reviews lol. :

 

[artiums_enteri]

I hear you pittsy, my goal was of course not to confuse the OP, but try to show the differences between a lager and an ale. I think a lot of people get confused thinking "lager" refers only to a recipe forgetting that a totally different culture of yeast is the main factor. With that other culture comes a whole lot more advanced brewing and fermentation practice; not to mention the actual laggering of the beer.

I was mostly trying to clarify for myself that he was indeed brewing a lager, and not an ale marketed as a lager.

Just for clarification if I took my blonde ale recipe and swapped the 1056 yeast for a lager strain, I would have an American lager. The recipe doesn't change.

 

[Aleman]

show the differences between a lager and an ale. I think a lot of people get confused thinking "lager" refers only to a recipe forgetting that a totally different culture of yeast is the main factor.

We don't actually brew lager :shock:

We (or the yeast) make beer, what we then do with that beer determines if it in an 'ale' or a 'lager'.

As for a lager in a traditional German bar, and they'll show you the fridge . . . Lager in German means to store (usually cold store) . . . So any beer can be 'Lagered', and indeed make a trip to the continent and seek out the local breweries and you will find a huge range of beers, all of which have been lagered, from the pale Helles right up to the Mai bocks and o'fests, and schwarzbiers. . . . There is more variety of styles to be found in 'lager' beer than in 'ale' beer, but due to the widespread user of the term 'lager' to mean 'pilsner' (and probably inappropriately linked to ASB's and eurofizz trash - budmilloors and carlsberg), most associate it with a pale fizzy cold alcoholic beverage . . . it's not

Just for clarification if I took my blonde ale recipe and swapped the 1056 yeast for a lager strain, I would have an American lager. The recipe doesn't change.

However, if you didn't change the temperature you fermented at, that lager yeast would throw some very fruity esters, producing a 'ale' like beer. In fact fermented warm 'lager' yeasts tend to throw much more esters than an ale yeast fermented cooler.

However this is way too much for the OP, who just needs to ferment the pils kit he has at cooler temperatures to produce a pseudo lager (and actually a pretty damn nice one). With time and experience then he may well want to look at getting a cleaner profile.

One thing we don't worry too much over here is what style is this beer.

 

[chris_cov]

bloody hell u guys are well too advanced for me to understand lol. anyways i tried one of my youngs lagers after thay had been moved in to the garage from the kitchen just a taster and i was actually very happy with the result. was well carbonated and had a nice head on it (poured in to a stella glass). wasnt the best tasting but was still very drinkable. hope the rest will taste a bit better in about 3 weeks. not bad for a 1st attempt. :

 

[RobWalker]

there's something suspicious going on with lager kits that use ale yeast i reakon...mine's only just on the edge of fully clearing and it's very clean tasting, none of the usual "young" flavours I associate even with very simple ales. probably not just a result of lager malt and hallertau...I doubt it's worth worrying about the lagering process with a decent lager kit with ale yeast, as they're gonna be designed to taste like a lager if you follow the instructions.

 

[Runwell-Steve]

Home brewing can be as simple or as complex as you want to make it.

In it's simplest form you just buy a can of hopped Malt extract in the form of a beer kit. Mix it with some water, add some yeast and keep it at the right temperature for a while.
Then you keg or bottle and wait for a while before drinking.
This method is great for producing beer, but you are limited to what kits are available.

Then you can step up to the next stage of buying the malt extract and the hops seperately, and boiling the malt extract with the hops, this allows you more flexibility as you can pick and choose the extracts and the hops.

The next stage is brewing from Grains, at this stage it can be as complicated as you want to make it. Even the chemical composition of your water become important as this can affect the flavour of the beer quite significantly.

It's a great hobby, you will get as much out of it as you put in.

I, like most people I think, started brewing to produce some cheaper beer, as it is so expensive to buy. Now I brew because it's enjoyable, and I prefer the beer I brew to most commercial beer, as it has more flavour.

 

[chris_cov]

thanks for explaining that so i understand steve the other lads seem like theyre talking a different language to me lol. mum wants me to try and make wine so might give that a go soon. anyone know any good basic kits for wine making???? :

 

[dps]

wilkinsons do a good one.plus you can order online