Greg Hughes Light Lager

[Dale Kirkwood]

Evening folks,

My Father and his friend have built an insulated housing to hold our fermenter that should work nicely with our cooling jacket, so our fermentation temperatures should hopefully be pretty accurate. Therefore we want to try a lager (tried to add a photo of the housing but it was too large).

I found a few recipes in the Greg Hughes book and have decided to just go with the light lager as some of the hop %s for some of the other recipes were quite different at the geterbrewed store.

I was hoping I could get a few pointers before I order:

1- we will be using Irish moss instead of protofloc as we already have quite a bit here. The recipe calls for 1tsp of protofloc, how much Irish moss would this be? (30 litres of liquor making 23 litres of beer). Is it just the same amount?

2- the yeast suggested is wyeast 2000 budvar. I want to use dry yeast as I haven't started using liquid yeast yet. I saw a comparison chart from an American website saying that fermentis s23 is a substitute (and available at geterbrewed) but that it's not an exact match. Just looking to get your thoughts or if you have any other suggestions?

Thanks in advance

 

[MickDundee]

(tried to add a photo of the housing but it was too large)

You just need to stand a bit further back when you take the photo!

 

[Linalmeemow]

Probably a teaspoon of Irish Moss, if you overdo it it's not going to hurt the beer though.

If you use a lager yeast and ferment at lager temperatures you're going to get a lager. It won't taste exactly the same as Greg Hughes originally intended but it'll still be lager and I'm sure it'll still be great. I've just done a variant on Greg Hughes' Japanese lager with a different yeast and slightly different hops to the recipe and it's come out great, really close to Sapporo lager / Kuro label though maybe not as dry as the latter. No idea if it's what Greg intended but I like it, and that's what's important.

 

[stz]

A teaspoon of protofloc? As an example I tend to use no more than 90g in 2,200L!

https://www.murphyandson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Protofloc-Granules-TDS-2018.pdf

I hate s23 for lots of reasons, but it is admittedly clean(ish, slightly fruity) fermented no warmer than 12C. I pitch pretty low 0.75g/L and get a 17 day ferment at 12C, but have to allow it free rise (chilling off, no heating, ambient 7-10C) once it hits about 1.012 with daily rousing to resuspend the yeast to get it to finish over the final 5-7 days. The alternative is either warmer or pitch rates up to 3g/L It isn't very flocculent, even 6 weeks at 0C leaves it average at best for lager and fermenting over 12C gives horrendous DMS (I cannot overstate how rank it is) and further worsens clarity issues. w34/70 is FAR superior IMO.

 

[Dale Kirkwood]

You just need to stand a bit further back when you take the photo!

...the file size was too large

 

[Dale Kirkwood]

Probably a teaspoon of Irish Moss, if you overdo it it's not going to hurt the beer though.

If you use a lager yeast and ferment at lager temperatures you're going to get a lager. It won't taste exactly the same as Greg Hughes originally intended but it'll still be lager and I'm sure it'll still be great. I've just done a variant on Greg Hughes' Japanese lager with a different yeast and slightly different hops to the recipe and it's come out great, really close to Sapporo lager / Kuro label though maybe not as dry as the latter. No idea if it's what Greg intended but I like it, and that's what's important.

Very true, as long as you like it. I saw the Japanese one too, definitely on my list of ones to try

 

[Dale Kirkwood]

A teaspoon of protofloc? As an example I tend to use no more than 90g in 2,200L!

https://www.murphyandson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Protofloc-Granules-TDS-2018.pdf

I hate s23 for lots of reasons, but it is admittedly clean(ish, slightly fruity) fermented no warmer than 12C. I pitch pretty low 0.75g/L and get a 17 day ferment at 12C, but have to allow it free rise (chilling off, no heating, ambient 7-10C) once it hits about 1.012 with daily rousing to resuspend the yeast to get it to finish over the final 5-7 days. The alternative is either warmer or pitch rates up to 3g/L It isn't very flocculent, even 6 weeks at 0C leaves it average at best for lager and fermenting over 12C gives horrendous DMS (I cannot overstate how rank it is) and further worsens clarity issues. w34/70 is FAR superior IMO.

OK cheers, going to have a think. I may use this as my first liquid yeast run but as we'll be doing it over Christmas with a few cousins I may just go for the easier option this time.

I'm not sure if geterbrewed do w34/70 so will have to look

 

[Clint]

It doesn't matter what % the hops AAU come in at...put what you have in the calculated in the forum and it will do the math for you ..

 

[MickDundee]

...the file size was too large

 

[Gerryjo]

I actually brewed this and used 1.1kg of cornflakes in the mash which was tricky,no protofloc or irish moss and used http://www.thehomebrewcompany.ie/danstar-diamond-lager-yeast-11g-p-4410.html.
I had brewed it for the missus as she loves her Coors Light and got thumbs up big time.Admittedly still on Keg and crystal clear though needs to ferment at 12c but for a first attempt it came out fantastic.

 

[Dale Kirkwood]

hard to know with text sometimes

 

[Dale Kirkwood]

Good stuff cheers folks. I've a few options so will have a think before I order and let you know after I've brewed round Christmas