Lager Recipes

[shocker]

re Wendys post about Kolsch recipes.....I cant find them on the list or in the forum posts .But I AM pretty dim ......can anyone point me to them ? I have been asked to make a "lager like fosters" (shudder!) so I will do so or try at least, but at the same time I would like to try a Kolsch as a possible midway point between lager and beer to tempt my tormentor away from the pseudo ozzie stuff.

On that point, does anyone else remember in the 80s when castlemain 4X Export was available ? The real ozzie stuff in tinnies ? I recall that, and fosters in the bottle (the genuine stuff) being rich and malty , not at all like the thin stuff around today.

 

[TheMumbler]

There are two in the recipe list here and here. Find is your friend with these long lists :)

The way the hopping is listed in both of them is a bit odd IMO so it might be worth posting up what you intend to do in recipes before you brew to get somebody to check it over. Also sadly k97 seems to no longer be available so you would need to use wyeast, whitelabs or possible brewlabs (if they do a kolsch yeast).

 

[shocker]

Mumbler - thank you very much for taking the time to do those links for me....nice one , mate ! :

....and thanks for the other input too,most kind

shocksi

 

[LM600]

LM600

I have looked at your recipes for the lager and they seem straightforward.
However you do not mention sugar for the second ferment. I assume as in all ales a second fermenent is needed. Can you throw some light on this one please :

Sorry Oldtimer,

I ferment until they hit around 1010 and then bottle using 2 litre PET bottles (fizzy water bottles from the supermarket) and I use just under, maybe 2/3rds of a tablespoon of glucose to prime each bottle.
Leave them in the same room where the brew was fermented for a week and then into the fridge or if cold enough I leave them in the shed for a month or so....although one or two do end up being QC examples! :drink:

 

[Aggienator]

Hi Oldtimer,

Wroxham - it's a nice part of the world and I'm not jealous that you're near the Broads at all! :grin:

Anyway, I currently have fermenting the following....

FV1 and FV2
25 Litres made with :
5Kgs Lager Malt
Mash at 66°C for 90 minutes
90 minute boil
50g Saaz @ 90 mins
25g Saaz @ 15 mins
25g Saaz @ flame out
Leave to steep in the boiler for 30 mins
Brewlabs Pils yeast made into a 1 litre starter
Fermenting at a coolish room temp ~15-18°C (not ideal so I've heard....)

FV3 and FV4
25 Litres made with :
5Kgs Lager Malt
Mash at 66°C for 90 minutes
90 minute boil
50g Saaz @ 90 mins
25g Saaz @ 15 mins
25g Saaz @ flame out
Leave to steep in the boiler for 30 mins
Brewlabs Belgium yeast made into a 1 litre starter
Fermenting at a coolish room temp ~15-18°C (not ideal so I've heard....)

They smell bl**dy lovely at the moment.

This Saturday I plan on :
Same as FV3 and 4 but I have found ~50g of northern brewer hops lurking in the back of the freezer that I might use as bittering and the saaz throughout the last 30 mins or so.
I plan on also adding a kilo of sugar to the boil - just to make an extra strong lager :drunk:

Hi LM600,

Wondered what these were like in the end. Just back from Prague and wondering about tryong something colder and paler than my normal!

:drink:

 

[Smeg0rz]

Just make up a coopers australlian lager, while not a true lager (u could switch the ale yeast with lager) all my friends who are fosters drinks loved it.

 

[fizz head1982]

Hi, I am new here and new to brewing beer. Tried a disastrously wrong extract brew and decided I'd skip all that and go straight to all grain.

I googled and found this thread last week. My local home brew shop ws out of mash tuns and so I had to build my own... A nightmare as I had the wrong parts... Finally got that sorted and so used alemans recipe...

While it won't be a clone of carlsberg or fosters (it'll taste better than that )

Try for 25 Litres

4000g British Lager Malt
1000g flaked rice

Mash for 90 minutes at 65C using low alkalinity water

The boil for 90 minutes with

25g Northern Brewer (7.6% alpha for 90 minutes)
15g Tettnang 4.5% for the last 15 minutes
15g Mittlefruh at switch off

The real key here is to pitch lots of yeast (2 or 3 packets) adn ferment cool If you go with W34/70 or S23 try to keep the temperature below 15C. another alternative is to use Nottingham and ferment at 17-18C (A good neutral ale yeast fermented at its cool end will be much cleaner than a lager yeast fermented at the same temperature) .. .but you need to minimise any flavour contribution from te yeast so even when pitching Nottingham pitch 2 or 3 packets.

Anther alternative, is to not use flaked rice just the 4Kg of lager malt, and use 1Kg of white sugar in the boiler (add it half way through the boil)

Everything went fine... Took me about 4 hours to set up and do it all... I followed it to the letter... Temps time, etc... I could not find some things so I subbed:

The flaked rice is pretty damn expensive so I went for the 1kg white sugar...

25g Northern Brewer (7.6% alpha for 90 minutes) Exchanged for Challenger Hops
15g Tettnang 4.5% for the last 15 minutes Exchanged for goldings 12g plugs
15g Mittlefruh at switch off Omitted...

So far so good... But I just checked the hydrometer reading...

1.092! It also says that if all the sugar turns to alcohol it will be 14.5%


So what is the problem?

 

[Aleman]

used alemans recipe...

Try for 25 Litres

4000g British Lager Malt
1000g flaked rice

Mash for 90 minutes at 65C using low alkalinity water

The boil for 90 minutes with

25g Northern Brewer (7.6% alpha for 90 minutes)
15g Tettnang 4.5% for the last 15 minutes
15g Mittlefruh at switch off

Anther alternative, is to not use flaked rice just the 4Kg of lager malt, and use 1Kg of white sugar in the boiler (add it half way through the boil)

Everything went fine... Took me about 4 hours to set up and do it all... I followed it to the letter... Temps time, etc... I could not find some things so I subbed:

The flaked rice is pretty damn expensive so I went for the 1kg white sugar...

So far so good... But I just checked the hydrometer reading...

1.092! It also says that if all the sugar turns to alcohol it will be 14.5%

I suspect a volume Issue, the recipe is for a 25L batch . . . what is the volume you have in your fermenter??

Just to check the sanity of the recipe I put it into Beersmith . . .and it should come out to about 1.052 . . .but as the sugar is more fermentable than the flaked rice it should come out at 6.2% alcohol . . .so there is a mistake in the recipe I'm afraid, and that is down to the fact that the substitution should have been 500g of sugar . . . The beer will still be fine at 6.2%, as the bitterness is reasonably high so should balance it

 

[fizz head1982]

Cheers mate, I have 23 litres in there, shall I top upto 25? Thanks for your reply! I appreciate this mate.

EDIT: Topped upto 25 litres, it only had 23... Its fixed. :clap: :clap: :clap:

Thank you!

EDIT2: Got up this morning and its boking foam through the airlock, to be expected with such little head space. My first foam monster!