LME & Saaz Recipe

[Cotters14]

Hi All,

I'm looking to do my 2nd brew and as I have the lads around for Poker, I'd like to offer them something to drink but given their limited desire to try new beers I'm opting for a lager.

I went to the LHBS earlier and instead of opting for a kit, I asked about a BIAB recipe but ended up coming home with 2kgs of Light Malt Extract (Ritchies), 100g of Saaz hops and 11.5g of Saflager s-23 dry yeast.

Now I'm back home, it feels like the recipes I have found online I could do with some additional ingredients so just seeing if anyone has any ideas that I can brew with just these ingredients.

BTW, I have ~10 weeks before it is my turn to host and so hopefully plenty of time to allow this to ferment and condition.

TIA

 

[MyQul]

For 15L of 4% LME lager you can do

2kg LME

Saaz 25g@60min
Saaz 15g@10min
Saaz15g@1min

You havent put what the Alpha Acid % areof the saaz so the 60min addition may need adjusting. If you want a stronger beer you'll have to make less. Lagers normally require cold fermentation at about 10C-12C which requires a brew fridge. However lager yeasts work at ale temps too if you havent a brewfridge. Plenty of people do warm fermented lagers. Or you could buy some california ale yeast from CML for about £1.45 which is a lager strain which is designed to be used at ale temps

 

[Honk]

I reckon you can make a lager with what you have there, but hopefully someone more knowledgeable about extract brewing can advise.

To come up with a recipe they will probably need to know the AA (alpha acids) of your saaz hops, (should be on the packet) and what is the biggest pot you can boil your extract and hops in? Also how much are you hoping to make?

I reckon you have enough malt extract for 23 litres of you have a fermentation bin that size but maybe not enough hops (depends on aa and how concentrated your wort is.

 

[Clint]

...and that's hit it right on the head! I too have brewed using two pkts of notty at 14 and also used the CML yeasts....both turned out very lagerish! Your friends won't be disappointed. Get it on!

 

[Cotters14]

Hi MyQul,

Thanks for the reply. The % on the front says 3.0.

So, would the brew go something like the following:

Add 1kg of LME to the kettle and heat to a boil.

Then add the final 1kg LME and also add the 25g @ 60, 15g @ 10 and final 15g @ 1 as you mention above?

I'm confident I can keep the room for the fermentation at 12°c too. So 21 days fermentation, rack to bottling vessel and leave for another 3 weeks then condition in the bottle for a further 3-4 weeks?

Thanks

 

[Honk]

Myqui beat me to it, he types faster than me. I think your s23 yeast is quite forgiving of warmer temperatures but I've not used it

 

[Cotters14]

I reckon you can make a lager with what you have there, but hopefully someone more knowledgeable about extract brewing can advise.

To come up with a recipe they will probably need to know the AA (alpha acids) of your saaz hops, (should be on the packet) and what is the biggest pot you can boil your extract and hops in? Also how much are you hoping to make?

I reckon you have enough malt extract for 23 litres of you have a fermentation bin that size but maybe not enough hops (depends on aa and how concentrated your wort is.

Thanks Honk.

My kettle is 5g and fermenter is 6.5g.

 

[Honk]

Thanks Honk.

My kettle is 5g and fermenter is 6.5g.

Great, read up on biab brewing before your next visit to the brew shop, but you can make beer with what you got already.

 

[MyQul]

Hi MyQul,

Thanks for the reply. The % on the front says 3.0.

So, would the brew go something like the following:

Add 1kg of LME to the kettle and heat to a boil.

Then add the final 1kg LME and also add the 25g @ 60, 15g @ 10 and final 15g @ 1 as you mention above?

I'm confident I can keep the room for the fermentation at 12°c too. So 21 days fermentation, rack to bottling vessel and leave for another 3 weeks then condition in the bottle for a further 3-4 weeks?

Thanks

Ive never beed an extract brewer so hopefully another forumite can come along and answer that part. You've got the hop schedule correct except seeing as your Saaz are 3%AA you'll need to up the 60 min addition to 30g

 

[MyQul]

Reading Clints post reminds me, you'll need more yeast if fermenting cold but hopefully one pack should be enough for 15L of a 1.041/4% brew. If you dont want to risk it buy a second pack

EDIT Just put everything through MrMalty yeast calc and it recons you need 17g of yeast so you might want to get that second pack to be on the safe side

 

[Cotters14]

Great, read up on biab brewing before your next visit to the brew shop, but you can make beer with what you got already.

Great and yes, I think I'll need the recipe with me before I go to the shop. The shop I visited had an old book which the lady pulled this recipe kit from but it was from an all grain recipe so wasn't sure how to brew it.

Ive never beed an extract brewer so hopefully another forumite can come along and answer that part. You've got the hop schedule correct except seeing as your Saaz are 3%AA you'll need to up the 60 min addition to 30g

Noted, thanks again.

 

[Cotters14]

Reading Clints post reminds me, you'll need more yeast if fermenting cold but hopefully one pack should be enough for 15L of a 1.041/4% brew. If you dont want to risk it buy a second pack

EDIT Just put everything through MrMalty yeast calc and it recons you need 17g of yeast so you might want to get that second pack to be on the safe side

Thanks for doing that. Ill order another pack tonight, like you say, best to be safe.

Should I put the two packs in then or is too much yeast a no no?

 

[MyQul]

Try and guess half the second pack but err on the side of caution and put more rather than less in. It wont matter if you put most of the second pack in. The worst that will happen is you'll get a couple of point lower FG than you're aiming for. I overpitch all the time because I just guess how much yeast I need and dont want a stuck fermentation

 

[Cotters14]

Try and guess half the second pack but err on the side of caution and put more rather than less in. It wont matter if you put most of the second pack in. The worst that will happen is you'll get a couple of point lower FG than you're aiming for. I overpitch all the time because I just guess how much yeast I need and dont want a stuck fermentation

Ok, thanks. Makes sense. Just got a £5 eBay voucher as I logged on to the website so only cost me 25p haha.

 

[MyQul]

Ok, thanks. Makes sense. Just got a £5 eBay voucher as I logged on to the website so only cost me 25p haha.

Excellent. Dont forget to harvest some slurry to reuse to make the yeast even cheaper

 

[Cotters14]

Excellent. Dont forget to harvest some slurry to reuse to make the yeast even cheaper

I'll have to look this up, thanks for the tip

 

[terrym]

Basics on extract brewing here
https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/a-simple-guide-to-extract-brewing.75501/
And any all grain recipe can be used for a direct conversion, provided there are no added grains in there that require mashing, although kilned grains like crystal malt are fine as they can just be steeped. Otherwise use 0.65kg DME for 1kg 'pale malt' as the conversion.

 

[Cotters14]

Thanks terrym, very useful read.

 

[Sandimas]

I think you might have been getting dried Light Malt Extract (DME) and Liquid Malt Extract (LME) mixed up MyQul because 19L of the dried stuff will give you a 4% beer, not 15L. 15L will give you nearer 5%. So brew anywhere between 15L and 19L depending on how strong you want it. If you go for 23L it'll only be 3.2%. Dissolve 1kg of DME and do the hop boil, and add the 2nd 1kg at the end - you can boil them both up from the start but it'll end up a bit darker.

Based on 3 alpha acid, I'd up the 60min hop additon to give about 20 IBU overall which is classic lager territory. The followoing is based on a 17L brew with 2kg DME giving 4.3%.

Saaz 35g@60min
Saaz 15g@10min
Saaz15g@1min and leave to steep for 30mins after boil

I've found S23 to be quite a forgiving yeast and have fermented a 20L lager at 13C with one packet several times. Bear in mind that you'll need to give it 8-12 weeks to come really good if using a lager yeast. You could use an ale yeast and it would be ready sooner. Personally, I've made 2 true lagers and one pseudo-lager with an ale yeast and the latter tasted better to me.

 

[MyQul]

I think you might have been getting dried Light Malt Extract (DME) and Liquid Malt Extract (LME) mixed up MyQul because 19L of the dried stuff will give you a 4% beer, not 15L. 15L will give you nearer 5%. So brew anywhere between 15L and 19L depending on how strong you want it. If you go for 23L it'll only be 3.2%. Dissolve 1kg of DME and do the hop boil, and add the 2nd 1kg at the end - you can boil them both up from the start but it'll end up a bit darker.

Based on 3 alpha acid, I'd up the 60min hop additon to give about 20 IBU overall which is classic lager territory. The followoing is based on a 17L brew with 2kg DME giving 4.3%.

Saaz 35g@60min
Saaz 15g@10min
Saaz15g@1min and leave to steep for 30mins after boil

I've found S23 to be quite a forgiving yeast and have fermented a 20L lager at 13C with one packet several times. Bear in mind that you'll need to give it 8-12 weeks to come really good if using a lager yeast. You could use an ale yeast and it would be ready sooner. Personally, I've made 2 true lagers and one pseudo-lager with an ale yeast and the latter tasted better to me.

Bollards! You right! Rereading the OP I read it as liquid rather than light

Apologies to cotters for leading you astray:hat: