Pimping a Wilco Cerveza lager

[MikeW]

As a newbie to this forum I have enjoyed learning about my new hobby, a superb knowledge base
I have used spray malts to improve the body of bitters and would now like to try this with Lager.
My understanding suggests that that the Cerveza could well be a Steam Beer, a lager brewed with ale yeast at ale temperatures.
My question is could I improve the quality of the lager by replacing the yeast with a quality lager yeast, use 1kg of light spray malt instead of sugar. However I have no low temperature control while fermenting it in an outdoor garage (temperatures 8-12 C) but 18+C with a fish tank heater (bay-marie bucket system) The plan is to warm up the FV at the end of fermentation to get rid of the Esters I have read about.
If you guys don't rate this kit I could always return it and mail order one you recommend .

 

[crowcrow]

Sounds like a good plan! Let us knows how it goes.

 

[Fazzer]

As a newbie to this forum I have enjoyed learning about my new hobby, a superb knowledge base
I have used spray malts to improve the body of bitters and would now like to try this with Lager.
My understanding suggests that that the Cerveza could well be a Steam Beer, a lager brewed with ale yeast at ale temperatures.
My question is could I improve the quality of the lager by replacing the yeast with a quality lager yeast, use 1kg of light spray malt instead of sugar. However I have no low temperature control while fermenting it in an outdoor garage (temperatures 8-12 C) but 18+C with a fish tank heater (bay-marie bucket system) The plan is to warm up the FV at the end of fermentation to get rid of the Esters I have read about.
If you guys don't rate this kit I could always return it and mail order one you recommend .

How did it work out for you?

 

[MikeW]

Thanks for enquiries. I ended up only using 500 g of spray malt and replacing the yeast with two packets of Cross My Loof Hell yeast. Temperature was an issue as the garage was around 10 degrees, to use my fish tank heater that would only go down to 18 deg I used a segmented timer switch and had the heater on for one period then off for three. This worked well as I kept the temp. around 12 Deg. throughout fermentation. At the end I raised the temp to 18 the chilled for a couple of nights before bottling. From memory I batched primed for a CO2 content of 2.3.
All of the family have enjoyed the first few early bottles commenting that it tastes like the real thing. Crystal clear and a nice colour. The plan was to save it for the summer, but I think it will be long gone by then.
So a result, will repeat next winter time.

 

[clib]

Thanks for enquiries. I ended up only using 500 g of spray malt and replacing the yeast with two packets of Cross My Loof Hell yeast. Temperature was an issue as the garage was around 10 degrees, to use my fish tank heater that would only go down to 18 deg I used a segmented timer switch and had the heater on for one period then off for three. This worked well as I kept the temp. around 12 Deg. throughout fermentation. At the end I raised the temp to 18 the chilled for a couple of nights before bottling. From memory I batched primed for a CO2 content of 2.3.
All of the family have enjoyed the first few early bottles commenting that it tastes like the real thing. Crystal clear and a nice colour. The plan was to save it for the summer, but I think it will be long gone by then.
So a result, will repeat next winter time.

You can get good lager results at ale temperature with a California Common yeast. Crossmyloof does one, and the Mangrove Jack M54 yeast is good. So you needn't wait til winter. If you can keep it around 18 to 20.