Problem with first attempt at AG Lager, help!

[Wort Went Wong]

Just taken a gravity reading before adding yeast, its showing 1.010!

It looks a little diluted too.


Regards
Pete

 

[jamesb]

What was the temperature of the sample?

 

[Wort Went Wong]

Hi james, its 18oc. I think i'll have to chuck it and have go another day.

Regards
Pete

 

[Dunfie]

To be honest it doesn't look good. :hmm:

You would need to post your brewing method along with any information you noted along the way. If your wort was 1010 then there isn't anything we can do to salvage this one but we will be able to help for your future brews.

 

[Wort Went Wong]

Thanks for the replys, much apreciated.

this is the recipe that I followed from a book named "Homemade Beer, Cider and Stout" by Various...

Lager - 5 Gallons/22.5 litres

2.25kg Crushed Lager Malt.
175g Flaked Maize.
75g Hallertauer Hops.
5g Irish Moss.
Lager Yeast.

Put the Malt and flakes in a large pan, add hot water slowly until the mash has a sloppy, porridge-like consistency.
Heat up to 55oC (130oF), stirring continuously, then leave off the heat for half an hour. Reheat to the same temperature, stirring as above, and allow to stand for another half hour.
Finally reheat to 65oC (150oF), remove from the heat and allow to stand and cool.
Spread a muslin or nylon cloth on a large strainer over the fermenting vessel, and tip the contents of the pan onto this
Sparge (rinse with a sprinkle of hot water) until you have about 2 gallons/9 litres in total.

Remove the strainer and boil the sweet wort up, in two batches if necessary, with the hops and irish moss for an hour. Strain again into the fermentor, make up to 5 gallons/22.5 litres with cold water, and add the yeast when the brew has cooled. Cover, and ferment in a warm place until the fermentation has ended and bubbles have almost stopped rising. Then rack off into airlocked container/s for a week. The lager can be primed by stirring in 4 oz of sugar. Allow three days in the warm to condition, and at least three weeks to mature in cool storage.

Followed the recipe to the word, and still managed to go wrong. It just seems like pale, over-diluted, tasteless water. Not sweet like you would expect.
What do you think could have gone wrong?

Is it me thats at fault or the recipe?

Regards
Pete

 

[corby_brewer]

im no lager expert but to me having only 2.25kg Crushed Lager Malt in a 23ltr brew seems a little on the light side :wha: i would have expected abot 4 - 5 kg minimum.

 

[unclepumble]

Looking at the ingredients you used you would have been looking at an o.g. of around 1.028 should you have mashed to an efficiency of 75%

I would be expecting to be using around 4.5 to 5KG on a 5 gal AG lager brew myself 2.5KG is very light on the malt, I would imagine you haven't done a great deal wrong apart from not use enough Lager Malt.

I also wouldn't mix the malt with cold water, you would be better to heat up your water to around 71 deg tip in the malt, stir well so as to not get any lumps, then try an insulate the pan to hold it at or as close to 66Deg as possible for about 90mins.

You would be better to get a coolbox and make a mash tun, (plenty of info on the forum).

Your recipe is telling you to heat to 55C and leave for 30mins, to give you a protein rest, (helps to avoid chill haze) most modern malts don't need this, so I would just mash as above.

Followed the recipe to the word, and still managed to go wrong. It just seems like pale, over-diluted, tasteless water. Not sweet like you would expect.
What do you think could have gone wrong? /quote]

Following the recipe to the word is the reason you only got the low gravity wort, your recipe calls for too little malt and not enough time to allow for a full mash conversion.
I would get a newer book, the methods in your recipe are a little arcane I'm afraid.

I would read a few brew days on the forum, and read as many books as you can, the "MASH" is the most important part of the brew process, get this wrong and your wasting your time with the rest of the process to be honest.

& if you really want to learn fast try to watch someone on the forums brewday, plenty of people on here will invite you around to watch a brew with them and you will learn more in a day than weeks reading books.

I will be having an openday soon in sunny south cheshire, just have a few alterations to make to the brewery first.


UP

 

[Dunfie]

I think what you have attempted is admirable but unfortunately you have been let down by an out of date book and a recipe that was never going to deliver what you required.

The first problem is as CB mentioned - you would need a load more malt to give you a decent extraction. Even with a decent extraction rate you would only get around 2% abv with that lot. If you feed your recipe into the "Recipes" section above you will get an idea of what I mean.

The second issue is that the method is not right. You appear to be mashing at 55C and then at the end raising to 65C. We would normally expect the mash to be held at around 65C-66C for 90 minutes to ensure a good extraction. After that we would sparge the grains to ensure that we managed to get as much of the sugars out of the grain.

Spend some time reading through the posts on here. There is an excellent article here that will explain the what you need to do.

The process of making beer is simple but you do need to have the correct process to follow in the first place and I think you have been misled by your book. If you want to get a book to explain the process then I would recommend the books by Graham Wheeler - they don't go into the science in too much detail but if you follow the porcess you will make a good batch of beer.

Hope this helps.

 

[Aleman]

"Homemade Beer, Cider and Stout" by Various...

I think that's the one that includes Gravy Browning Mild IIRC . . . Mostly written by badly informed Winemakers I'm afraid . . . . Should there have been some sugar to add ?? Or Perhaps it wasn't for 5 gallons??

Everyone has really covered the issues with your recipe . . . I would suggest Brew Your Own British Real Ale by Graham Wheeler which was published last year. . . . The recipes are good and work. . . . Or ask for a reliable recipes here.

 

[prolix]

WWW you have been let down by that book mate, get a copy of wheeler's brew your own british ale, one of the best books out there and covers all the steps clearly, I know is says ale but in brewing there is little difference.

As said above get a mash tun it makes it a lot easier, or use the oven set to 65c for 90 mins instead of the stove. Also sparging is really important, you need all the sugars for a good brew.

anyhow welcome to the darkside :thumb:

 

[Wort Went Wong]

Many thanks for your indepth replys and links, very usefull.


This is where the dodgy recipe came from, so avoid this book...

http://www.amazon.com/Homemade-Beer-Cid ... 1855013495

Thanks
Pete

 

[BarnsleyBrewer]

im no lager expert but to me having only 2.25kg Crushed Lager Malt in a 23ltr brew seems a little on the light side :wha: i would have expected abot 4 - 5 kg minimum.

I thought that, I'd have had least 4.5kg to get around 5% ABV.