Wilko light golden larger, what hops/yeast to use?

[Farley]

Hi all
Doing a Wilko light golden lager but not sure what hops to use
Plan is
1 can Wilko golden lager
1 kg brew enhancer
500g golden syrup
But wondering what hops & yeast to use?
I'm not a big fan of the citrus hops
And have used sazz hops before which was ok any suggestions welcome please

 

[Sandimas]

I prefer Hallertau to Saaz but both are good in a lager, I'd go with one of those.

 

[Pirate_Pete]

I prefer Hallertau to Saaz but both are good in a lager, I'd go with one of those.

Yes use Hallertau if you've already tried Saaz.
I think I prefer Saaz, but you've got to try them both just so you know.

 

[Farley]

Good shout darrellm & pirate Pete
I think they use that hop in a lot of wheat beers which is right up my street.
Is it worth changing the yeast or just go with a hop tea & my plan?

 

[Pirate_Pete]

I haven't brewed this lager, but I have brewed Coopers Lager, so I'm not sure what yeast you get with it.

I use a brew fridge and tend to brew my Lagers at about 13C. For that you need Lager yeast and probably two packets. Then I will cold crash for a few days.
Having said that the last two lagers haven't carbonated that well. I'm thinking of brewing at about 16C and maybe not cold crashing.

 

[terrym]

@Farley
Unless you like the taste of golden syrup I would suggest to leave it out of your lager, since it brings itys own taste to the beer in largish quantities. My experience with GS is its fine in dark beers where there is a lot going on, but in a lager? I would be thinking more BE or some light DME instead if you really want to up the ABV.
Im sure your Wilko kit will have an ale yeast and you will be fermenting 18-20*C, but certainly no lower than 16*C given the amount of yeast you will have. Unless you have provision for fermenting at low lager type temperatures (say 12-14*C ) and can therefore use a lager yeast in sufficient quantity I would suggest you stay with the kit yeast.
I have used both Hallertau nd Saaz in kit lagers and they work well . I think the Hallertau is better but thats just me. I made up hop teas with 25g of hops. Any more than than would have spoilt the beer for me.

 

[Farley]

@Farley
Unless you like the taste of golden syrup I would suggest to leave it out of your lager, since it brings itys own taste to the beer in largish quantities. My experience with GS is its fine in dark beers where there is a lot going on, but in a lager? I would be thinking more BE or some light DME instead if you really want to up the ABV.
Im sure your Wilko kit will have an ale yeast and you will be fermenting 18-20*C, but certainly no lower than 16*C given the amount of yeast you will have. Unless you have provision for fermenting at low lager type temperatures (say 12-14*C ) and can therefore use a lager yeast in sufficient quantity I would suggest you stay with the kit yeast.
I have used both Hallertau nd Saaz in kit lagers and they work well . I think the Hallertau is better but thats just me. I made up hop teas with 25g of hops. Any more than than would have spoilt the beer for me.

Thanks for the advice terrym
Never experimented with golden syrup before, maybe I'll leave it out of this one and just brew short by a few litres.
I ferment all my brews in my hotpress which is a constant 23/24oC
Done the wilko cerveza without any bother at that temp so think I'll save my £'s & use kit yeast, thanks for the advice

 

[thewelshwizard1]

Yes use Hallertau if you've already tried Saaz.
I think I prefer Saaz, but you've got to try them both just so you know.

Pete - can you use both in a larger, for example a Mex / Spanish brew kit ? Also whats the recommended yeast pal ?

 

[An Ankoù]

Hundreds of years ago I knocked up a batch of Carlsberg Special Brew from Dave Line's "Making Beers Like Those Your Buy". It called for a good dose of golden syrup and I remember that it made a very good beer. Not very much like Special Brew, but none the worse for that. Use any of the so-called noble hops, Tettnang, Saaz, Spalt. H, Mittelfruh, or Perle, Northern Brewer or Magnum. Even English hops could be OK. I agree with you about the citrus hops in lager.

 

[the_quick]

So far did Pils from MJ, calfornia yeast and Saaz hops. Despite a;e temp for fermentation it came really clean.
I would use that yeast again or maybe Kveik Voss?

 

[Dave 666]

I'm confused at a couple of posts with regards to fermenting temps. As really wanting to try a lager I've been somewhat put off by what I thought was very low temps required, which without additional cooling equipment is beyond conventional methods. But some of the posts indicate it is possible to brew lager with temps as high as 12-14° or a little higher?. Is this all down to the yeast in these kits then?.

Seeing as my ambient temp in the unheated utility room is a steady 18° which as winter comes in will drop a couple of deg . Added to that I can keep the utility door closed and slightly open the window in there to really drop the temps several deg I reason I can get close to 10°. So is that really workable temps for lager brewing?.

 

[GhostShip]

I'm confused at a couple of posts with regards to fermenting temps. As really wanting to try a lager I've been somewhat put off by what I thought was very low temps required, which without additional cooling equipment is beyond conventional methods. But some of the posts indicate it is possible to brew lager with temps as high as 12-14° or a little higher?. Is this all down to the yeast in these kits then?.

Seeing as my ambient temp in the unheated utility room is a steady 18° which as winter comes in will drop a couple of deg . Added to that I can keep the utility door closed and slightly open the window in there to really drop the temps several deg I reason I can get close to 10°. So is that really workable temps for lager brewing?.

I've never brewed a lager and others will know better than me, but I don't think any yeast will function in a beer at 10ºC.

 

[An Ankoù]

I've never brewed a lager and others will know better than me, but I don't think any yeast will function in a beer at 10ºC.

Many "ale" yeasts won't but lager yeast will ferment well below 10C. Interestingly, some lager yeasts will produce a Pilsner-type beer when fermented at low temperature (very light ester profile) and an ale-type beer if fermented around 20C (higher ester profile).
The 12-14 degrees Dave666 refers to is at the top of the range for lagers. I think the Saflager range would be ok at that temperature but certainly no higher.
Also, Dave666, some lager yeasts stink of sulphur compounds when fermenting. This is perfectly normal and the beer will be fine, but it might be grounds for divorce if you keep your FV in the house.

 

[Dave 666]

Many "ale" yeasts won't but lager yeast will ferment well below 10C. Interestingly, some lager yeasts will produce a Pilsner-type beer when fermented at low temperature (very light ester profile) and an ale-type beer if fermented around 20C (higher ester profile).
The 12-14 degrees Dave666 refers to is at the top of the range for lagers. I think the Saflager range would be ok at that temperature but certainly no higher.
Also, Dave666, some lager yeasts stink of sulphur compounds when fermenting. This is perfectly normal and the beer will be fine, but it might be grounds for divorce if you keep your FV in the house.

Then that raises 2 questions, maybe 3 lol. So just what yeast are in these lager\pilnser type kits if they seem to require higher than conventional lager brewing temps?. What happens to the overall brew from a lager kit if you simply switch it to a more temp tolerance yeast and brew the kit at the lower end of the yeast temp scale?. Finally, 1 of my first kits when getting back into brewing was a Bohemian blonde pils & that I recall required temps between 16-22 with the included yeast despite it saying "lager yeast" on the pack. So I'm confused on the difference between lager & pile kits and the stated range of temps suggested in the kits.

 

[Pirate_Pete]

Sorry guys, I've been working 12 hour shifts so didn't see the question.

I tend to brew my lagers at 13C. In a fridge obviously.
If you look through the thread about Coopers Euro Lager you'll see some people struggled to get it to ferment.
The solution is to use two packets of yeast.
The Coopers Euro Lager comes with Lager yeast. So I've just bought an extra Saflager Lager yeast.
I tend to reuse the yeast then to cut down on cost next time.

Dave 666, if you have a room that is 18C I would just try a lager at that temperature.
10C is too low I think. Also if your room is constant 18C, that would be better than leaving the window open.
Because then the temperature would fluctuate and the yeast won't like that as much as a constant.
I reckon the reason that kit you bought said 18-22C was because that's doable for most people.
If they said Lager yeast, brew at 13C, it would put people off.

 

[HoppyTommy]

http://brulosophy.com/methods/lager-method/

My brother recommended this article when I did my first lager a few years ago. You really need a fridge to achieve the variation in temperatures but the results I've had using the above have been most satisfactory.

I've used the Fermentis Saflager W-34/70 Yeast. 1 sachet in 40 pints works but with a long lag time eg 48 hours. 2 sachets goes off much quicker. I sourced a fridge, greenhouse heater and ink bird controller all pretty cheap online.

 

[Pirate_Pete]

http://brulosophy.com/methods/lager-method/

My brother recommended this article when I did my first lager a few years ago. You really need a fridge to achieve the variation in temperatures but the results I've had using the above have been most satisfactory.

I've used the Fermentis Saflager W-34/70 Yeast. 1 sachet in 40 pints works but with a long lag time eg 48 hours. 2 sachets goes off much quicker. I sourced a fridge, greenhouse heater and ink bird controller all pretty cheap online.

I've used that method. The last lager I made was loosely following that.
I say loosely as my work hours are unpredictable at times, so I may not move the temperature up or down precisely when I should.
For instance I have a stout in the fridge that should have been bottled on Monday. It's at about 3C now. I'll bottle it tomorrow.

 

[Dave 666]

Interesting couple of posts. I might just get the original kit I got some 18 months ago when getting back into home brewing, the previously mentioned Bohemian Blonde and start with that brewing at the said 18° that the utility room seems stable at. I can understand and see the need for steady and stable temps. But the utility room has no heating at all at the back of the house and the door to it is always closed. So a slightly cracked open window could still give me a stable 12-15° over the coming weeks I'm thinking. But for my current brews in there (Coopers Irish Stout & MYO Yorkshire Bitter) below the current 18° might not be a good idea seeing as that's more to the bottom end of ideal fermenting temps.

 

[Pirate_Pete]

Interesting couple of posts. I might just get the original kit I got some 18 months ago when getting back into home brewing, the previously mentioned Bohemian Blonde and start with that brewing at the said 18° that the utility room seems stable at. I can understand and see the need for steady and stable temps. But the utility room has no heating at all at the back of the house and the door to it is always closed. So a slightly cracked open window could still give me a stable 12-15° over the coming weeks I'm thinking. But for my current brews in there (Coopers Irish Stout & MYO Yorkshire Bitter) below the current 18° might not be a good idea seeing as that's more to the bottom end of ideal fermenting temps.

I couldn't decide whether to do my ales and stouts at 18 or 20C, so they ferment at 19C for about 5 days.
Then raise the temp a couple of degrees for a few days. I generally cold crash, even it's just for a day as I find it's easier to bottle cold.
So no, you don't want those beers fermenting below 18C ideally.

 

[Dave 666]

I couldn't decide whether to do my ales and stouts at 18 or 20C, so they ferment at 19C for about 5 days.
Then raise the temp a couple of degrees for a few days. I generally cold crash, even it's just for a day as I find it's easier to bottle cold.
So no, you don't want those beers fermenting below 18C ideally.

Now here is the thing, coming back from a weeks holiday on Saturday night I check the temps and they have dropped to 12\13C, great temps for a lager kit I'm thinking, more so if I can get temps a couple of C lower. Now pretty sure it would have took a good 2\3 days for the temps to drop that low and so the Irish stout would likely have finished fermenting by then leaving the MYO Bitter that still seems to be very slowly continuing to fermenting. Though a day and a half on the utility room has been slowly risen in temp to 14\15C. So hopefully those brews are fine and will finish with no issue. Will be interesting to see how brewing at such lower than ideal temps will affect the finished brew?.

But for the future, it sure looks like I've got a decent cool room for brewing lower temp required brews. And I still think I can get that room to a steady 10c or less over the winter with a little open window.