-
Brewing My First Lager
I am quite new to distilling as also i am new to brewing also. I’m sipping Laphroaig and calculating recipe for my soon to become recipe for my first Lager brew and I just wanted to ask opinion from you all old timers. I know this is a distillation Forum but i think there is room for questions for the brewing process also.So what do you guys think of this recipe? I dont have much ingredients In it but i want to keep it simple for clarity. Im going to do this recipe doubled so that I use 2 different yeasts(saflager s-23 and saflager w34-70). One for each batch. This is because I want to experience the difference between different YEASTS. Brewing ingredients:Vienna malt 3,4kgMuntons extra Light Dme 250gSaaz hops 30g+60gOG:1.051FG:1.015Heat 19L water to 65°C and add BIAB mesh and vienna malt. Keep it 30min @ 63°C (Beta amylase) Raise heat. Keep 20min @ 70°C (alpha-amylase) Raise heat. Keep 10min @77°C (mash out) Raise heat to 100°C. Add 30g Saaz pellet hops.Keep 40min @ boilingAdd Saaz pellet hops for 60g and keep boiling for 20min.Cool down to 9°CI calculated the SG should be about 1.047. Add 250g boiled Dme to correct SG to 1.051.Pitch yeastFerment In 12°C until SG 1.022Raise temperature to 18-20°C (diacetyl rest) until FG 1.015.Lower temperature to minimum In fridge (with rapt temperature controller) as low as It goes (Maybe +4°C?). Lager it In this temperature about 3weeks.Feel free to comment improvement proposals.EDIT: THE RECIPE A BITLast edited by Peaty Jones on Mon Apr 15, 2024 9:18 am, edited 2 times in total.
-
21 Replies
-
As a long time brewer, my 2 cDont stress the yeast.Make a starterUse enough o2Make sure you have 100% control with fermentation temp in the bucketBe Nice to the yeast, the yeast make the beer. Final: do some research on 60 g at 20 min for 1051. If thats what you want, its ok, but its Nowhere according to style. When doing same brew, with different strains, make sure all other factors are the sameBest of luck.
-
Yes I forgot to mention the starter. Im going to propagate starter with the same dme and aim for 360 billion cells (source: Brewers friend calculator). This must be done In various steps but i got the tools and flasks.For temperature control I have rapt pill for both buckets. The fridgerator is 2 compartment and both of them have 17w+45w heater. Only thing what I am worried about is that only one of the rapt pills can control the temperature via rapt temperature controller. It could be that there is a temperature difference, so I was thinking of setting the upper compartment as the dominating one (heat raises so i dont want it to over heat). I have to keep a look at the difference between the compartment/buckets and there is a possibility to compensate this by taking the 17w element away from the upper one or something like that. The dosage of Saaz I calculated quite In a hurry without that much research. I read that the the IBU/sweetness ratio should be quite low for lager:https://wyeastlab.com/resource/balancin … ard-lager/and calculated the IBU using this calculator:https://www.hopsteiner.com/ibu-calculator/I personally dont like IPA and APA taste because of the overly hopped bitter taste and that is kind of my only reference to the subject. Thanks for the good advices. I Will take a closer look on the hop dosage!Edit: fridgerator, not freezerLast edited by Peaty Jones on Sat Apr 13, 2024 10:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.
-
Good luck mate, a good lager is worth the effort.Can’t see anything particularly out of kilter there, but a few observations from my own experience. These things are all just personal preference though.I tend to use a neutral hop (usually German Northern Brewer) for bittering, and use a late addition of Saaz at flame out for flavour & aroma.I like to pitch 34/70 at 9°C, and then let it come up to the 11-12 mark for the rest of the fermentation before doing the diacetyl rest. Three weeks seems a bit on the low side for good lagering, I find that the flavour & aroma don’t really hit the spot until around 8-9 week mark.Cheers & good luck.
-
Thanks for the tips! Youre right, I need to drop the pitching temperature!I will most certainly try out other hops later. I just want it to be quite simple for my first batch so I could get sense what ingredient brings what to the table. What amount and time would you suggest for Saaz if if my taste is quite simple. I like the bitterness level of simple commercial beers like staropramen etc.What do you think, is the temperature enough for lagering In a standard refridgerator at maximum or should it be done In a freezer with controller?
-
I don’t know about simple, but Saaz is definitely a classic! It is pretty low in alpha acids though, so needs a fair quantity to get the bitterness you would expect in a Czech lager. Maybe keep the 20 minute addition, and also add 30g at the start of the boil as a starting point. You can then adjust from there. I lager mine in a fridge that only gets down to 5°C, and it seems to work ok. If I had the gear to keep it stable at closer to zero, then I’d use it
-
I don’t know about simple, but Saaz is definitely a classic! It is pretty low in alpha acids though, so needs a fair quantity to get the bitterness you would expect in a Czech lager. Maybe keep the 20 minute addition, and also add 30g at the start of the boil as a starting point. You can then adjust from there. I lager mine in a fridge that only gets down to 5°C, and it seems to work ok. If I had the gear to keep it stable at closer to zero, then I’d use it I thought of getting a second hand freezer but lets see. Maybe sometime In the future. Thank you! I will take this to account on my brew! I think it will still be like few weeks before I can start brewing. Still waiting some gear from the brew Shop etc..
-
Learned something today.. Mash out is unnecessary while using BIAB.. So mash out is out of my recipe!
-
lager is a tough style for homebrewing. You would probably do better trying a modest ABV ale to start out. Blond ale, APA, something British or Irish are all pretty easy and forgiving. With ales you might notice the flaws and mistakes becasue you designed the recipe and had something in mind, but most of your friends will not. Lagers are another story…you and all your friends will be able to taste those mistakes.
-
Quick update. Taking Baby steps with this project but its still progress .Just did the starter from saflager w-34/70. I made it on muntons extra light DME. Note to myself. In future Always dunk the DME before you boil the water… Didnt know that DME can clog your funnel when it gets moisture from the water vapor… It was like asphalt..Anyway.. Its on the stir plate right now. Did a 2,5l batch with 250g of DME (SG was 1.034) and 11g of yeast. Pitched it In at 18°C and its in room temperature while In stir plate. Crashing it after 24h at fridge tomorrow. After that going to decant it and trying to take a small sample for later propagation. Next step will be the starter from saflager s-23. I hope this starter will last as long I get to the mashing point.. Will store them In fridge (around +4°C) until that.BTW! I never knew that starter smells so delicious. If im not mistakenly smelling something else like the brand new erlenmeyer flask. I get this sweet vanilla and caramel scent out of it.
-
Check your IBU final value against boil time. And the general rule of thumb is a 60 minute boil. You can go shorter for an all-extract beer, as there has already been boiling, and need to go longer for less modified grains. A longer boil makes it easier to chill and get a good clarity by precipitating proteins. A three week lager is pretty short, but probably worth a taste.
-
Youre right. Going to edit the recipe boil time. I allready thought of makeing the lagering much longer but i didnt remember to edit In the recipe. I was thinking of even as long as 6 weeks.
-
Youre right. Going to edit the recipe boil time. I allready thought of makeing the lagering much longer but i didnt remember to edit In the recipe. I was thinking of even as long as 6 weeks. Cant edit the original post anymore..
-
I have been using lutra kveik yeast for my lagers. You can ferment at higher temps and it comes out very clean. As far as the Laphroaig goes get your hands on some Bards heavily peated malt. It will make a good faux Islay scotch
-
Takeing notes.. Ill always take tips and hints seriously from a guy who loves a good whiskey. Especially peated whiskey. Cheers!
-
Saflager s-23 on the stir plate as I write, with exactly the same set and setting. SG 1.034.
-
It seems that s-23 is a bit “slower” yeast at least In my starter. Flakes of yeast has build up to the solution In same level after 36h as W34-70 did In 24h. The smell changed from sweet to “sour” (how do you describe the smell of fermentation In english?) In those same duration of times (24h and 36h). S-23 “flakes” seem much smaller visually while In stir plate.Updated some gear. Ordered PH-meter and lactic acid, irish Moss, 10kg Co2 bottle and hoses, 2x19l Cornelius kegs. Also bought second hand freezer (100l) and a inkbird for it.
-
Buckets are In the fridge . I made a rookie mistake when i compensated the SG. I checked it when I started boiling and bumped from 1047 to 1051 which was my goal. Right after that I realized I made a mistake. Ofcourse the 1h boiling will make the concentration higher.. At the end of the boil I tried to compensate it back with boiled water but the SG ended up 1054. The second batch was succesful and I made it to 1051.Other than the difference of the OG those batches should be quite identical. I have them fermenting In my freezer with 12°C Set temperature. Rapt pills show the SG 1047 on both buckets for some reason? Could it be foam and the starting fermentation? I checked OG with refractometer so I would think its quite accurate. Or maybe I messed up the calibration of those rapt pills. Well.. Theyre In the bucket and the end result is what it is.Im still quite happy about it because this was my first mash ever so it could have gone wrong In so many ways. Last edited by Peaty Jones on Thu May 09, 2024 5:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.
-
Im starting to think its the refractometer what is off. Have to check and possibly calibrate it.According the rapt pills it seems OG is 1.046 quite the same In both buckets. So the target FG should be 1.008 for 5% ABV.So diacetyl rest starting at 1.015 (80% attenuation) and I read that 2-3°C temperature raise should be enough so 15°C it is. When at 1.008 start cold Crashing so I lower the temperature to minimum with my fridgerator (maybe +4°C) and keep it In there for 48hAfter that I move both beers to kegs oxygen free and start lagering In +1°C In the freezer for 6-11wks. At the last 2wks of lagering I add around 14 psi Co2 pressure for carbonation.
-
Just kegged the s-23 two days ago so the lagering stage has started. Theyre In the keezer at +2°C. I connected them to the carbon bottle allready. Theres around 10psi of pressure.I took a small taste and I have to say i’m very very pleasantly surprised. I didnt even imagine it could be that good and its just In the beginning of lagering . Wonder what it Will taste once its ready.
-
Nice things happen in the lagering phase. Mostly a beer will clean up and become “crisper”.A corny keg at 10psi will take the better part of a month to fully carbonate if it isn’t shaken and the co2 is just coming on from the top. I usually start sampling in a couple of weeks though. You can speed that up by dialing up your pressure to around 30psi and shaking the keg for a half hour or so on day one. Then burp the extra pressure and let it sit a day at serving pressure. But since you are lagering anyway, it will carbonate fully by the time it’s done.
-
Its hard for me to imagine what the word “crisper” means In case of beer taste but ill guess ill see. I know mead gets quite better if you store it at fridge temperatures even a week so I guess it has quite like the same effect what you call “clean up”. There was still a hint of yeasty taste there now and I could guess it will fade out as lagering. Yes im not In a hurry In case of carbonation. Thought to lager it atleast 6wks and even up to 11wks.
Log in to reply.
English 
Spanish 
German 
French 
Russian