Cascade Golden Harvest

[freekq]

After reading this forum site for weeks I have finally decide to get the courage to log-in and have a shot.

I have a Cooper Golden Harvest and would like some advice on making a nice brew. While my taste leans towards the pilsener variety I can be easily persuaded

In my cupboard at the moment I have:
500 gm cracked crystal malt 145 EBU (still trying to work this out)
2 kg LDM
250g corn syrup
250g wheat malt
750g dextrose
25g Hallertau AA 5-7%
12g Sterling AA 6.2%
Safale US-56

I can rack and have a fridge that can be used although I have not tried this before and will be bottling

Any help is appreciated.

[Kevnlis]

How long ago was the Crystal cracked? Once grain is cracked it generaly does not keep very long, sort of 2 months tops.

Chuck it all in, save half the Crystal, as long as it hasn;t been there for yonks

Boil for 60 min with all the half the Hallertau and the Sterling, other half of Hallertau with 20 min left. If you can not boil the full volume then do a mini boil of 3-4L with the jucie from the 250g Crystal and the wheat malt.

[freekq]

Hey Kevnlis thanks for the advice, I have seen your name pop up numerous times.

I bought the Crystal 2 days ago from a HBS in Melb so hopefully it is fine. I have a 10-12 l saucepan so I can do a boil. Are you suggesting putting all the LDM in and dextrose - isn't that quite a bit?

[Kevnlis]

Depends how strong you like your brews.

If your after something like a full strength ale then yes I would suggest dropping the Dex and adding it all for a 23L batch.

With the Dex you are probably about 6% (I can't be bother doing the calculations ATM... download Beersmith... best advice I was ever given... only piece of software I ever paid for)

Since you have a saucepan capable of an 8L boil just double the amount of fermentable in the boil, so add the corn syrup and wheat malt as well.

[freekq]

Well I guess it's called home brew and I have no intention of driving so i may as well go for the whole lot

Thanks for the advice and i'll put it on tomorrow for a couple of weeks....

BTW, does beersmith allow you to make calculations even if you are using a kit?

[Kevnlis]

Well I guess it's called home brew and I have no intention of driving so i may as well go for the whole lot

Thanks for the advice and i'll put it on tomorrow for a couple of weeks....

BTW, does beersmith allow you to make calculations even if you are using a kit?

It does, just call the kit "malt extract" and give it the same weight. Close enough for out means

Best of luck!

[MiniMoose]

with your ingredients i would go 750g of the LDME and 250g Dried Wheat Malt Extract, all 25g of the Hallertau for a little extra bitterness and flavor , and fill to only to 21 or 22 litres.

But thats just what i would do.

get beersmith, you get a free trial for 21 days to see if youll like it(you wil).

like kevnlis said, there aint much software i would willingly pay for but im going to pay for beersmith.

[Kevnlis]

Oh geez... my bad! I just realised you were adding that stuf to a kit

Yeah that might be a bit much, sorry mate!

Save the kit for another brew, use the rest to make a real beer!

[freekq]

I have just put the boil on and have done the following:

1 Kit of Cascade Golden Harvest Lager
750g of LDME
200g Wheat Malt
250g Xtal Malt steeped prior to boil
25g Hallertau at ~20 min of boil (not sure if this is correct terminology)
12g Sperling at burn off
60 min boil from hot break

I certainly was considering Kevnlis' advice and ditching the kit, but this is only my 2nd boil and I would rather get more experience on the boils before just going malts/grain.

I will follow up with the OG, but going from beersmith I should be expecting 1047

[Kevnlis]

That sounds pretty good, though I am not sure it was a good idea to use the Sterling as the flavour/aroma addition, the Hallertau would have been a better choice.

Let us know how it comes out anyway.

[freekq]

I know what you're saying about the sterling, but the beer haze rolled over (or was that the cold break ) and I thought I might as well use all of my hops.

One thing I did do was check out an old Hallertau I had stashed away in the cupboard and compared it it with a fresh Hallertau - that certainly gave me an insight into what is fresh and what is manky

[MiniMoose]

that sounds good man. love to hear how it goes. did you do a sixty minute boil with the kit and the malt?

from what ive read, with kit brews you dont really need to get cold/hot break as it's pretty much already happened when they made the extract.
im sure people who know more could say more?

the last two brews ive done with Crystal, kit, and extra malt have all been clompletley clear.

has anyone had any experiences with kits that havent been clear/chill haze?

[freekq]

Minimouse, I did a sixty minute boil once the hot break occurred, but I didn't add the kit until flame out ( just poured some of the boil into the kit to get out the remnants).
Although i'm quite inexperienced at the boils I do believe there was a hot break and certainly could tell when I added the hops after the boil occurred (it just seemed to roll from the outside of the pot.

I'm in the process of getting the cold break... could of used more ice in the laundry tub. OG is coming as i'm down to approx 30 degree.

[freekq]

Well I got my OG and it was 1056 , which is a bit higher than I thought but will wait and see how it turns out. However, I have a feeling it will be about 1020 for the FG

[Kevnlis]

Gravity should be alot lower then 1.020. Make sure you get the same reading 3 days running before you bottle!

[freekq]

Well i've just racked the wort into the secondary and have a SG of 1022 at 20 degrees c. I've kept it pretty constant on 20 degrees (using SafAle US-56) all week resulting in a current ABV of 4.4. I'll keep it in the secondary for at least a week so i'm pretty confident the brew will turn out fine (it did taste smooth).

After reading more and more on these forums i've started kitting out for AG - the bug has hit. No doubt i'll be posting on the grain forum very shortly It certainly is good to put my old eskies to use.

[Kevnlis]

It has only been 6 days at 20C, there could be plenty of fermentation yet to go, if this does not get below 1.020 I would be concerned!

[freekq]

Just took a reading and the SG has dropped to 1016 at 21 degrees. Had a taste and was quite impressed although finding it difficult to explain the flavour as having never done a partial before.

Even the wife had a taste and thought it was coming along pretty good. I'll look at bottling it this weekend coming and put the bottles into the fridge for a couple of weeks to condition.

[Kevnlis]

Really, do not ever set targets for finishing a brew, make sure you have a constant gravity 3 days running. Then you can bottle.

[freekq]

I understand what you mean and that was what i was implying by having a 'look'.