First Beer brew in Decades

[RuddyCrazy]

G'day Guy's,
Well the last of that first cider brew I did has gone so yesterday I did my lager brew. The brew consisted of

one off Cooper Lager tin
1kg of extra light malt
one off 15g tea bag of Saaz hops
saflager S-23 yeast

I dissolved the malt in about 5 litres of water and warmed it up to around 65C and then once all the malt was dissolved I left it sitting on that temp, restating the gas when needed. Then I warmed up the tin and poured it into the malt mix, stirre it up so everything was dissolved then pitched it into my fermenter. With the Sazz hops teabag the package did say to steep in pre boiled water for 10 minutes and by the time I had moved the brew up to my shed it was more like 20 minutes.

It was 23C when I pitched the yeast and last night I could clearly see the yeast had settled and foam was ontop of the brew but the airlock hadn't moved. Silly me when I drilled the hole for the airlock the plastic split so I used some food grade silastic to seal it. Still no movement on the airlock this morning. I found a fresh tub of foodgrade grease so I took the lid off and quickly greased up the rubber seal and didn't screw the lid down as hard as I did before, next thing the airlock was bubbling

The brew is currently on 16C and when it get down to 13C I'll wrap a sleeping bag around it and if it does go below 11C I got a pet heater blanket I'll put around to get back to 13C.

The Sg reading came out to 1044 and a quick taste after the sg reading does suggest this is going to be a sweet brew. I did do some research on boags lager and the above recipe is the closet I could find. I do intend to leave the brew in the fermenter for 2 weeks then bottle the brew. Then 2 weeks in the fridge to lager it, now I should get around 35 long necks out of the brew so a doz is going into hiding (from the missus) for 12 months......

Cheers Bryan

[warra48]

Hope it works out well for you.

All wort will taste sweet before it ferments out. The yeast will consume most of the sugars, and turn them into alcohol. Once that is done, the obvious sweetness will disappear.

Don't be in too much of a hurry to ferment a lager. You are better off doing so in the lower end of the recommended range for the yeast you use, and letting it take it's time. Giving it 3 weeks is not too much.
Don't worry about your airlock, it doesn't really mean anything. The only reliable test to confirm your brew is finished is to use your hydrometer. If your readings are stable over 3 days or so, and with the expected Final gravity range, then you are OK to bottle.

[RuddyCrazy]

G'day Guy's,
Well weekend before last got the brew bottled and I do know it's still too early for the second fermentation to finish but ya know how eager one can after doing the first brew in decades. I worked out it's about 5.4% and got 31 longnecks out of the brew.

My missus had a taste and said I'm not a beer drinker but that is the best tasting beer I've ever had. OK it hasn't got enough bubbles yet to form a head but talk about a smooth tasting drop I know when I crack a pale ale later I'll wish I had a time machine as this is the best tasting beer I've ever had too......

As it is starting to warm up my next brew will be done in the shed fridge using the exact same recipe and this time I'll go true lager temps and try and make my next brew even better.

OK all I did for this brew was

one can of cooper lager
one kg of extra light malt
15grams of Saaz hops
and saflager yeast.

The brewing temps went from 12C to around 19C over the 2 week period with the brew cooling down overnight.

Cheers Bryan

[earle]

Sounds like a great result Bryan. When you say 'extra light malt' is that a malt extract or grains that you've used.

Cheers
Earle

[warra48]

Well done, your own brews almost always have that extra taste bling factor, just because you made it!

Earle, I'd say it's 1 kg Extra Light Malt Extract, on my reading of the OP. Not sure if it's dry or liquid.

[earle]

I was thinking that too warra but this bit of Bryan's method has me wondering.

I dissolved the malt in about 5 litres of water and warmed it up to around 65C and then once all the malt was dissolved I left it sitting on that temp, restating the gas when needed.

[warra48]

I was thinking that too warra but this bit of Bryan's method has me wondering.

I dissolved the malt in about 5 litres of water and warmed it up to around 65C and then once all the malt was dissolved I left it sitting on that temp, restating the gas when needed.

Guess we'll have to wait for further enlightenment from Bryan !

[bullfrog]

It looks to me like he mashed extract.

[earle]

It looks to me like he mashed extract.

Thats what I was thinking. I would suspect that you would get 100% efficiency by doing so (though I's sure Speedie would disagree)

[RuddyCrazy]

G'day Guy's,
The extra light malt extract I used was basically a powder and I put a bit in at a time to ensure it fully dissolved. I got the malt from the HB and it was the most expensive part of the brew. This weekend I'll see if any health food shops have some malt extract as I reckon it will be a heap cheaper but the next couple of brews are going to be apple cider and i'll go with 5 kg's of the mush this time which will let me do 4 brews and hopefully they will keep my missus off my beer

Cheers Bryan

[earle]

No worries Bryan. As its extract you can use higher temps to dissolve it which might be easier than trying to maintain 65C which you would use for the mashing of grains.

The malt extract you can get from a health food shop may not be 100% barley based. In that case it may not be as good for beer, more suited to making biscuits and the like.

You might be able to get the extract cheaper by buying online at http://www.craftbrewer.com.au or http://www.grainandgrape.com.au

Cheers
Earle

[warra48]

My experience with LDME is that it dissolves best for me in cold tap water.
I just put the malt in first, then add the water, give it a bit of a stir, and wait about 10 minutes. Usually it's all dissolved by then.

I only use it for starters for liquid yeasts.

Others experience may vary.

[emnpaul]

Coopers advise adding hot water first, then malt extract and swirling to dissolve. This actually works pretty well but I might try your method out Warra, just to see the difference.

[RuddyCrazy]

G'day Guy's,
Well pre boiled up 20 litres of rainwater today and got the making for my next brew

one off cooper lager tin
1 kg of coopers dextrose
1/2 a kg of white sugar ( to get the alchy up )
one 15 gram tea bag of Saaz hops
Saflager S-23 yeast

Now as the weather is warming up the fermenter is going into my shed fridge when the thermostat turned right down so I can keep at the lower end of the lagering temps.

Cheers Bryan

[warra48]

G'day Guy's,
Well pre boiled up 20 litres of rainwater today and got the making for my next brew

one off cooper lager tin
1 kg of coopers dextrose
1/2 a kg of white sugar ( to get the alchy up )
one 15 gram tea bag of Saaz hops
Saflager S-23 yeast

Now as the weather is warming up the fermenter is going into my shed fridge when the thermostat turned right down so I can keep at the lower end of the lagering temps.Cheers Bryan

Do you have any idea of the temperature the fridge gets down to? Many of us use an external controller for the fridge to set the temperature accurately.
Here's what I use, but others use cheaper alternatives which seem to work just as well.
http://www.craftbrewer.com.au/shop/details.asp?PID=2592

[RuddyCrazy]

G'day Warra,
The fridge I'm using is an old '60's model Standard and Telephone fridge, the insulation is close to 100mm thick all around and it does have a nice range of temps just using the dial. It also has a dial for setting for off peak which I have set for thru the day. I only just had it turned on yesterday and just went and checked now. The brew was 24C when I pitched the yeast and the brew is currently sitting on 17C. Over the course of the next 2 days I'll find the sweet spot for the temp dial and due to the size of the fridge I got a dozen of the first brew in there lagering. Anyway I decided to have a few of the first brew yesterday and after 4 of them that was enough to get me merry.

The Sg reading was 1050 for this second so it should also have plenty of kick in it.

Cheers Bryan

[RuddyCrazy]

G'day Guy's,
Well near the end of day 10 and the brew is still bubbling away slowly, the temp of the brew is on 13C and it has been within lagering temps now for over a week. I have the fridge turned down real low and my temp gauge in there is showing 6C. waht ever space i have left has the first brew in lagering too.

Now I have read that one can add the priming sugar to a brew rather than prime each bottle so I am wondering how much sugar to use per litre. for this brew I got a packet of the coopers carbonation drops so I'll give them a go for this brew but it would be good to know about priming the brew and the sugar required

Cheers Bryan.

[emnpaul]

Try this priming calculator. I've found dextrose is the easiest to dissolve.

http://centralcoasthomebrew.com/zencart ... 5991b39026

[earle]

Unless you're going to rack into another vessel I'm not sure I would bulk prime. I thinks its likely to stir up the trub and you will end up with very yeasty bottles.

[RuddyCrazy]

All I can say is WOW 3 weeks of lagering and I poured a HB into a snapon pilsner glass, gotta say the taste is so smooth and the head retention is there. My current brew is still bubbling away after day 12 and is sitting on 11C. To say for a first brew in a decade I reckon I've done pretty well.

O'well time to dip the snapon glass in rainwater to clean it and go get another........,...

Cheers Bryan