Hi guys,
This is my first post on the forum. treat me gently, esp given the comments in this topic http://www.homebrewandbeer.com/forum/vi ... php?t=1515... (deep breath) here goes:
I like Sam Adams! I don't care. I like it dammit. OK, I'm a yank, and haven't had one for several years, and am now attuned to brit/aussie staples, etc etc, so may think differently if I had one now, blah blah,
enough qualifying: here's what I want. How do i make a Sam Adams Boston lager for myself? Hmmm? Here's some more info you might need in order to help me:
Have never ever never ever attempted making my own beer;
Want the easiest, cheapest, most immediate and accessible means possible of making a SamAdams style brew;
Really would like to do it via the Coopers Home Kit thing, as it looks very easy and all-inclusive.
I am not talking about labour and brain intensive artisanal crafted product... I'm talking about knocking something together that gets me, say, to within ... let's say 86% within the range of the beer I'm talking about.
Can you help? Which of those canisters or packs of Coopers home ingredients that I see on the Bi-Lo shelves do I need? Is there a recipe? How does this damn thing work anyway??
thanks for any help you can provide. you'll be richly rewarded for your assistance. Kanga
Samuel Adams Boston Lager
OK, I'll bite.
I googled for "Sam Adams Boston lager recipe".
http://www.skotrat.com/skotrat/recipes/ ... pes/9.html
This is an easy recipe, I can post a more detailed method if you need it. The hardest part will be temperature control... it may not be the best brew to get started on. Someone else might be able to convert this to a kit and kilo with an ale yeast for you. I can't be bothered right now.
I googled for "Sam Adams Boston lager recipe".
http://www.skotrat.com/skotrat/recipes/ ... pes/9.html
How exactly they think an IBU range of 25-30 favours malt, I'm not sure.Profile: Strong malt character with German hop signature, medium body.
Balance: Favors malt
Steeping Grains:
1lb 60L Crystal
Malt Syrup:
8 lbs Pale Malt Extract
Hops:
1.5 oz Hallertaur 3.6% AA Boil 1 hour
1.5 oz Hersbrucker Finish
Yeast:Wyeast Bavarian Lager #2206
OG Range:1.048 - 1.054
FG Range:1.010 - 1.015
IBU Range:25-30
This is an easy recipe, I can post a more detailed method if you need it. The hardest part will be temperature control... it may not be the best brew to get started on. Someone else might be able to convert this to a kit and kilo with an ale yeast for you. I can't be bothered right now.
w00t!
OK, thanks for the reply, sort of. I understand I'm likely biting off more than i can chew for an inaugural run. And I appreciate that I probably won't be able to dump a packet of stuff from Safeway into a bucket of water and start pouring Sam Adams out a couple months later. I AM willing to do the mental sweat and education and trial and error and all the rest ... but I really don't know quite how to start. I've read the Coopers home brew kit instructions, and that all looks fine and easy, but what I can't find is, what bits would i change from the standard ingredients and process, to get the style of beer I'm after.
Can someone "convert this to a kit and kilo with an ale yeast" for me? What does that mean? Does that mean someone can take the numbers you listed, and turn it into a recipe that says "buy one packet of this, weigh 2 kilos of that" and out comes Sam Adams a couple months later!?
Cmon mate ... gimme a hand? I'll document the whole process on this website and give you full credit. Plus send you a couple bottles of the completed product, gratis. How hard can it be?
Barring that, which of these ready-to-go kit products would get me closest to this style of beer?
am i right in suspecting that this one will get me closest?
http://coopers.com.au/homebrew/hbrew.php?pid=1&id=111
Can someone "convert this to a kit and kilo with an ale yeast" for me? What does that mean? Does that mean someone can take the numbers you listed, and turn it into a recipe that says "buy one packet of this, weigh 2 kilos of that" and out comes Sam Adams a couple months later!?
Cmon mate ... gimme a hand? I'll document the whole process on this website and give you full credit. Plus send you a couple bottles of the completed product, gratis. How hard can it be?
Barring that, which of these ready-to-go kit products would get me closest to this style of beer?
am i right in suspecting that this one will get me closest?
http://coopers.com.au/homebrew/hbrew.php?pid=1&id=111
The reason this isn't a good style of beer to start with is that it's a lager. Lagers are brewed at a lower temperature than ales (8-12°C for lagers, 18-22°C for ales).
Most people start off by getting one of the kit cans, adding a kilo of some kind of sugar, mixing it up with 2L of boiling water in the bottom of the fermenter, topping it up to 23L with cold water, pitching the yeast, coming back a week later and putting it in bottles along with carbonation drops, then waiting two weeks and trying the beer. What they find is they've made some mediocre beer because they used mediocre techniques.
Now, I'll get off my high horse and give you a recipe to try. I'll try to get as close as I can to the Boston lager, and restrain myself from making it too complex. The only thing out of the "basic" mould is the added hops. You can leave them out if you wish, but they will make a significant difference. Also, it is unlikely you'll find any of these (high quality) ingredients in a supermarket; you'll have to venture out to a homebrew shop.
Ingredients
- 1 can Coopers Bavarian Lager
- 1 can Coopers Amber Malt Extract
- 15g Hersbrucker hops at 10 minutes
Method
0. Sanitise your fermenter and put 15L of cold tap water into it.
1. Get a large pot, the larger the better, and boil about 4 litres of water in it.
2. Stir in the Coopers Amber Malt Extract.
3. Bring back to a steady boil, not to vigorous or it'll end up all over your cooktop.
4. Add the hops pellets. Have a glass of cold water handy to quench the boil with in case it starts to boil over.
5. Boil all this for 10 minutes, add the contents of the Coopers Bavarian can, take off the heat.
6. Put the lid on the pot, Get a wet towel or teatowel or something and wrap the pot in it. Then if you have a fan, blow air over the pot, rewetting the towel periodically until cool, which takes about 30-45 minutes.
7. Carefully pour this "wort" into your fermenter, and top it up to 23L with more cold water.
8. Pitch the contents of the dried yeast onto the surface of your wort, add the airlock to the lid, and put it on the top of your fermenter.
9. Wait for a week to 10 days.
10. Bottle, adding carbonation drops to each bottle as directed on the pack.
Notes
- The Coopers Bavarian can comes with a lager yeast. For best results, keep the fermenter as cool as possible, ideally around 12°, but anything under 20°C should be OK.
- A good way to kickstart your brewing knowlege would be to read this: How to Brew by John Palmer.
Most people start off by getting one of the kit cans, adding a kilo of some kind of sugar, mixing it up with 2L of boiling water in the bottom of the fermenter, topping it up to 23L with cold water, pitching the yeast, coming back a week later and putting it in bottles along with carbonation drops, then waiting two weeks and trying the beer. What they find is they've made some mediocre beer because they used mediocre techniques.
Now, I'll get off my high horse and give you a recipe to try.
I'll try to get as close as I can to the Boston lager, and restrain myself from making it too complex. The only thing out of the "basic" mould is the added hops. You can leave them out if you wish, but they will make a significant difference. Also, it is unlikely you'll find any of these (high quality) ingredients in a supermarket; you'll have to venture out to a homebrew shop.Ingredients
- 1 can Coopers Bavarian Lager
- 1 can Coopers Amber Malt Extract
- 15g Hersbrucker hops at 10 minutes
Method
0. Sanitise your fermenter and put 15L of cold tap water into it.
1. Get a large pot, the larger the better, and boil about 4 litres of water in it.
2. Stir in the Coopers Amber Malt Extract.
3. Bring back to a steady boil, not to vigorous or it'll end up all over your cooktop.
4. Add the hops pellets. Have a glass of cold water handy to quench the boil with in case it starts to boil over.
5. Boil all this for 10 minutes, add the contents of the Coopers Bavarian can, take off the heat.
6. Put the lid on the pot, Get a wet towel or teatowel or something and wrap the pot in it. Then if you have a fan, blow air over the pot, rewetting the towel periodically until cool, which takes about 30-45 minutes.
7. Carefully pour this "wort" into your fermenter, and top it up to 23L with more cold water.
8. Pitch the contents of the dried yeast onto the surface of your wort, add the airlock to the lid, and put it on the top of your fermenter.
9. Wait for a week to 10 days.
10. Bottle, adding carbonation drops to each bottle as directed on the pack.
Notes
- The Coopers Bavarian can comes with a lager yeast. For best results, keep the fermenter as cool as possible, ideally around 12°, but anything under 20°C should be OK.
- A good way to kickstart your brewing knowlege would be to read this: How to Brew by John Palmer.
w00t!
thanks very much rwh for taking the time to post your thots and recipe. With winter nearly here in melbourne, maybe at least it’s the right time of year to try this one? I am keen to give it a go.
Can you be more specific about ‘mediocre techniques’? I did read the crash course chapter last night in the “how to brew†link you posted (thanks for that). I did notice some differences between that online book, and Coopers Home Kit’s downloadable instructions… e.g., you/he recommend a rapid cooling before pitching yeast… coopers’ instructions make no mention of that, because there's no boiling!
Another example: How To Brew suggests rehydrating yeast before inclusion, home kit instructions don't.
Is that the kind of thing you mean? And if so, are there any other glaring discrepancies you can mention? Your recipe looks completely doable, and I am going to give it a shot. Thanks again for the help.
Can you be more specific about ‘mediocre techniques’? I did read the crash course chapter last night in the “how to brew†link you posted (thanks for that). I did notice some differences between that online book, and Coopers Home Kit’s downloadable instructions… e.g., you/he recommend a rapid cooling before pitching yeast… coopers’ instructions make no mention of that, because there's no boiling!
Another example: How To Brew suggests rehydrating yeast before inclusion, home kit instructions don't.
Is that the kind of thing you mean? And if so, are there any other glaring discrepancies you can mention? Your recipe looks completely doable, and I am going to give it a shot. Thanks again for the help.
Yeah, winter is definitely easier for brewing than summer. A lot of people in Melbourne have a brewing holiday over the hottest months, and having struggled through this summer myself, I can tell that to brew over summer next year I'm going to need a brew fridge.
As for mediocre techniques, I mostly meant:
- crap ingredients: sucrose, excessive maltodextrin, excessive dextrose
- brewing too hot: over 24°C and you start to get some pretty bad tastes
- lack of adjuncts: specialty grains and flavour/aroma hops are some of the easiest additives to improve your beer
Rehydrating dried yeast is a contentious one. At least one yeast manufacturer recommends against it as they have tuned their yeast's metabolism for dry pitching. There is extensive discussion of this issue in other threads, so I won't try to recreate it here.
If you want more advice on things that will improve your brewing, take a look at the stickies in the Making Beer section, such as:
Basic brewing instructions
Simple things that make HB better
As for mediocre techniques, I mostly meant:
- crap ingredients: sucrose, excessive maltodextrin, excessive dextrose
- brewing too hot: over 24°C and you start to get some pretty bad tastes
- lack of adjuncts: specialty grains and flavour/aroma hops are some of the easiest additives to improve your beer
Rehydrating dried yeast is a contentious one. At least one yeast manufacturer recommends against it as they have tuned their yeast's metabolism for dry pitching. There is extensive discussion of this issue in other threads, so I won't try to recreate it here.
If you want more advice on things that will improve your brewing, take a look at the stickies in the Making Beer section, such as:
Basic brewing instructions
Simple things that make HB better
w00t!
from a yank to a yank-
jim cook and the rest of his half ass brewers have choked the boston lager bit for the last 10 years, been there vomited that, after tasting many lagers i wouldnt brew a sam adams for the life of me
the homebrews ive made, and they still suck (but i like them)
taste like heaven compared to SABL
cheers, back to brewing
b
jim cook and the rest of his half ass brewers have choked the boston lager bit for the last 10 years, been there vomited that, after tasting many lagers i wouldnt brew a sam adams for the life of me
the homebrews ive made, and they still suck (but i like them)
taste like heaven compared to SABL
cheers, back to brewing
b
You had me at dry hopping.
-
SpillsMostOfIt
- Posts: 789
- Joined: Friday Nov 24, 2006 5:07 pm
- Location: Collingwood, Australia
Why don't you say what you really think?buscador wrote:from a yank to a yank-
jim cook and the rest of his half ass brewers have choked the boston lager bit for the last 10 years, been there vomited that, after tasting many lagers i wouldnt brew a sam adams for the life of me
the homebrews ive made, and they still suck (but i like them)
taste like heaven compared to SABL
cheers, back to brewing
b
No Mash Tun. No Chill.
No confirmed fatalities.
No confirmed fatalities.
-
SpillsMostOfIt
- Posts: 789
- Joined: Friday Nov 24, 2006 5:07 pm
- Location: Collingwood, Australia
I've just read it myself and thought it was really good. Then I thought what if we were to make it into a film! We could get Naomi Robson and someone else to make some beer outlining these instructions. Then - and here is the clever bit - we could sell it to some beer kit maker to include with their beer kits.Rysa wrote:Good break down of method rwh.
Passed this on to my mate who has just started brewing.
Cheers.
Gold, I tell ya!
No Mash Tun. No Chill.
No confirmed fatalities.
No confirmed fatalities.
-
Trough Lolly
- Posts: 1647
- Joined: Friday Feb 16, 2007 3:36 pm
- Location: Southern Canberra
- Contact:
I actually like the taste of Sam Adams Boston Lager - it's a good quaffer IMHO! 
rwh's basic lager recipe is easy to make and sure to give you a generic lager that should keep you happy to begin with. As mentioned, temp control during fermenting lagers is pretty important if you want a clean lager that doesn't smell and taste like pear juice! One trick, if you are using a standard Coopers plastic fermenter is to grab 2 x 2L PET bottles and 3/4 fill them with tap water and freeze them solid. In the morning you lay them across the top of the fermenter and drap a moist towel over them. Simply switch them with another 2 x 2L PET frozen bottles when you get home from work and that will help keep the temp down during primary fermentation. It also helps to ferment the lager in the coolest spot in or under the house and obviously away from sunlight.
Or you could say "bollocks to that!" and buy a temp controller and ferment lagers in the fridge as I do...
Cheers, and let us know when you want a part mash or all grain Sam Adams Boston Lager clone recipe!
TL
rwh's basic lager recipe is easy to make and sure to give you a generic lager that should keep you happy to begin with. As mentioned, temp control during fermenting lagers is pretty important if you want a clean lager that doesn't smell and taste like pear juice! One trick, if you are using a standard Coopers plastic fermenter is to grab 2 x 2L PET bottles and 3/4 fill them with tap water and freeze them solid. In the morning you lay them across the top of the fermenter and drap a moist towel over them. Simply switch them with another 2 x 2L PET frozen bottles when you get home from work and that will help keep the temp down during primary fermentation. It also helps to ferment the lager in the coolest spot in or under the house and obviously away from sunlight.
Or you could say "bollocks to that!" and buy a temp controller and ferment lagers in the fridge as I do...
Cheers, and let us know when you want a part mash or all grain Sam Adams Boston Lager clone recipe!
TL
Thanks for the advice. I changed my mind over the last few days (well the weather forecast did) and decided to start a bit more traditional, so used the Coopers "Lager" can that came with my microbrew kit. I'll experiment with this stuff and then will have a bit of learning under my belt before attempting the Sam's. Plus the temperatures will hopefully be cooler before I take that on.
In the end, I did buy/add light dry malt and some hallertau hops as suggested, did the boiling, etc, so we'll see what comes of it.
Only major concern now is (I should probably move this to a new thread):
Despite the can being called a Lager, the yeast pack is an Ale yeast, or so I understand.
I actually had already bought a Lager yeast (Saflager 34/70) at a HB shop, thinking I was going to use that, but in the end, I chucked in the Coopers prepacked ale yeast, again, for temperature reasons forecast for the next week or two.
But then I read (afterward of course) that the yeast has a date stamp... sure enough I check it and it WAS best before August last year! I pitched it in dry...
This has all just happened tonight, actually finished it just an hour ago. If the prepack yeast was/is dead, should I try the Lager yeast I bought, and see if I get a 'steam' beer out of it? Better than chucking it all down the drain i suppose.
or, can i go back to the shop, get a proper/fresh/liquid Ale yeast, and try to put that in tomorrow, if no fermentation is visible? Will the wort have held up over 24 hours? it's all sealed up, so I don't know why it would be vulnerable...?
Am getting ahead of myself, as I don't yet have proof that the old/prepack yeast is truly dead or that it won't work. Just trying to think of options if it turns out it is.
thanks again/kanga
In the end, I did buy/add light dry malt and some hallertau hops as suggested, did the boiling, etc, so we'll see what comes of it.
Only major concern now is (I should probably move this to a new thread):
Despite the can being called a Lager, the yeast pack is an Ale yeast, or so I understand.
I actually had already bought a Lager yeast (Saflager 34/70) at a HB shop, thinking I was going to use that, but in the end, I chucked in the Coopers prepacked ale yeast, again, for temperature reasons forecast for the next week or two.
But then I read (afterward of course) that the yeast has a date stamp... sure enough I check it and it WAS best before August last year! I pitched it in dry...
This has all just happened tonight, actually finished it just an hour ago. If the prepack yeast was/is dead, should I try the Lager yeast I bought, and see if I get a 'steam' beer out of it? Better than chucking it all down the drain i suppose.
or, can i go back to the shop, get a proper/fresh/liquid Ale yeast, and try to put that in tomorrow, if no fermentation is visible? Will the wort have held up over 24 hours? it's all sealed up, so I don't know why it would be vulnerable...?
Am getting ahead of myself, as I don't yet have proof that the old/prepack yeast is truly dead or that it won't work. Just trying to think of options if it turns out it is.
thanks again/kanga
well, i brewed it up this weekend and it has now started percolating along... rwh i followed your recipe exactly, and because the temperature is still a bit unseasonably warmish here in Melbourne, I went the Ice on Top/Wet Towel wrapped around trick mentioned by TroughLolly, and placed on shed floor. Out of curiosity, what is the average temp drop in a plastic primary fermenter using this method, that i can expect. Just need to get from avg. 18ish down a few degrees...
I realise these are half-measures but am not worried about it, as at least I'll have a benchmark to judge from and correct as needed in future.
I am also spurred to track down some carboy for racking/2ndry fermentation, will need to find a way to keep that cool as well. Also need to figure out the best time to diacetyl rest before doing so. Lots to learn but it is good fun. I'm starting to see a lagering fridge in my future...
thanks again for tips everyone/kanga
I realise these are half-measures but am not worried about it, as at least I'll have a benchmark to judge from and correct as needed in future.
I am also spurred to track down some carboy for racking/2ndry fermentation, will need to find a way to keep that cool as well. Also need to figure out the best time to diacetyl rest before doing so. Lots to learn but it is good fun. I'm starting to see a lagering fridge in my future...
thanks again for tips everyone/kanga
Hi Kanga,
That all sounds good. As far as I know, the ice/towel thing might give you 2-4 degrees, which should be enough to give you some tasty beer. You're right though; to do proper lagers you will need a fridge. Try doing some ales and things first, you might just find that you like them more!
BTW: if you're fermenting at those temps, you won't need a diacetyl rest as the temp is already high enough for the yeast to be active enough to consume diacetyl. Only prob is that they'll be producing more too.
That all sounds good. As far as I know, the ice/towel thing might give you 2-4 degrees, which should be enough to give you some tasty beer. You're right though; to do proper lagers you will need a fridge. Try doing some ales and things first, you might just find that you like them more!
BTW: if you're fermenting at those temps, you won't need a diacetyl rest as the temp is already high enough for the yeast to be active enough to consume diacetyl. Only prob is that they'll be producing more too.
w00t!