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Hi All,
I want to put down 2 mild lagers on Sunday, both around say 3 - 4 % alc, nothing big.
I have temp controlled freezer chest, so can lager at any temp no probs.
Both will be 21 Litres into fermenter, and perhaps would like one pale and one slightly darker like a DSGA.

Could I just do a DSGA with S23 lager yeast, any reason that wouldnt work out nice, would like to give that try ?

What nice palish type recipes would you recommend,

any tips appreciated

cheers, Chris

I've never made low ABV lagers, only ales so i have no recipes for you.

As for the golden ale with a lager i am not sure the late additions of american hops such as amarillo would work in a lager. You would have to be extremely subtle, JSGA subtle which as far as i can tell involves waving amarillo over the kettle.

If you did want to go down that path then reduce the late additions of amarillo to 5g each at 20 and 0 mins and up the 60 min addition to get an IBU of 25ish.

Thanks Doc,

Whats the main reason for the difference ?

cheers...

Grog wrote:Thanks Doc,

Whats the main reason for the difference ?

cheers...

Difference between what?

sorry Doc for not being clearer...

i mean what is it about the use of lager yeast that would make you back the late hops off when compared to an ale yeast ?

cheers,
Chris

My comment about dropping the late hops was mainly referring to the lower OG you were talking about. When you reduce the OG you reduce the amount of malt which means you need less IBU if you want to keep the beer balanced. I think the golden ale is almost perfectly balanced (for my tastes) at ~30 IBU with the OG of 1.046 or thereabouts.

If you just wanted to brew the golden ale as a lager then there is probably no need to wind back the hops other than the fact lager yeast tend to be more attenuative than ale yeasts and so with a lower FG you might still want to drop the IBU down a touch.

Not sure if i have answered your question or circled it?

More coffee may be required.

G'day grog.
My opinion only, to be shared with others.
I would have thought the S-23 would have enhanced the hops of the normal DSGA and put them out of balance IMHO. S-23 seems to amplify certain unwanted hop characteristics, or maybe diacetyl? . My opinion only.. After knowing what I know now I would change the S-23 to a liquid yeast. I have waited a combined 9 months for two lagers to show their stuff with the same yeast, same results to varying degrees.
Cheers

@ Doc...
Thats cleared it up, thanks. Makes sense when you put it like that. I'm just wondering how long in this learning process it takes to be able to take all of these things into account when playing with recipes.
Every single answer you have given me over the past year or so has given me so much more insight into the process - appreciated.

@ Rotten...
I dont have access at short notice to the liquid yeast but have 2 packs of s23, so will use those in this case.
I'll have a play later with the liquid as well and see how it comes out, thanks for the advice, appreciated

Cheers lads...

Hey Grog, don't pay any attention to my advice as I was very liquidated at the time of posting. I'm surprised I was able to see what I was typing.
Cheers

PMSL Rotten

Grog, Bit late but any way.
My favourite & regularily brewed beer is a pale Lager using S-23 with an aroma addition of Amarillo.

4Kg Pale malt
0.5Kg Wheat Malt
0.5Kg Flaked Maize

Mash @ 63 - 64 deg

Hop additions
18g Galaxy Flowers (14%) @ 60 Mins ( have also used 25g Por Flowers @ 9%AA)
12g Amarillo pellets @ 5 Mins (cant remember the AA% )

OG - 1.040
IBU - aim for about 25 if using a different bittering hop.

3 - 4 weeks in primary (4 gives a much clearer & brighter beer) - 2 weeks @ 12 deg raise to 16 or 18 for a week & then back down to 12.
Rack & filter to secondary for at least a week @ 2 deg.

I'm not a big fan of hoppy beers & the extra addition of Amarillo does a great job of finishing this beer!

For a darker Lager I just substitute with the following:-
3.5Kg Pale Malt
1Kg Munich
0.5 Wheat
0.25 pale crystal or Caramalt

Add a 12g flavour addition of Amarillo @ 15 Mins
& possibly up the bittering by a touch (about 2g with my Galaxy Flowers)

Of course this is what I like, after trying it you may want to tweak it a bit to suite your own taste.

Cheers, Mick.