Strong Lager Help

[micmacmoc]

I'm not much of a lager drinker. My friend brought back Vol Dam, the strong dark stuff, about 8% from Spain. It was damn good. I owe him a favour so I thought I would produce some strong lager. I have really really soft iron rich water here. I have ordered some mango jack lager yeast from MM, can make a starter if advisable. I have irish moss, protofloc and gelatine to help clear it. Heres what I have come up with as a rough start:

23litres 1069-1016 6.9% (725 efficiency)
Pale Malt 7000
munich 300

Pac Jade (13.8%) 10g 60 mins
EKG (6.6%) 20g 15 mins

This gives an IBU of 17...is that about right?
I understand that using some clarifying agents in the kettle then another in the fermented beer can cancel each other out, so if I use protofloc in the kettle then gelatine in the beer will that be ok?
My garage is about 10C at the moment so that should suit this yeast. I can then move it to my cellar (around 16C) for a rest then bottle it. Is this about right?
Sorry for the many questions. All advice happily taken, thanks.

[Matt12398]

1.016 sounds a bit chewy for a lager and not sure about EKG.

[Fil]

Saaz are a nice strong lager hop, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saaz_hops

and perhaps more munich malt in the mix at the level your suggesting i dont think it will come through much and the pale malt will give more malty flavour than you want in a lager.. perhaps more of a 50/50 mix??

tho im no lager expert,,

[Pinto]

Came up with this a little while ago...

AlcoBrau

Original Gravity (OG): 1.090 (°P): 21.6
Final Gravity (FG): 1.018 (°P): 4.6
Alcohol (ABV): 9.47 %
Colour (SRM): 8.6 (EBC): 17.0
Bitterness (IBU): 35.0 (Average)

65.75% English Lager Malt
17.13% Flaked Corn
17.13% Golden Syrup

2.5 g/L Hallertau Mittlefrueh (6.3% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil)
0.8 g/L Hallertau Mittlefrueh (6.3% Alpha) @ 15 Minutes (Boil)


Single step Infusion at 65°C for 60 Minutes. Boil for 60 Minutes

Fermented at 14°C with Saflager S189


Recipe Generated with BrewMate


Its my own nod to the King of all bum wines, Carlsberg Special Brew - Only advice I'd give you is choose a lager yeast with good attenuation, one that can handle high gravities (S-189 being ideal as it's the strain used for Samiclaus ultra-lager) and pitch LOTS. Might even be worth tracking down some pilsner enzyme in case it finished short....

[zgoda]

W34 has no problems fermenting 22 plato worts, and has ~10% aby tolerance. How else would we made our Baltic porters?

[micmacmoc]

Thanks folks, I have some golden syrup so i'll chuck that in, I expect that would lower the FG? I also have some s04 yeast which is, I think, a good attenuator, though not a lager yeast I could use this? I also have these hops: Celeia, Bobek and wakatu hanging about. Oh also a pack of T58 yeast. I will do a starter, have some malt extract so that's easily done.

[Rick_UK]

I would go 75/25% pale malt/Munich and bitter to 25-30ibu. Bobek would be the best of those as a late hops for a lager as it is a German variety!

You will need a lager yeast if you want the true smoothness of a lager, S23 is a safe bet for a dried strain. A clean ale yeast such as Notty or US05 can get you close if you ferment at its lower range - 14-15'C. Any of these should be fine with 8% abv. Adding sugar or syrup should help it get down to a reasonable FG as suggested.

Rick