My first Lager!

[Mountain]

I have never brewed a Lager, so I'm going to have a go this weekend. Much as I've drawn some of my generic lager drinking mates to the dark side, I have one friend who is Carling through and through....pour soul. I think a good AG lager might be a winner, and perhaps be the first step to beer redemption.

My ales, wheatbeers, and fruitbeers have now reached a very decent level.....much to the advice from this site

However, lager is something I only occasionally drink, and if I do I'll go for something bottled that's not a generic popular one.

Any recommendations for a good AG recipe with a bit of character.

Edit. Doh, I see there is a similar thread below this one
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=30569

[Whorst]

Recipes for pale lagers are pretty simple. You can go 100% lager malt and hop to around 30 IBU's. If you want to get tricky, take the first
gallon of first runnings and boil the *&^% out of it, to where you're you're left with just foaming bubbles. Use a good lager yeast. I'm partial to WLP-838 Southern German Lager. Lovely flavor profile, nice and richly malty. I made a 1L starter and pitched warm, with about a minute of pure oxygen, then slowly dropped temperature. My last lager went from 1.052 to 1.010 in about 9 days. That included about a two day diacetyl rest. Then 5 weeks at 35F. It's gone now. Drank most of it during the Superbowl with people who didn't have a clue how good it was.

[leedsbrew]

I did my 1st lager on the 9th of Jan. It was a Schwarzbier Dark larger



I ended up using 500g Munich, 300g Vienna as that's what I had in. It is currently lagering in the garage which at the moment is a pretty constant 1-2 deg C. Tastes awesome. Really pleased with it.

[Mountain]

Cheers guys .

I was going for:
Lager malt 95%
Vienna Malt 5%

I have some saflager s23 for the yeast. 2 packs.

I was thinking of getting a starter going a day or two before brewday....er, that'll be tomorrow then.

How about hops?
I have either Saaz or Hallertauer Hersbrucker (or both) for aroma. I also have about 15g of Bobek that needs using up too?

As for bittering.....I have Aurora, Mount Hood, or Liberty in the freezer. I'm thinking Mount Hood may be the way to go as it's related to Hallertauer Mittelfrüh.

Any ideas?

I'm thinking of Mount Hood & Hallertauer Hersbrucker now.

[Mountain]

OK,
This is my final choice.

I made a small amount of lager malt wort on Friday and added 2 packs of s23 which is bubbling away like crazy!

Fermentable Colour lb: oz Grams Ratio
Lager Malt 2.5 EBC 9 lbs. 11.1 oz 4400 grams 93.6%
Vienna Malt 10 EBC 0 lbs. 10.5 oz 300 grams 6.4%

Hop Variety Type Alpha Time lb: oz grams Ratio
Hallertauer Hersbrucker Whole 2.9 % 15 mins 0 lbs. 1.1 oz 30 grams 41.1%
Mount Hood Whole 6.5 % 90 mins 0 lbs. 0.8 oz 23 grams 31.5%
Hallertauer Hersbrucker Whole 2.9 % 0 mins 0 lbs. 0.7 oz 20 grams 27.4%

Final Volume: 23 Litres
Original Gravity: 1.049
Final Gravity: 1.011
Alcohol Content: 4.9% ABV
Total Liquor: 27.7 Litres
Mash Liquor: 23.5 Litres
Mash Efficiency: 80 %
Bitterness: 32 EBU
Colour: 5 EBC