Munich Dark Lager

[Minus The Bear]

I have just ordered a Munich Dark Lager brubox kit, which i intend to brew in a FMV and then bottle.

I was wondering if anyone had any experience of this type of kit, and if there anre any tips for fermentation temp etc?

Also ordered a steam beer kit after reading about fivetide doing one, along with a milestone IPA kit and a john bull masterclass porter.

I intend to make my newly built brew cupboard well used!

[fivetide]

Excellent. I thought that Munich-style kit sounded very interesting too. Those kits are pricey but some nice styles and seem to be quality ingredients.

The Brubox steam beer was my first ever go with lager yeast and it fermented superbly at 15-18 degrees in an unheated front room and didn't need any cooler conditions. It actually fermented quicker and more strongly than any other ale yeast kit I've tried (but didn't smell as nice, oh no).

Are you doing a 10 litre brew of Munich then?

[Minus The Bear]

Yeah just 10 litres to keep the bottling to a minimum.

I'm after trying as many styles as i can so i can find what i like.

[fivetide]

Mmm. yeah. I was surprised the Brewferm lager yeast suggested a relatively high temperature compared to true lager yeasts. I assume it's some sort of hybrid ale yeast that just does the job or something?

[Minus The Bear]

Sounds like this one will be happy to ferment in the garage then as long as i get it going before the weather gets better.

That gives me a few months with English weather

[Minus The Bear]

Going to start this kit off tomorrow.

I came with a brewferm lager yeast and the instructions ask for a fermenting temp bewteen 12-16 so i thought i would go middle ground and set the brew cupboard to 14 degrees.

does that sound ok?

[Minus The Bear]

have just finished up and got this in the FMV, and a few queries have raised themselves.

The first was after reading the instructions i had to steep the grain bag in 1 litre for 15 mins and pour it in the FMV. after that it said do it again with 500ml for 10 mins, which went fine.

The next step was boiling the hop bag in that same 500ml for 15 minutes. so i set this off, came back after 15 mins and there was hardly and liquid left in the pan!

I'm fully aware of what happens to liquid when its boiled, what suprises me is the instructions tell you to do it for so long that most of it evaporates!

i got out what liquid i could from the bag and put that in.

after it was all done i was checking the SG and got a reading of 1032, which seems very low to me. i put the correct amount of water in so am not sure why it is this low. any ideas?

[Minus The Bear]

Yep made it up to 10 litres, the packaging says to expect 4 - 4.5% which is what made me think the OG is a bit low.

All i can think it that maybe i didn't stir the wort long enough? I get most of my aeration by adding the water from a height.

Thanks for the tip on the tea bags!

[Minus The Bear]

Just while on the subject, with this being a lager yeast will i see much fermentation happening like with ale yeasts?

[Minus The Bear]

ah i see i will have to wait for this one, thats cool a couple of weeks should suffice.

I think in the meantime i will have to practice my stirring techniques, anyone got any tips!

[Minus The Bear]

I will do that for the next brew, must purchase a 5 litre jug!

[Minus The Bear]

hopefully the ones at my local wilkos will be!

I need a bottle capper too.

[PeteH]

I'd be interested to hear what this turns out like. I might get a couple of the refils and do a 20l batch for the summer.

[Minus The Bear]

I will let you know, the fermentation is slower than ale as expected but definately getting there.

[CyberPaddy66]

hopefully the ones at my local wilkos will be!

The plastic ones at my local Wilco+ are 2 litres