John Bull Lager Adaptation?

[Steiney66]

Hi chaps-

Ive just been given a tin of the above as a pressie. Now Ive brewed other cheapo lager kits but I always seem to get a bit of a cidery sweetness. Basically I would like to make a decent bottle conditioned lager for once. I know normal sugar isnt the best, Ive used golden syrup, brewing sugar, touch of honey etc but to no avail. Although like most people new to the game I have tended to start sampling a bit early.

I have some hallentau hops in the freezer & am prepared to try it with a lager yeast and whatever someone would advise as regards as fermentable sugars..

Any advice, or a link to a straightforward adaptation would be appreciated

cheers in advance

Steiney

[dedken]

Steiny,

there have been a few discussions about adapting lager kits recently - here's one viewtopic.php?f=4&t=30630#p330198

Here's some suggestions:

With the the Young's 'Definitive' lager I bought, I did a 75 min boil with about 20g of hallertau and chucked in the same amount of saaz for the last 15 minutes (in about 3litres of water. Before pouring I mixed in 1kg of BKE and 500g demerera, and then used to lot to sluice out my empty young's tin through sanitised metal sieve. Smelled pretty good. Used trub from S-23 lager yeast from my previous experiment and also pitched in a sachet of Young's lager yeast. Will leave for two weeks with no extra heat. 12-15C is good for lager yeast.

Previously I did a similar thing with Coopers Aussie lager. 20g hallertau 30min boil and 20g saaz for 10 minutes. With this one a added 1kg of light DME and 500g of demerera (to up the ABV). After fermenting for two weeks it tasted really, really good - better than anything I've done so far so I have high hopes for it.

For fermentables I would now go for DME every time, or if i can't get to my LHBS, some BKE from Wilko's. I will probably never use household sugar again as a primary fermentable, maybe with the exception of boosting the ABV! You just don't get enough body with it. With our current cold winter it is the perfect time for making lager with dedicated yeast - get a few batches going and you'll hopefully have a nice refreshing beer for the summer months.

[Steiney66]

Thanks for the link & advice dedken

After reading some of the stuff it may be Ive been brewing at too high a temp although the 2 brews Ive used - Youngs Def Lager & Coopers Aussie - I think use ale yeast.

I did boil 15g hallertau hops for 20 mins in the youngs kit, after 2 months the lager was clear with a nice head but the tang was still there, I used golden syrup & a touch of honey but think I will have to use decent fermentables & brew with lager yeast at a low temp & a heavier longer boiled dose of hops

cheers again

steiney