Liven up some lager malt

[JamesH]

Hi,

I'm looking for some advice on what to brew this weekend.

I have used up all my pale male and ale yeast. All I have left is some lager malt (about 5kg) and a dried lager yeast left. Does anyone on here have any ideas of how I can get an interesting brew out of this?

I have the following grist ingredients:

Crystal Malt
Torrefied Wheat
Black Malt
Chocolate Malt

and these hops:

Saaz
Fuggles
Northern Brewer
Bramling Cross
Bobek
Cascade

I was thinking of trying somehow to make a Belgian style of beer but am not sure I have the right ingredients. Does anyone have an idea of what I can brew this weekend with my supplies?

Also, any advice on fermentation would be greatly appreciated. The yeast I have is a Brewferm Lager yeast which, according to the packet, should be fermented at 12-15 degrees. I usually ferment in my first vessel (which I attach a fish tank heater too) until the yeast head dies down before racking to a secondary FV that is airtight but doesn't have any temperature control. Would this be ok for a lager? How long should I be fermenting the beer for?

Thanks,

James.

[196osh]

You wont be able to make a belgian style beer without belgian yeast.

If you are going to try and make a lager ferment it at 12C, Hop it to 20-30 IBUs and finish it with a shed load of saaz.

If you are making a lager you will need to "lager" it which is cold conditioning period at 0-5C the lower the better. You can do this in a fridge.

[yogester]

Why not go 100% Lager Malt and shoot for a Summer Ale style?

Late 3 to early 4% in ABV. IBU is the early to mid thirties with a lot of hops in the 5 min or less area. Cascade and Bobek would be a nice combo.

My $0.02....

[JamesH]

Why not go 100% Lager Malt and shoot for a Summer Ale style?

Late 3 to early 4% in ABV. IBU is the early to mid thirties with a lot of hops in the 5 min or less area. Cascade and Bobek would be a nice combo.

My $0.02....

Cheers, that sounds like a good suggestion. How much of the IBU would you go for in the last 5 minutes of the boil? I'll be making a 4 gallon batch.

Would you ferment this as you would a lager or an ale?

Cheers,

James.

[dave-o]

I wouldn't consider 5 minute hops to have an effect on the IBU.

Just hop it to your desired IBU level with your full-boil hops and chuck some more in at 10 minutes, and also at flameout if you like.

Bokek/cascade should be luvverly.

[JamesH]

I wouldn't consider 5 minute hops to have an effect on the IBU.

Just hop it to your desired IBU level with your full-boil hops and chuck some more in at 10 minutes, and also at flameout if you like.

Bokek/cascade should be luvverly.

OK will do, maybe 20g of Bobek/Cascade at 5 minutes. Would it make any difference what bittering hops I use? Of my current hops, Northern Brewer have the highest alpha %. Would there be a problem going for those?

[dave-o]

I think that'd be fine.

[yogester]

OK will do, maybe 20g of Bobek/Cascade at 5 minutes. Would it make any difference what bittering hops I use? Of my current hops, Northern Brewer have the highest alpha %. Would there be a problem going for those?

If it was me and I had enough Cascade and Bobek to do it I would First Wort Hop with Cascade and Bobek rather than using Northern Brewer. There is some thought that the steep time in the hot wort before boiling allows some alpha acids and aromatic oils to form glycosidic complexes and thus not be driven off by the boil like bittering hops would be (due to the slow temperature rise of the oils).

Say if you were doing 23L, maybe 4.5kg of Lager Malt for a 4.2-ish% ABV, 30g-ish of each as FWH and another 30g-ish of each at 5 min if you can afford it.

[JamesH]

Cheers Dave,

I'll put it through Beer Engine and see what happens!

James.