lager, single hop and bottled water advice needed..

[Fil]

Its finally time to brew the first lager. Ive enjoyed all my AG bitters and ales, and have a brewfridge so here we go..

I asked back in march for suggestions about hops and recipes and am leaning towards using Saaz hops.

im brewing single hop beers of late to help learn about the different flavours, as well as trying to minimize all the odd open packs..

I have lager malt and wheat malt for the grain and some s05 or wyeast budvar to do the work. I plan on making a 1l starter for this if i go with the s05.

My water is hard and ive not used the crs before so am considering buying 6 or so 5l bottles of water to brew with if anyone can suggest a brand thats suitable for lagers..

I would like to brew a light crisp lager not a heavy thick holsten pils type.

cheers

[rootsbrew]

Most supermarket water'll be fine. Main trouble with tap, apart from minerals, is chlorine, which comes through as beer conditions. Those 5 litre bottles are quite good and you can rack back into them.

As for recipe, what do you actually want to make - a wheaty lager? But don't you need 06 for wheaties? Also, if you don't care about sticking to those German rules, you could adding lemon zest & juice for a more refreshing pint?

[seymour]

Most supermarket water'll be fine. Main trouble with tap, apart from minerals, is chlorine, which comes through as beer conditions. Those 5 litre bottles are quite good and you can rack back into them....

+1

A quibble: if you're talking about Safale US-05, that's the Chico/Sierra Nevada ale yeast. It's pretty clean and neutral, but it's not a lager yeast by any means. If you're planning a true lager, definitely use the Wyeast Budvar yeast you mentioned.

Cheers, and best of luck!

[Fil]

Thanks chaps, i shall go for the best deal on water,and 5l bottles will make measuring my hlt volume a doddle the water is quite hard here but a pre-boil removes some making it fine for the beers ive brewed so far, but would be a bit hard still for a lager i think.

I will stick with the wyeast pack then cheers..

this 5.33 recipe is what i was looking at originally, and i was planning on bunging in the whole 5kg of lager malt as i batch sparge..

and im considering just using Saaz hops 80-85g for 90 mins, and 15-20g for the last of the boil?
as the sazz and Hallertau have similar alpha levels?

4600g Lager Malt
575g Wheat Malt
Mashed for 90 minutes

48g Saaz 90 minutes
48g Hallertau Hersbrucker 90 minutes
15g Styrian Bobeck 15 minutes

Target : 25l 5% abv 33 EBU? 4 EBC
and then look at lagering it properly

[Cozzyb]

Looks fine to me, if those IBU figures are correct, maybe drop the IBU to around 25 (seems to be pretty standard for lagers) but obv it depends on your taste.

I'm looking to make a lager myself soon but have to sort out where in the house hits the low temps of around 10-16c without dropping too low.

[Fil]

Cheers MKP.. ive got the saaz for this brew now, but will keep the Tetnanger in mind for lager #2

I hadnt considered the reverse osmosis water from a fish shop.. something to look at next time im brewing a batch that needs soft water, im happy t use the 5l bottles for now as i will reuse one or two of the bottles for a side of TC with cheapo apple juice..

And i will give it a good long boil for 90mins:) hopefully if sunday is a clear day its lager time:)

[Aleman]

If you haven't bought the water yeast, be very careful, as not all supermarket water is suitable, what you need to look for is water that is low in bicarbonate you are looking for a bicarbonate level less than 30mg/l, most supermarket waters have a bicarbonate level around or greater than 150mg/l

Either Tesco Ashbeck, or Asda Smartprice are suitable . . . and If you can find any Mofrrisons Aqua Pura Cumbrian water is also suitable.

As for the recipe

Lager malt only to 1.048-1.050, mash at 64-65C to get a nice crisp profile

Saaz Hops only to 30-35 IBU (depending on gravity)

Certainly 25g Saaz for aroma at the end of the boil/steep

Ferment at 10-12C using the Budvar yeast . . . which you should make a starter with.

[Fil]

Not got the water yet so thanks for the tip aleman, i shall read all lables carefully, tesco and asda are both within driving distance..

I can drop the wheat malt from the brew, im on a bit of a pale malt only single hop journey with my bitters at the moment and have been very happy with the results, so a single malt single hop lager appeals.
( ironic im getting more and more complex brewing kit and brewing simple beers hehe)
i like the wheat beers so a single hop wheat beer may be on the cards..


the yeast i got is in a ?smack pack? a mini starter on its own? is just following the pack instructions sufficient? Im wary of encouraging too vigorous a start to the fermentation as my FV has very little headroom, my fridge is diddy so dictates what i can use (25l jerrycans).. I generally dry pitch and get a strong fermentation within 24 hours with bitters at 17-18C.

[zgoda]

This is lager, you need loads of healthy yeast. Even 2 litre starter is not enough.

[Barley Water]

I generally make 5 gallon batches (19 liters) and I make up a gallon starter (then of course pour off the liquid and pitch the slurry at the bottom). If you ferment at 50F (which you should) you need a massive amount of yeast otherwise the beer will just not attenuate. Incidentally, I like to make two lagers back to back so I can use the yeast cake off the first beer to avoid making such a large starter for the second beer. Finally, you need to agressively oxigenate the wort, I use pure O2, again it promotes yeast health. Good luck, they are harder to make but there is a certain satisfaction gained when the results turn out as planned.