Coopers oz lager/honey lager

[Dannyboy123go]

I am about to try this experiment,can of coopers oz lager,Melanodin Malt (crushed) 500g,100g Goldings hops, 1kg brew enhancer.i was also thinking of adding so oats to the mix,anyone any thoughts on the results,tips etc? Any advice welcome

[seymour]

My thoughts are "Yum, yum, go for it."

[Dannyboy123go]

Thanks for your advice on the hops mate can't decide how much oats to use in the boil though

[seymour]

The amount isn't terribly important, but I'd perform a "mini-mash" to soak in your dissolved wort, as opposed to boiling. Boiling the grains can add some harsh husky tannins. I just posted this in another thread:
/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=55038

Here's an even better way to do it without buying anything: swipe several cups of oatmeal from your kitchen. Rolled, flaked, instant, steel-cut...it doesn't matter. Mix with some water and brown sugar and cook per package instructions until it's smooth and gummy, just like you'd eat it. Transfer it to a hop-sock, cheese cloth, or even just a clean metal strainer and suspend it in your hot wort for awhile. Dunk it or pour some wort through it to extract as much grainy, starchy, carbohydrates and protein-strings as possible. Then proceed with as usual. Oats always improve head retention, lace, and provide a creamy, silky, smooth mouthfeel. Good luck. In fact, you could do this "mini-mash" with cracked wheat, rye, any unmalted grain, really.

[Dannyboy123go]

Cheers for the info mate so make the oats mini mash and a separate tea with hops and honey malt and simply combine in FV with wort? Sounds straight forward even for a nugget like me

[seymour]

Exactly. Again, that's just one of a dozen ways to skin the cat (disgusting phrase, sorry.) What you're basically doing is separating out components of the age-old all-grain brewing process and adding it back into your short-cut extract process. If that seems straight-forward to you, then when the time comes for you to switch to all-grain brewing, it's going to seem easy as pie. I'm not exaggerating. The mash and the boil with hops are just built-in to the traditional method.

There's nothing at all wrong with extract brewing, though, especially if space and equipment are limiting you. I'm just saying, the more advanced techniques you add back in, pretty soon you'll realize you're not actually saving time and effort Cheers and good luck with your brew!

[Dannyboy123go]

Thanks for the help mate well,I've only just started to experiment with adding things to the standard kits and will carry on with them to build up my knowledge base but maybe one day I'll advance to all grain......until then I'll pick people's (like you) Brains clean