Any ideas......

[Martyn]

On a Heineken clone using the Coopers gear. I've got the Euro lager as a base but not sure on the hops and adjuncts to use. Any suggestions greatly appreciated. Oh and it has an abv of 5%.

 

Cheers,

 

Martyn.

 

 

[Andris]

Hallertauer hops might give you "germany" taste and smell. Well, not sure as how close it will come to Heineken tho. as for delivery and amount - http://www.aussiehomebrewing.com/Hops/HopVariaties.html

 

this might give some ideas how many/when.

 

hope it helps!

[MatthewS4]

Try this which is adapted from a book. Be sure to have the right amount of water when boiling the hops otherwise you need to adjust the hop amounts to suit the different boil size. Also with the crystal you can boil your kettle and when you see tiny bubbles starting to rise, this is around 65 degrees C and will be close enough.

 

 

19L batch

Final gravity: 1.010

Original gravity: 1.051

IBU 24

5% alcohol by volume

 

Crush and steep in 2L (65\xb0C) water for 20 minutes, 113g 2.5\xb0L German light crystal malt

 

Strain the grain water into your brew pot. Rinse (Sparge) the grains with 2L more water at 65\xb0C. Add this sparge water to the brew pot and some extra water to make around 6L volume. Bring the water to a boil, remove the pot from the stove, and add:

 

3 kg Coopers light malt unhopped.

14g Northern Brewer 8% AA

28 g German Hallertau Hersbrucker 3% AA

 

volume should now be around 9 L. Boil for 50 minutes. Add...

 

 

7 g German Hallertau Hersbrucker

 

Boil for 10 minutes, remove pot from the stove, and cool for 15 minutes. Strain the cooled wort into the primary fermenter and add cold water to obtain 19 L. When the wort temperature is under 27\xb0C, pitch the yeast.

 

 

 

1st choice: Wyeast's 2042 Danish lager yeast

(Ferment at 6-11 \xb0C)

2nd choice: Wyeast's 2247 Danish II lager yeast

(Ferment at 6-11\xb0C)

[MatthewS4]

If you already have the Euro larger this will get you to the right bittering so leave out the 60min hops and just add the 10min hops, add 1.5kg light liquid malt and make it up to 20L as there is slightly more extract due to the 1.7kg kit....

 

Coopers yeast in that kit is probably an ALE strain so if you really to use it then keep the temp down low, say 18 degrees C as it will go to sleep at 16 if I am right.

[Kearnage]

The Coopers kit yeasts are all listed in a sticky at the top of the forum. The Euro bigger has a true lager yeast. [devil]

 

[Martyn]

So for a simple Heineken clone recipe-

Euro lager,

1.5kg light liquid malt,

7g hallertau-10min boil,

21g hallertau dry hopped?

14g Northern Brewer dry hopped?

Kit yeast (or either of the 2 you suggested Matt),

ferment as close to 13-15c as possible?

Made to 20litres.

 

Would you still recommend the 113g German light crystal malt?

 

Does that sound any good?

 

Martyn.

 

[MatthewS4]

It depends on how close you wish to make your beer if you use the crystal or the better yeasts. Those liquid yeast are going to be around $15 so either use one of them to get closer, or just use the coopers dry yeast from the kit. Be sure to find out what temp the yeast can handle and use it at the lower end as you want a clean larger taste for this beer. If you have never used crystal before then this may be a good time to try it to learn what it does.

 

Also from memory Heineken is not a hoppy beer and did not have strong armomas. I dont think you should dry hop, certainly not with 35g of hops unless you want to make a totally different beer. Remember the Euro lager kit will have hops in it already.

 

If you want simple do this.

 

1.5kg light liquid malt disolve it in your brew pot with around 4L of water. If your using crystal then steep it with 2L and rinse it with another 2L to make up this 4L of water.

Bring this to the boil and throw in 7g of hallertau and boil it for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and throw in another 7g of hallertau if you wish, then put the lid on and then wait 15 minutes. Throw it in the fermenter and make up to 20L with your coopers euro 1.7kg kit and water. DO NOT ADD ANY SUGAR as the 1.5kg liquid malt takes the place of sugar.

 

If you buy the hops in a 25g bag then you will only use half and can save the rest in the fridge in an air tight jar to do another brew.

 

The crystal is pretty easy as your normal kitchen kettle will hold 2L (overfill it slightly if not as it wont boil) and just stop it when there is a steady stream of small/tiny bubbles rising in the kettle. This will be around 65 - 70 degrees if you cant take the temperature and will be close enough to get the job done.

[MatthewS4]

So how did the brew turn out?

[Martyn]

Never did it in the end. Went to a family do a few weeks ago and had a few Heineken and wasn't that impressed. Haven't really drank it since we moved here a couple orso years ago and have made a lot better and drank a lot better. Have got the Euro Lager conditioning so that will do me, also not keen on having bottles sat for 3 months unable to drink the contents.[crying]

 

Thanks for your suggestions anyway.

 

Martyn.