What to do with the lager can from the brew kit?

[Instigator]

So I'm getting back into K&K brewing after several years off and picked up the regular brew kit from Dan Murphys today. I'm pretty rusty on the whole thing, but excited to finally dust off my 120+ LC pint bottles.

Anyway, I'm not really a lager drinker. I prefer hop forward, high ABV, dark ales and IPAs.

I'm going to pull the trigger on the DIY Craft Brew Kit also, as I like the idea of small batches and my brew fridge should be able to fit both FVs at the same time.

So, should I do the lager can with a reduced volume (11L ?) to increase the bitterness, or maybe do a 23L toucan with something like the Dark Ale? What would you do?

Matt.

[Shamus O'Sean]

32 minutes ago, Instigator said:

So, should I do the lager can with a reduced volume (11L ?) to increase the bitterness, or maybe do a 23L toucan with something like the Dark Ale? What would you do?

Hey Matt

Me, I would go the toucan Dark Ale route.  Some of the partial mashers on the Forum do good beers using the Lager as their base.

Cheers Shamus

[Disco Stu]

Hi Matt

The " Midnight Mosaic Amber Ale " from the Coopers recipe section uses the lager can as a base. Have brewed a few times and is a very tasty drop. 

[porschemad911]

The OS Lager kit is basically base malt and bittering. I've used it to make 11l batches in my Craft fermenter before.

You could turn it into a pale ale, amber ale, brown ale, stout, IPA, DIPA etc with extra LDM, a specialty malt steep and a flameout / dry hop addition as needed for the style.

Cheers, 

John 

[Instigator]

Thanks everyone.

I spent a couple of hours going through the recipe section last night and did stumble on the Midnight Mosaic Amber Ale. It really opened my eyes to what can be done with these kits with a bit of thought and experimentation. It looks like both the 11L batch and the toucan with Dark Ale are viable, so it'll probably come down to what takes my fancy on brew day. 

Thanks again!

Matt.