European lager.

[AJS83]

Hi all. I have just done up a batch of European lager. I have added 1kg of the dry light malt. Should this yield a good lager? Not sure if I should if used brew enchanter 3? I have had brew for a while but only got round to doing it today. Then my tap broke. I am in Canberra so no issues with keeping my fermenter at 12-14c for 10 days before bottling. 

[Malter White]

@AJS83 I don't think you'll be disappointed. I've made Euro lagers with BE3 and light malt. They were both good.

[AJS83]

Awesome thank you. 

[Beerlust]

24 minutes ago, MUZZY said:

@AJS83 I don't think you'll be disappointed. I've made Euro lagers with BE3 and light malt. They were both good.

+1

A really good kit (IMHO).

For a nice floral/herbaceous hit to compliment the kit, a 20-25min steep/hop tea with approx. 10-15gms of Tettnanger hops works well. 

Best of luck with the brew,

Lusty.

[Malter White]

1 minute ago, Beerlust said:

+1

A really good kit (IMHO).

For a nice floral/herbaceous hit to compliment the kit, a 20-25min steep/hop tea with approx. 10-15gms of Tettnanger hops works well. 

Best of luck with the brew,

Lusty.

I agree it's a great kit. I've got one bubbling away currently with liq light malt and added 25g Cluster hops steeped for 30 minutes. 

[Beerlust]

23 minutes ago, MUZZY said:

...added 25g Cluster hops steeped for 30 minutes. 

Cluster is an interesting hop. It's been around a long time now but doesn't get spoken about favourably in home brewing circles that often these days. So it does beg the question about how it remains relevant.

For those that move into home brewing they soon learn that Cluster is associated with the mid-strength commercially brewed beer XXXX Gold, & quickly scrub that hop off their want to use list. That's a mistake (IMHO).

Cluster's main attributes are a very nice light citrus floral characteristic backed up by a spicy flavour undertone. For those more versed with hop character, think Hallertau & a lighter Saaz combined. It is quite versatile across a number of beer styles that explains it's longevity (to me at least).

I have experimented with it in place of the Perle hops used in the famous Sierra Nevada Pale Ale recipe & added another small addition at another entry point with the recipe & felt it presented much better than the Perle did. 

I made it a part of a hop forward Pale Ale recipe of mine years back using it strategically in the boil & dry hop, & that beer is still in my top ten assessed beers I've ever brewed.

Just my 20 cents,

Lusty.

[Malter White]

@Beerlust I'm inexperienced with hops. My first purchase of hops was EKG which were a great addition to the Coopers Pale Ale tins I was making. When I ran out of EKG I sought to purchase more and while searching I discovered Cluster were cheap. So I gave them a go. Can't say I'm disappointed in my tightarse decision. They've been a great addition to my beers. I've only used them in pale ales and lagers so far and I'm very pleased with the results. I'm not averse to trying other hops but price influences my choices because I'm inexperienced ie. I don't wanna blow cash on something I might likely fk up.

Edited July 10, 2020 by MUZZY

[Beerlust]

@MUZZY Experience with anything comes with continued experimentation. Regardless of the style of beer you like to make & drink there are always different spins you can put on them with the hops you decide to use & how you use them in the production of the beer.

You appear to have a liking toward lager style beers (your cloak is now off! ), so look into hop varieties that are often used to produce these styles of beers best, then work off their characteristics to produce something unique for yourself. 

Lager yeast strains have a tendency to quell hop influences & bitterness created from them in the boil that is actually a plus when used with the right hops that would otherwise present far more potent in an ale yeast fermented beer etc.

Cheers,

Lusty.

 

Edited July 10, 2020 by Beerlust

[Ocean's of Ale-]

 

@AJS83

*If memory serves me mate, I think BE3 consists of 500gs of dme +250gs of maltodextrin + 250gs of dextrose- so to compare a brew containing BE3 to 1 kg of dme isn't probly all that much, the BE3 would finish dryer on the pallet compared to 1kg of dme which would probly have a lot more body & malt complexity about it. The latter being some what preferential personally. 

 

*As a bit of a twist, I personally prefer using 1/1.5kgs of dry wheat malt extract with a Euro kit + 250gs of caramunich(i) grains +25gs of hallertau hops & (thanks to ChristinaS1) Mangrove jack (MJM20 ) Munich wheat Yeast to brew a pretty tasty but some what uncomplicated wheat beer (Kristallweizen), speaking of which it must be 50'clock somewhere.

Cheers mate-