How low can Euro Lager yeast go?

[Len]

Hi

Putting down a european lager soon, and am just wondering how low the kit yeast will tolerate? Time is no issue, I just want the cleanest taste possible and I've read the lower the better with lagers (down to around 9 degrees). I have a fridge with temp control (fridgemate) so temperature will be maintained as low as possible.

 

I'm also going to add some extra hops to get a bit more bitterness and flavour. I enjoy saaz hops so was thinking of boiling 30g for 30mins to get the IBU around 27 (is this too bitter?), 15g more at 0 mins for flavour and then dry hopping 30g in secondary. Is this overkill? I want a nice fresh hop flavour but not over the top so it tastes rubbish. Making the kit with a 1.5kg Coopers Light LME by the way.

 

Thanks for your help.

 

[PB2]

If you are only pitching 7g of yeast, you need to get the yeast population up and running prior to dropping the temp'. So start at 22C-24C for the first 12 hrs then drop it to the ferment temp'. This yeast will ferment at 9C but activity will be so slow that quite a lot may fall out of suspension. When fermenting small brews, it's nearly impossible to pick the differnece between the final beer fermented at 10C or 13C. Also, the large qty of hops will mask any subtle falvour/aromas thrown by the fermentation.

[Len]

Great thanks for the speedy reply.

 

13C it is.

 

Have I gone way overboard with the hops or will it be okay? I find those little 13g bags of "finishing hops" from homebrew stores to not be enough to have any significant impact on the taste, particularly with saaz, but I have gone overboard with Pride of Ringwood before and it was undrinkably bitter for a couple of months (nice after that though [lol] )