Given it's getting cold in my neck of the woods I thought it might be a good time to try a lager.
I found Mangrove Jack's Dutch Lager kit and thought I would give it ago.
In a way, this felt like coming full circle as my wife gave me a Mangrove Jacks Beer Making kit which set this whole shebang off.
Preparation of the kit was pretty standard. I cleaned the plastic fermenting drum with sodium percarbonate and boiling water. I left the kit of the fire top so it would soft. I put the yeast in a glass of warm water so that it could be hydrated.
When I was set up, I added the beer enhancer to the drum and added some boiling water. It's probably just me but I like to ensure the enhancer is properly dissolved before I add the malt.
I then added the malt after it was warmed on the fire. It came out nice and easy. I added a little more boiling water to the can so that I could get all the malt out.
I found Mangrove Jack's Dutch Lager kit and thought I would give it ago.
In a way, this felt like coming full circle as my wife gave me a Mangrove Jacks Beer Making kit which set this whole shebang off.
Preparation of the kit was pretty standard. I cleaned the plastic fermenting drum with sodium percarbonate and boiling water. I left the kit of the fire top so it would soft. I put the yeast in a glass of warm water so that it could be hydrated.
When I was set up, I added the beer enhancer to the drum and added some boiling water. It's probably just me but I like to ensure the enhancer is properly dissolved before I add the malt.
I then added the malt after it was warmed on the fire. It came out nice and easy. I added a little more boiling water to the can so that I could get all the malt out.
When everything was nicely stirred in, I then filled the drum with the required amount of water.
To give the yeast a good start to fermentation, I let it do its thing in the kitchen for 24 hours, then I moved it out to the shed and wrapped it up in a large pile of old sheets. Classic.
To give the yeast a good start to fermentation, I let it do its thing in the kitchen for 24 hours, then I moved it out to the shed and wrapped it up in a large pile of old sheets. Classic.
I left it for a week and then bottled.
2 weeks later I can report back.
While it's very early, I can tell I must have got something wrong as it feels very sweet and dry. Maybe I added too much sugar when I batch priming. There's definitely a nice creamy feel which almost seems at odds with what I just described.
It feel's like another couple of weeks conditioning is required which makes perfect sense.
4 weeks later - report back 2.
Things have settled somewhat. I've made a dry lager which seems a bit odd. It's quite drinkable, and especially so when served cold as all good lagers should be! I did accidentally open one that was warm and it gushed up a fair bit so maybe I did add too much sugar.
2 weeks later I can report back.
While it's very early, I can tell I must have got something wrong as it feels very sweet and dry. Maybe I added too much sugar when I batch priming. There's definitely a nice creamy feel which almost seems at odds with what I just described.
It feel's like another couple of weeks conditioning is required which makes perfect sense.
4 weeks later - report back 2.
Things have settled somewhat. I've made a dry lager which seems a bit odd. It's quite drinkable, and especially so when served cold as all good lagers should be! I did accidentally open one that was warm and it gushed up a fair bit so maybe I did add too much sugar.
I just made a batch of this same extract lager. I'm going to bottle it in 3 days. I did however, add slightly less (22 instead of 23L) water, and I also used beer enhancer for the sugars. So I'm suspecting similarly mine will be quite dry. It'll be a nice change from the standard IPA/Pale I usually enjoy. Cheers!
ReplyDelete