Lager Recipes

Greetings fellow Drinkers I am new to all this, although I think I am halfway through my apprenticeship, I have done the kits. I have gone onto 'all grain' brewing (still learning here). I have done some nice wines.
But now my son-in-law wants me to brew some awful stuff called 'Lager'. But he wants it to taste something like the commercial stuff, he is muttering Calesburg, Fosters etc.
So can anyone give me guidance here please, either with recipes or links to a site with good recipes.
I really don't know what I am doing, but it's good fun and my beer so far is nice as well as cheap. Being a pensioner, that it important.
I would be grateful of any help, cheers :

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keg 1, Exmoor Gold
Keg 2, Nelsons revenge
Keg 3, Oldtimers Stout
Chablis type white wine
Merlot type Red wine
Home grown cider ( Maturing)

All lager has the same ingredients - Lager Malt, Hallertau Hops, Water and Lager Yeast. It's very boring.

The fun part is controlling the temperature, as it needs to ferment at low temperature to reduce the number of off flavours, and requires a temperature change. For this you'll need a chamber with a controllable temperature gauge. A lot of people convert old fridges - I plan to do the same.

could pm you a nice kolsch recipe :thumb:

YES PLEASE I would like the recipe, you could PM or on here I don't mind. :

Thanks Rob

Could you give me info, or point me in the right direction to get the information I need for making the stuff. I am not a lager drinker myself, for my part it's all P**s 'n' wind, but the son-in-law is good to me and the ole' trout so I suppose I should make an effort.

But as I have never made it before, I will need to find out the how and why.

RobWalker said:

All lager has the same ingredients - Lager Malt, Hallertau Hops, Water and Lager Yeast. It's very boring.

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What complete ********!

Look at the difference between American Light Lagers, German dortmunders, Maibocks, Maerzens, Ofests, Schwarzbiers, Pre pro CAPS, Bohemian Pilsners . . . . etc etc etc, and you might perhaps begin to comprehend that the range of 'lager' is as wide (if not wider) than that of ales and is anything but boring

oldtimer said:

He wants it to taste something like the commercial stuff, he is muttering Calesburg, Fosters etc. So can anyone give me guidance here please, either with recipes

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While it won't be a clone of carlsberg or fosters (it'll taste better than that )

Try for 25 Litres

4000g British Lager Malt
1000g flaked rice

Mash for 90 minutes at 65C using low alkalinity water

The boil for 90 minutes with

25g Northern Brewer (7.6% alpha for 90 minutes)
15g Tettnang 4.5% for the last 15 minutes
15g Mittlefruh at switch off

The real key here is to pitch lots of yeast (2 or 3 packets) adn ferment cool If you go with W34/70 or S23 try to keep the temperature below 15C. another alternative is to use Nottingham and ferment at 17-18C (A good neutral ale yeast fermented at its cool end will be much cleaner than a lager yeast fermented at the same temperature) .. .but you need to minimise any flavour contribution from te yeast so even when pitching Nottingham pitch 2 or 3 packets.

Anther alternative, is to not use flaked rice just the 4Kg of lager malt, and use 1Kg of white sugar in the boiler (add it half way through the boil)

Sorry Aleman if I have offended your taste buds, that is not my intention.
I was just expressing MY opinion of Lager. To me American beer is of the same ilk. Having spent some considerable time in America, plus working and drinking on the American Bases here. I could not get the taste for it. I am aware that others don't agree. So again I am sorry for any offence given.

However, I do thank you for your help with the making of it. I always appreciate help when it's offered. :thumb:

Bugger me. no offence intended, but. American beer is some of the most exciting in the world at the moment. and I don't mean Bud and their canoe fornicating ilk.

Aleman just picked up on the usual use of 'lager' in british english, which generally means tasteless fizzy pish.

Aleman doesn't mince his words ot, you'll get used to him :lol:

Hi Oldtimer,

Wroxham - it's a nice part of the world and I'm not jealous that you're near the Broads at all! :grin:

Anyway, I currently have fermenting the following....

FV1 and FV2
25 Litres made with :
5Kgs Lager Malt
Mash at 66°C for 90 minutes
90 minute boil
50g Saaz @ 90 mins
25g Saaz @ 15 mins
25g Saaz @ flame out
Leave to steep in the boiler for 30 mins
Brewlabs Pils yeast made into a 1 litre starter
Fermenting at a coolish room temp ~15-18°C (not ideal so I've heard....)

FV3 and FV4
25 Litres made with :
5Kgs Lager Malt
Mash at 66°C for 90 minutes
90 minute boil
50g Saaz @ 90 mins
25g Saaz @ 15 mins
25g Saaz @ flame out
Leave to steep in the boiler for 30 mins
Brewlabs Belgium yeast made into a 1 litre starter
Fermenting at a coolish room temp ~15-18°C (not ideal so I've heard....)

They smell bl**dy lovely at the moment.

This Saturday I plan on :
Same as FV3 and 4 but I have found ~50g of northern brewer hops lurking in the back of the freezer that I might use as bittering and the saaz throughout the last 30 mins or so.
I plan on also adding a kilo of sugar to the boil - just to make an extra strong lager :drunk:

To make something taste like fosters / carlsbergs etc... you pasteurise, filter and carbonate cheap ingredients through a "cost effective" process which is only possible on an industrial scale - it is an anti-homebrew! you may as well buy 24 tins for a fiver a costco and serve them up cold.

To craft the true versions of this beer takes the best part of a year or so, in the meantime educate the lad with real ale and the recipies described above

I was really leaning towards describing the stuff we have in pubs, which is no doubt what oldtimer is after...I've no knowledge of lager past that, but hell, I'm open to new ideas. Most of that statement comes from the fact that the majority of lagers in Dave Line's "brewing beers like those you buy" are almost the same recipe and method :rofl:

but yeah, seriously - +1 on educating him instead. make a light ale with little bitterness and a good flavour, tell him it's free and he'll get it down him one way or another.

The kolsch recipe is on the forum here under the recipes section. We also have 2 more kolsch recipes ill pm you them later

Unless you are after a more czech style lager I would stick to german hops, I think Hallertauer Mittlefruh is pretty commonly used.

Saaz is a great hop but will put you more in the region of Budvar or Pilsner Urquell than the lagers you mention IMO.

Thanks for the imput guys.

I am not after lager with a pub taste, as I have already said I don't like Lager. I thought I would make some for the son-in-law who has been a great help to me and the ole' trout.

It just that I know he drinks Fosters and Calesburgh and I wanted to make something that came somewhat close to it. He is not YET into the REAL stuff, but given time I will get him there.
If I can make something that tastes not toooooooooooo many miles away from the stuff he drinks, I can begin to educate him. one step at a time :

Mumbler

As I have never made this stuff before, can you give me more info on the German hops used in Lagers.
Perhaps offer me your recipe too. I really do need help here.
Aleman recipe has gone down in my brain to try, but any other suggestions would be of great help.
I REALLY don't know what I am doing and a bit chicken about trying to make Lager. :

Don't be scared! I'm an absolute novice so don't take anything I say too seriously, but it's gotta be worth a try.

I (attempted) made Alemans "something like Grolshe" a couple of weeks ago. It's still in the fermenter so I can't say how good it is, but the process was reasonably straightforward. Smelt really good when racking to secondary after a week of initial fermentation too.

Get yourself some Saflager yeast (probs a couple of packets for a Lager), I guess about 4-5Kgs of lager malt, possibly some flaxed maize or rice, and some suitable hops. I used Saaz and Hallertau.

I found this recipe which also looks good (from http://www.vthomebrewguru.com/tag/pilsner-malt/):

Ingredients:
» 1/2 tsp. kosher salt (I wouldn't bother with this bit)
» 9 lbs. Weyermann Bohemian Pilsner malt
» 1/2 lb. cara-pils malt
» 2 oz. Hallertauer hop pellets
» 1/2 oz. Perle hop pellets
» White Labs Belgian Lager yeast (WLP815)
» 3/4 cup corn sugar (for priming)

Procedure: Crush grains. Heat 14 quarts water with kosher salt to 162°F. Mash in crushed grains and hold 75 minutes at 150°F. Heat another 15 quarts water to 170°F. Begin runoff and sparge, collecting 26 quarts sweet wort. Bring to boil, add 1/4 oz. Hallertauer hops, boil 30 minutes. Add the Perle hops, boil another 30 minutes. Add 3/4 oz. Hallertauer hops, boil 15 minutes. Add remaining 1 oz. Hallertauer hops, remove from heat. Chill to 80°F and take a hydrometer reading. Pour into a sanitized fermenter, splashing well to aerate. Pitch yeast, seal and ferment at 55°F for ten days. Rack to secondary, lager in bulk at 38 – 40°F for six weeks. Prime with corn sugar, bottle and condition cold (35 – 38°F) for six to eight weeks.

I think the big challenge is in the lagering process, but a quick whizz on Google suggests that you can get away with shorter times and higher temps (just not too high) and being a cooler time of year I'm taking my chances with the garage staying low enough.

I'm really not a lager expert I've only made one. I do think that saaz is quite different to mittlefruh and I associate it more with czech lagers which are by and large the ones that I prefer. There are some lovely german lagers though.

AM is definitely a better guide than me. Personally I would go for more of a german style lager by ditching the flaked rice and upping the lager malt to compensate. I would also be tempted to use more hallertauer in place of the tettnang just to avoid having any more open hops in the freezer. Actually if it were me I'd use the tettnang in preference to the hallertauer, however I think hallertauer would be better for the beers you are talking about.

Hope that helps but as I said I'm by no means a lager expert.

LM600

I have looked at your recipes for the lager and they seem straightforward.
However you do not mention sugar for the second ferment. I assume as in all ales a second fermenent is needed. Can you throw some light on this one please :