dark lager

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rui

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i love dark lagers/pils, can i just pick up a pils kit and brew with dark malt extract????


:cheers:
 
Not too sure what your definition of dark lager is. Sadly, over many decades (centuries in some cases), many brewing terms have been corrupted. This is akin to people who say they are 'booting up' their PC: which is an impossibility (that I won't bother you with the technical reasons as to why) and they mean they are turning it on. Like the term ale in the vernacular when people mean beer: the two being interchangeable, when ale meant a brew without the presence of hops historically as distinguished from beer which had them added.

For the purists who will no doubt want to criticise my response lager simply translates into 'to store' and includes as many diverse beer styles as you will find anywhere in the world. It refers to a process rather than type. No doubt it (dark lager) has suffered the same fate in common speech and reference as in 'booting my computer'. So in short ~ if not using a modern corruption to indicate a specific type but the process instead ~ then the answer would be yes.
 
don't see why not
the dark DME will definitely make it darker but may give it a beer feel more body which lager doesn't usually have
some Dark DME contain crystal, black or dark malts in them to get the colour so some flavours may shine through too
give it a go
remember you need slightly more DME than sugar in your recipe
eg if it asks for a kilo of sugar add 1.25kg DME or more
:thumb:
 
This topic amuses me because only the other day we had a topic with complaints from people that lagers brewed from kits always come out too dark...
 
The traditional (German) dark lagers use a malt which adds colour but little of the roasty flavours you get with regular dark malts.
You could use a Carafa malt which doesn't need mashing, just steeping to get the colour and stick with a light DME.
 
To answer your question. The German term for Dark Lager is Dunkel and yes it can be done, I think its a little more complicated than just adding DME. HERE is a thread and recipe.
 
i like dark beers, specially two, portuguese dark Sagres and a german Das Schwarze.

i m thinking to brew one for the summer, with a kit of lager or pils (1.5kg) and add 1.5kg can of Dark LME and some hops (saaz-35gr) to produce a 21l batch.


:cheers:
 
Muntons do a Bock kit: when I did it, it came out very good and was extremely popular on Bonfire night:
http://www.muntonshomebrew.com/connoiss ... bock-beer/

Even though a 1-can kit, I'd say it's one of the best kits I've made (use Beer Enhancer/DME rather than sugar).
bock_small.jpg
 
I have experimented with this for a few years

the base I use is coopers euro lager

euro + 500g dark spray + 500g suger = a brown lager - quite nice
euro + 1kg dark spray malt = a pint that looks like heavy but is still lager with flavour - tasty
euro + 500g dark + 500g sugar + 300g crystal = lager best left for 6 month but then realy nice
euro + 1.5kg dark malt extract = heavy lager jet black colour - can't remember exactly how it tasted so im doing it again.

so the one im fermenting just now is

euro = 1.5kg dark malt extract + 300g sugar

the next will be

euro + 1 kg dark spraymalt + 500 g chocolate malt.

In search of the perfect black lager ..........from a tin
 
OK I have made this one a few times now and Im currently drinking my way through the last batch.
Coopers Euro lager + 1 tin Dark malt extract

In hindsight its a bit too heavy, This is not a beer I can drink all night. One or two pints three max.
However when mixed 50 50 with Coopers euro made with number two brew enhancer it is spot on.
Virtualy black quite light and not so intence on the taste front, The lager realy shines through.

So for my next trick I'll be making this
coopers euro
500g BE#2
1/2 tin dark malt extract

so as not to waste a tin of dark malt

coopers euro
500g BE#2
the other half of the tin
and a mulsh made with chocolate malt and a few bars of 80% chocolate

I imagin that the second beer might not be what I expect, but you never know.
 

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