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Pantat

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Can anybody recommend a Lager kit that is a blond colour when brewed. The kits I have tried the finished beer is more like a pale ale colour.
 
My dad used to make Cooper Ceveza which was very pale although I have to say tasted very bland but you could try hop it, canadian blonde is like said pale again bland, so I agree dry hop as it needs that boost.
 
Coopers Canadian Blonde (a bit bland, good for pimping with a dry hop) and Coopers Euro lager.
Thanks for the recommendation for a suitable kit. Can you please give me instructions on the how to "pimp" up the brew.
 
Thanks for the recommendation for a suitable kit. Can you please give me instructions on the how to "pimp" up the brew.
You can do it a few ways, depends on how much you want to spend. A good way to get more body and mouthfeel is to brew it short to 21 litres and add DME (dried malt extract) 1kg, or you can add 500ml DME and 500ml table sugar. Doing this will make it a little stronger as you've not brewed to 23 litres. Once it has finished fermenting you can add some hops Saaz or Mittlefrau go nice in a lager, add about 25g and leave them in there for a couple of days (pellets will drop out into the trub at the bottom).
 
'Pimping' a kit usually applies to one can and comprises adding a dry hop or a hop tea, maybe a specialist grain steep like crystal malt, or even a small minimash using a base malt to replace some or all of the additional sugars like malt extract or dextrose that you would normally add.
However whether you use all sugar, half and half ME/sugar or all ME as a base addition is really up to you. Most lagers seem to have a dryness so you may not want to leave out some or all or of the sugar, whereas you might want to go for a malty taste in which case you may choose to use more ME. I have made up lager kits in the past and used half and half and it worked for me. But if you add ME to your kit try to get light or extra light ME since they affect the colour least and darker ME may affect the taste.
And if you add extra hops don't add a lot is my advice, lagers are not IPAs. 25g of Saaz or Hallertau as @Banbeer suggested is fine, I used 40g on one kit lager and it was on the limit for me.
Finally if you go for either of the Coopers kits the reviews are here. Personally I found the Blonde kit too bland, but the Euro lager was fine, but I brewed it at low temperature since it comes with a lager yeast.
https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/beer-kit-reviews-a-z.77650/
 
'Pimping' a kit usually applies to one can and comprises adding a dry hop or a hop tea, maybe a specialist grain steep like crystal malt, or even a small minimash using a base malt to replace some or all of the additional sugars like malt extract or dextrose that you would normally add.
However whether you use all sugar, half and half ME/sugar or all ME as a base addition is really up to you. Most lagers seem to have a dryness so you may not want to leave out some or all or of the sugar, whereas you might want to go for a malty taste in which case you may choose to use more ME. I have made up lager kits in the past and used half and half and it worked for me. But if you add ME to your kit try to get light or extra light ME since they affect the colour least and darker ME may affect the taste.
And if you add extra hops don't add a lot is my advice, lagers are not IPAs. 25g of Saaz or Hallertau as @Banbeer suggested is fine, I used 40g on one kit lager and it was on the limit for me.
Finally if you go for either of the Coopers kits the reviews are here. Personally I found the Blonde kit too bland, but the Euro lager was fine, but I brewed it at low temperature since it comes with a lager yeast.
https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/beer-kit-reviews-a-z.77650/
Thanks for all this information and advice. It's certainly helpful. Cheers
 
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