Pimped up Coopers Lager

[wheazy_joe]

Hi guys I'm planning a pimped up Coopers Australian Lager, appreciate any advice:

Ingredients:
1.7kg Cooper Australian Lager
250g crushed lager malt
500g light DME
1kg BE1
Some left over Saaz hops from the freezer
Replace kit yeast with Safale US-05 (too hot for lagering unfortunately)

Method:
1. Heat 8-10 litres of water in a large stainless steel pan, to 65 degrees celcius.
2. Add a cup of the Coopers light DME and mix well.
3. Steep the lager malt, in a muslin bag, at 65 degrees for 30 minutes then remove from the pot.
4. Bring the water to the boil.
5. Add half of the Saaz hops in muslin bag to the water and gently boil for 20 minutes.
6. Turn the heat off and steep, covered for 20 minutes.
7. Add remainder of light DME to FV
8. Sieve malt & hop wart into FV.
9. Add 1.7kg Coopers Lager kit.
10. Add BE 2 and mix well.
11. Top up to 23 litres with cold water.
12. Pitch yeast at 20-22 degrees.
13. Dry hop with remainder of Saaz hops after 10 days in FV.

Possibly over doing it with the lager malt and light DME? I'm guessing this would turn out a fairly strong brew!

Cheers for any advice.

 

[Slid]

Hey Joe

I would suggest that you decide whether you want to pimp a kit up, or go down the steeping grains and partial mash route.

Adding 1kg of DME and 500g sugar as well as your steeped lager grains to a Lager kit is going to give you something that does not quite resemble what is marketed as lager in the UK.

You will get a good quality pale ale, even by leaving out the steeping altogether and I suggest either dry hopping or adding a hop tea to improve on what is basically a light ale. Saaz is ideal for a lager-ish style and US 05 a brilliant substitute at this time of year as it gives a very clean taste.