;D I'm getting excited about this. Is the going to stink out the house TopConker? Haha, I think I might struggle to get the gf round with the place smelling like a poor mans brewery. That said, I won't care because I'll p****d  ;D

Actually, it smells like a bad indian take out right now and she still comes round, so it can't get that much worse. That Chris Dhillon and his boiling onions with garlic and ginger for hours has impregnated the walls!

I've just quickly written this out to start the ball rolloing, sorry if it's a bit long but I just wrote it as I thought it.

English Ale

Water is the most important ingredient in any beer!!
That?s a sweeping statement but completely true, English bitters require hard water, lagers require soft water and depending on the type of your water supply will have a big influence on what you can and cant brew easily at home, but don?t despair you can alter things to suit what you have.
To make a true tasting bitter you have to use hard water, this is easy to discover, most of us will know by simply looking into our kettles and see if there is any deposit, if like in the southwest, there is little or none and every time you have a bath there are soap suds everywhere you have very soft water, or like me now that I have moved from Plymouth to Salisbury it takes a bar of soap to produce very little lather and the kettle is full of a chalky deposit.
So, if you think your water is hard, nothing to do but to bring 5 gallons of it to the boil for 5 minutes then leave overnight to reduce any fluoride in it.
If you think it?s soft you need to treat it by adding 1 teaspoon ?? and half a teaspoon of Epsom salts, (magnesium sulphate), to 5 gallons of water and bring it to the boil for 5 minutes, then leave it to cool, preferably overnight which will also help to reduce the level of fluoride which if left will leave a distinctive taste of TCP in the finished beer.
Incidentally, this is the same taste you get in your tea and coffee when the water if highly chlorinated at home.

I give this information now because it applies to every type of beer you will ever make and is vital to follow; all are freely available in any good home brew shop and also on the web. Try www.hopshop.uk.com they are very helpful.
























So to make our beer here?s the recipe:
10 lb crushed malted barley
4 ozs crushed crystal malt
2 ozs crushed roasted barley
4 ozs copper hops
2 ozs late hops
1 packet brewing yeast

Method of Mashing
Weigh out all the grains accurately and gently pre-mix them in a clean container.
There are many containers on the market sold by home brew shops, but I have always used a Burco as I can give the mash, (as this process is called), a quick burst of heat should the temperature start to drop. Other brewers I know are happy to use a picnic box as it?s insulated and holds the temperature very well.
Bring your water up to a temperature of 172f and mix the grains and water together carefully at the rate of 1 pint per pound of grain and until you have a porridge like mixture that has a temperature of 152f consistently throughout the mixture.
Cover the container and if possible wrap it up in an old sleeping bag or similar to retain the heat. You can add more water if necessary to get the correct temperature but ensure it is consistent throughout; these first few minutes are vital to the process. Leave this mashing process for one and a quarter hours.


Method of Sparging
We now need to rinse the sugars produced by the mashing process from the grains, a process grandly called Sparging, but in reality it just means to rinse the grains with water into the boiler.
You will need to have re-filled your water boiler and treated the water as before for the mashing process, and brought the water up to a temperature of 172f again.
For this operation I use a white plastic bucket which can hold at least 2 gallons of water and I have drilled eighth inch holes in an orderly fashion over the entire base of it, therefore producing a large plastic sieve if you can imagine it.
This bucket, (grandly called a lauter tun), in now placed over the boiler or saucepan, whichever you have decided to use by standing it on two pieces of wood or the like over the top so that the sugar washings drop directly into it.
Now transfer all the grains and liquid from the mash tun into the lauter tun carefully as it?s very hot, and using a small watering rose attached to a length of plastic pipe with the other end submersed into the heated water carefully suck to produce a siphon and slowly sprinkle over the grains.
This process should be controlled so that the level of water in the lauter tun in just over the surface of the grains constantly.
When completed, you should have collected approximately 4 gallons of the sugar solution, (now called wort), in the boiler which should be turned on as high as possible to bring the wort to the boil.
Boil for 1one hour adding the copper hops at the beginning just as it comes to the boil.
Add the aroma hops for the last 5 minutes of boiling, turn off the heat and allow to stand for ten minutes.

The wort now needs to be carefully transferred, (remember it?s very hot), to a sterilised fermentation bucket and topped up to four and a half gallons and left to cool as quickly as possible remembering to keep it completely covered at all times to avoid contamination.
Once cool, add the yeast and allow to ferment for 4 days or until the yeast head recedes into the beer and it starts to clear.
Carefully siphon the finished beer into a keg of sealable bottles priming with 2 ozs sugar to the barrel or at the rate of a half-teaspoon to the pint if bottling.
Keep in a warm, not hot place for a week to promote a secondary fermentation, then remove to a cooler place and allow to mature for as long as you can in the case of bottled beer or drink within two weeks if kegged.

I've now had the chance to check out my recipe at home and have now updated it, sorry again if this is a tad long, but the updated one is my clone of London Pride which in my opinion is one of the best ales available.
TC

Sam?s Pride (named after my son).

6 ? lb crushed malted barley
15 ozs crushed crystal malt
15 ozs flaked maize
1lb. 4ozs sugar

1ozs Target hops (1)
? ozs Challenger hops (2)
? oz Northdown hops (3) for aroma
1 packet brewing yeast

Method of Mashing
Weigh out all the grains accurately and gently pre-mix them in a clean container.
There are many containers on the market sold by home brew shops, but I have always used a Burco as I can give the mash, (as this process is called), a quick burst of heat should the temperature start to drop. Other brewers I know are happy to use a picnic box as it?s insulated and holds the temperature very well.

Bring your water up to a temperature of 172f and mix the grains and water together carefully at the rate of 2 pints per pound of grain and until you have a porridge like mixture that has a temperature of 149f to152f consistently throughout the mixture.
Cover the container and if possible wrap it up in an old sleeping bag or similar to retain the heat. You can add more water if necessary to get the correct temperature but ensure it is consistent throughout; these first few minutes are vital to the process. Leave this mashing process for one and a half hours.
If you feel inclined, you can test to see if all the grains have been converted to sugar by taking a teaspoon of the mixture, put it on a white saucer and add 2 or 3 drops of iodine to it, if it turns black leave to mash for another 15 minutes, if it stays the same colour then the mashing process is completed.


Method of Sparging
We now need to rinse the sugars produced by the mashing process from the grains, a process grandly called Sparging, but in reality it just means to rinse the grains with water into the boiler.
You will need to have re-filled your water boiler and treated the water as before for the mashing process, and brought the water up to a temperature of 172f again.
For this operation I use a white plastic bucket which can hold at least 2 gallons of water and I have drilled eighth inch holes in an orderly fashion over the entire base of it, therefore producing a large plastic sieve if you can imagine it.
This bucket, (grandly called a lauter tun), in now placed over the boiler or saucepan, whichever you have decided to use by standing it on two pieces of wood or the like over the top so that the sugar washings drop directly into it.
Now transfer all the grains and liquid from the mash tun into the lauter tun carefully as it?s very hot, and using a small watering rose attached to a length of plastic pipe with the other end submersed into the heated water carefully suck to produce a siphon and slowly sprinkle over the grains.
This process should be controlled so that the level of water in the lauter tun in just over the surface of the grains constantly.
When completed, you should have collected approximately 3 to 4 gallons of the sugar solution, (now called wort), in the boiler which should be turned on as high as possible to bring the wort to the boil, skimming off any scum that rises to the surface with a tea strainer.
Boil for one and a half hours adding the copper hops, (1 & 2), at the beginning just as it comes to the boil.
Add the aroma hops, (3), for the last 5 minutes of boiling, turn off the heat and allow to stand for 15 minutes.

The wort now needs to be carefully transferred, (remember it?s very hot), to a sterilised fermentation bucket and the sugar added, topped up to achieve n OG of 1045 and leave to cool as quickly as possible remembering to keep it completely covered at all times to avoid contamination.

Once cool, add the yeast and allow to ferment for 4 days or until the yeast head recedes into the beer and it starts to clear.

Carefully siphon the finished beer into a keg of sealable bottles priming with 2 ozs sugar to the barrel or at the rate of a half-teaspoon to the pint if bottling.
Keep in a warm, not hot place for a week to promote a secondary fermentation, then remove to a cooler place and allow to mature for as long as you can in the case of bottled beer or drink within two weeks if kegged.

Thanks again for these recipes and tips. If only we could find a (genuine) BIR chef prepared to be as helpful!

I'm a bit of a sad case when it comes to beer - I don't like bitters or any 'real ale' and always drink lagers like Fosters or Cobra. Are there any good recipes on the Internet, which you can point to, for making these types of lager, please?

Regards
George

Hi George,
I've just slapped this together for lager, let me know what you think.
TC

English style Light Lager

As I said when giving the ale recipe, water is the most important ingredient in all beer making, none more so than when making lagers. You cannot make authentic lagers with hard water, therefore if you have hard water you need to remove as much of the hardness as possible.
This is quite easy, just boil all the water you will be using, (don?t forget the sparge water), boil it for at least half and hour, leave to cool then rack off, (siphon), the now softer water from the chalky deposits on the bottom of the boiler that have precipitated out.

You will also need to learn a different method of mashing, when making ales the simple infusion method, as it is grandly called, is carried out by simply allowing the grains and water to infuse over a period of time, but, and without boring you with the details of Diastatic activity, the lager malt you will use requires a stepped mash called the decoction method.

This time, instead of mixing the grains and water together to achieve a mash tun temperature of 149f to152f you need to gradually increase the temperature in steps starting from a strike temperature of 120f through to150f holding temperature for 10 minute periods.

TC?s Lager

8lb lager malt
8 ozs Flaked Maize
1? ozs Hallertau Hops (1)
1? ozs Saaz Hops (2)
? oz Styrian Hops (4) for aroma by dry hopping


Method of Decoction Mashing

Bring your water up to a temperature of 142f and mix the grains and water together carefully at the rate of 1? pints per pound of grain and until you have a porridge like mixture that has a temperature of 120f consistently throughout the mixture.
Cover the container and if possible wrap it up in an old sleeping bag or similar to retain the heat. You can add more water if necessary to get the correct temperature but ensure it is consistent throughout; these first few minutes are vital to the process. Leave this first step mashing process for ten minutes, now add a further pint of boiling water to the mixture which should increase the temperature to 130f and again leave for 10 minutes, repeat this process twice more until the mash has reached 150f and leave to mash for a further 3 hours.

Once this extended mashing has finished continue as for the ale recipe but this time add the aroma hops into the brew with the yeast, don?t worry about bacteria, as the natural antiseptic qualities of the hops will not infect the beer.

You will notice however, there may well not be too much yeast crop on the surface of the beer as it ferments; this is because true lager yeast is a bottom fermenter that sinks to the bottom of the container rather than like the ale yeast that tends to float on the surface.
Another tip to ensure you get the true lager smell and taste is to ferment at a lower temperature then the ale.

Once finished, bottle or barrel as before.

Quote from: topconker on December 11, 2007, 02:17 PM
Hi George,
I've just slapped this together for lager, let me know what you think.

TC

Thank you for being SO helpful. Luck has it that I'm about to install a 'proper' (ion exchange) water softener. This will remove all the calcium and any other hardness from my water which is quite hard. I hope this sodium laden (but not salt tasting) water is OK for making lager. Of course, they say you shouldn't drink artificially softened water but the fact is that cow's milk contains more sodium and so does almost ANY tea and coffee you have out, because the vast majority of bars/cafes/coffee bars use water softeners, unless they're already in a soft water area. Naturally soft or distilled water would be best, I know, because it doesn't contain artificially high levels of (tasteless) sodium.

You've inspired me here and I look forward to getting set up to give this lager making a try.

Another thought is that I could set up a low-powered heater and thermostat to keep the temperature at the required level to within a degree or two. I trust there's no downside of doing that, as long as any 'bursts' of heat are gentle and dispersed.

Regards
George

Hi Geoge,
There really is no need for any form of heating whether for ales or lagers as the operating temperatures for both yeasts are surprisingly wide.
The main problems is fluctuation in temperature, that's why wine makers that put demijohns into the airing cupboard often suffer from stuck ferments and off flavours.
I always kept fermenters of ale at the top of the stairs away from draughts and was quite happy once the ferment was underway to allow a longer slowere fermentation of lagers in a cooler place, after all, to Lager is to store in a cool place.
TC

Splendid stuff Topconker!!!
Keep it up and work out one for Cobra beer ('tis rumoured there is cardomom in the brew somwhere)

Jethro

PS Used to work in a brewing laboratory for a lot of years
PPS a proper Lager fermenting vessel has an inverted cone at the bottom to increase surface area for bottom fermentation.

Absolutely right Jethro,
As we're using fermenting buckets with a wide base we don't need the cone, but as you say, by the addition of the inverted cone the larger surface area serves to aid the bottom fermenting yeast strain Sachromises Carlsbergenis. (spelling poor at this time of night).
TC