Munich Lager help for new brewer please??? :(

[Alex_m_84]

Hi all,
I'm only new to brewing. have done a coopers pale ale, bavarian wheat and lager so far. Have also failed a cerveza and a ginger beer So far i have just used the beer tin kit with a converter kit but i wanted to start playing around with hops and malts seperately. I have a Munich Lager beer kit and just wanted to know if anyone had any ideas of what hops and stuff to use? I've read up a little and looks like the recommended yeast is the SafLager S23 and 6g Saaz hop pellets (finishing). It would be cool if someone could explain what "finishing" hops are? is it just depending on when hops are added??? Anhy ideas would be greatly appreciated. and i'm not up on all the brewing terms as yet so you'll have to explain things to me like i was a 3 year old kid, sorry.

I've been reading up a bit on making starter yeast, is this recommended? what is the best way for lagers? and also, the beers i have made in the past i have left in the fermenter till the airlock stopped bubbling, then syphoned into another fermenter and secondary fermented till the SG didnt change for a few days. I was only told to do this secondary fermenting by someone at work. Can this be done with all beers that i make? does it damage the brewing process at all?

Any help will be great and i look forward to becoming more "clued up" on home brewing over the next months/years so i don't have to ask any more silly questions.
Thanks

[Jacko_NZ]

Hi Alex,

I'm just supping on a glass of Munich Lager right now! This has been in the bottle for just 5 weeks and I have noticed a huge step up in flavour in the last 2 weeks. Here is the fairly basic recipe if your interested, nothing too fancy, it was only brew #7

1 * Can of Brewcraft Munich Lager
1kg Brewcraft #15 Lager Enhancer
1 * 15g of Hallertau Finishing Hops, steeped for 10 mins in boiled water
1 * SAF-23 Yeast

Basically chucked the kit and Enhancer in the fermenter, added the hops and water, 2litres of boiling water, topped up with cold water, got temp down to 20 and pitched the dried yeast. Struggled all week to keep the temp down below 20 but left it in the fermenter for 2 weeks.

At first I wasn't impressed with the beer it was lacking flavour and body and nowhere near as good as brew #2 which used same ingredients except coopers can. But opened another bottle at 4 weeks and the beer had really stepped up, a very dry crisp lager. Only thing I would recommend is more hops or use pellets as the hops don't really come through.

I'm yet to put any of my beers in secondary, just left them in the fermenter for 2 to 3 weeks, both the lagers have come out looking very clear in the glass.

Cheers

[Trough Lolly]

G'day Alex and Jacko - welcome to the forum...

I would use Jacko's recipe and do a boil with the Brewcraft enhancer in no more than 5L of water for about 30 mins with 10-15g of Hallertauer Pellets. You'll get a much fresher hop flavour profile and the boil is easy to do with the enhancer pack. Let it cool before adding to the fermenter.

The term "Finishing Hops" means that those hops are used for flavour and / or aroma, but not bittering. Personally I find these teabags about as good, quality wise, as Riva dry coffee is compared to freshly ground Arabica beans!

I ferment all lagers for two weeks in primary and then cold condition / lager in the keg for at least 2 months before drinking. Patience, temperature control and fresh ingredients are the keys to a good lager.

Cheers,
TL

[wrighty]

Yes i did a munich for my first brew ,t.l.&jacko are right on the money there especially the patience bit .
tried mine after 2 weeks in the bottle was green as grass .Would have cold cond for much longer than the 2weeks i let mine go .
plan to leave in bottle for a lot longer ,few more trips to the bottle shop should make it much more enjoyable.

cheers Wrighty