Brewing ALL-GRAIN dark beer (lager).

[alutis05]

Hello guys, a newbie home brewer here!

I started making wines/meads 2 years ago and just recently decided to brew a beer.

Since I am from Lithuania, its a bit hard for me to get all the information in my native language so I spend most of my time in HBT forums.

I tried to make a 4L (~1gal) batch just to see if the recipe I made up would work

I used ~0.9kg of malt:
30% BEST A-XL barley malt
60% Munich Dark
10% Caramell Munich III

I tried to mash everything at 65-67C for 1 hour. (I don’t have any fancy equipment so I just used my 7L stock pot (yes, I sanitized everything))

Then I boiled the wort for 1 more hour, added 4g of Hallertau Mittelfruh hops at 1 hour mark, following by 4 more grams at 20 minute mark, together with some sliced ginger root.

Cooled the wort, pitched the yeast and now its happily fermenting in my cupboard at room temp. (After 12 hours I can see fast bubbling and some krausen)

The main problem is my beer knowledge, I know that I like dark lagger with a hint of caramel, but I have no idea what it is made of. As I said, I completely made up this recipe with my limited knowledge and I wanted to ask if its even close to dark lager?

What specific does the beer has to have to be called a “Lager”??!

Another question…
My starting gravity was 1.039 at room temp. Seems a bit low… Is it because my mashing efficiency was too low? Or should I just use more grains?

*Sorry for any grammar mistakes, English is not my native language…

Also is it ok to mix wheat ant barley malts? I tried to brew a light beer today and used 50/50 wheat ant barley malts - was it a good idea?

 

[alutis05]

Also, what kind of hops should I use next time for that kind of beer? Any suggestions would be highly appreciated

 

[mashdar]

I always like to specify the maltster. For munich, it's extra important, as Weyermann dark munich is lighter (10L) than most others and has enough enzymes to convert. Most other "dark munich" (20L~) will need help converting.

0.9kg seems a little low. I would start with 1.1kg grain bill for 4L.

No need to sanitize stuff pre-boil.

Exactly what a lager is is a complicated thing to say. Yeast? Process? But if you ferment <55F with a lager yeast, most would call it a lager.

Wheat malt can be mixed in. It may be harder to drain water out and rinse (lauter and sparge).

That recipe probably won't look very dark - a lot of dark lagers use a bit (2.5%) of very dark malt for color. I've been using Weyermann Carafa Special 2 for a recipe I've been working on. 2.5% of that gets me to ~16 SRM

Recipe looks like a Bavarian Dunkel, so here's my current recipe scaled to 1.1kg:
0.44kg Weyermann Munich I
0.44kg Weyermann Barke Munich
0.22kg Pilsner malt (your choice of brand)
27.5g Weyermann Carafa Special 2

I'm finding I prefer adding the Carafa at the last 10 minutes of the mash.

 

[alutis05]

Thanks for the reply! I shall definitely try to use more malt next time I mash.

All malts I used were “BESTMALZ” brand

BESTMALZ “Dark Munich” 25EBC
BESTMALZ “Caramel Munich III” 160EBC
BESTMALZ “A-XL” 3EBC

As far as I know, EBC is a colour rating, right? Higher EBC = darker beer?

“Weyermann dark munich is lighter (10L)”
What exactly does “L” mean? Is that also some color rating?

55F? Sadly, its currently impossible for me to achieve this temp, since I don’t have a basement or any special equipment really. 68F (20C) is best I can do. Can this cause problems?

 

[mashdar]

Thanks for the reply! I shall definitely try to use more malt next time I mash.

All malts I used were “BESTMALZ” brand

BESTMALZ “Dark Munich” 25EBC
BESTMALZ “Caramel Munich III” 160EBC
BESTMALZ “A-XL” 3EBC

As far as I know, EBC is a colour rating, right? Higher EBC = darker beer?

“Weyermann dark munich is lighter (10L)”
What exactly does “L” mean? Is that also some color rating?

55F? Sadly, its currently impossible for me to achieve this temp, since I don’t have a basement or any special equipment really. 68F (20C) is best I can do. Can this cause problems?

Yes, EBC and Lovibond (L) are two different darkness scales.

Best Dark Munich is also ~10L and can self convert, similar to Weyermann.

At 20C, if you want lager-like beer, you might want to look at more neutral ale recipes. E.g. Kolsch. I've heard people also sometimes use W-34/70 yeast at ale temperatures with good success. I haven't tried it myself, but worth a try?

 

[alutis05]

Yes, EBC and Lovibond (L) are two different darkness scales.

Best Dark Munich is also ~10L and can self convert, similar to Weyermann.

At 20C, if you want lager-like beer, you might want to look at more neutral ale recipes. E.g. Kolsch. I've heard people also sometimes use W-34/70 yeast at ale temperatures with good success. I haven't tried it myself, but worth a try?

Ok, I think I will just try to figure out how to get the temperatures down for future brews. Thank you so much tho

 

[Rish]

get the temperatures down

For 4L batches, a small refrigerator like for a hotel or dorm room along with a temperature controller like from Inkbird will do the trick. Good luck!

 

[AlexKay]

Hello guys, a newbie home brewer here!

I started making wines/meads 2 years ago and just recently decided to brew a beer.

Welcome, and welcome to the hobby!

Since I am from Lithuania, its a bit hard for me to get all the information in my native language so I spend most of my time in HBT forums.

I tried to make a 4L (~1gal) batch just to see if the recipe I made up would work

I used ~0.9kg of malt:
30% BEST A-XL barley malt
60% Munich Dark
10% Caramell Munich III

This is a recipe! It will make beer! You will likely want to adjust it according to your personal preferences. For me, that much Munich (especially dark Munich) gives a "toasty" taste strong enough to be overwhelming, and that much caramel malt might possibly get into too-sweet territory. But see what works for you.

I tried to mash everything at 65-67C for 1 hour. (I don’t have any fancy equipment so I just used my 7L stock pot (yes, I sanitized everything))

Since you're boiling the wort (and the pot with it), things on the "hot side" don't need to be sanitized. (They need to be cleaned, but the boiling is your sanitation.) Historically, this is one of the major reasons for beer!

Then I boiled the wort for 1 more hour, added 4g of Hallertau Mittelfruh hops at 1 hour mark, following by 4 more grams at 20 minute mark, together with some sliced ginger root.

The ginger is a little adventurous. If you stick to malt and hops, you can generally make something drinkable even as a beginner, but spice additions can wreck a beer if you end up using too much. Start slow

Cooled the wort, pitched the yeast and now its happily fermenting in my cupboard at room temp. (After 12 hours I can see fast bubbling and some krausen)

Great! Lagers are traditionally (see below) fermented pretty cold. In a cave if you have one handy, or a temperature-controlled refrigerator if you don't.

The main problem is my beer knowledge, I know that I like dark lagger with a hint of caramel, but I have no idea what it is made of. As I said, I completely made up this recipe with my limited knowledge and I wanted to ask if its even close to dark lager?

Generally, dark beers get their color from relatively small additions of very dark roasted malts, rather than large quantities of slightly dark malts. And that roast taste is probably what you're looking for in a dark lager. That said, there are a bunch of traditional dark lager styles. Maybe you are looking for something along the lines of a Baltic porter?

The Baltic porter recipe I like uses ~40% slightly toasty base malt (e.g., English pale ale), ~40% light Munich, ~10% reasonably dark caramel/crystal (I like a mix of crystal rye and DRC, but Caramunich is a pretty good choice), and ~10% huskless roast grains (Weyermann Carafa Special and chocolate rye; roasted wheat is another good choice.)

What specific does the beer has to have to be called a “Lager”??!

Technically, lagers use lager yeast, which is a different species (S. Pastorianus) than ale yeast (S. Cerevisiae). That's it. Traditionally, lagers are fermented colder and go through a significant period of cold storage after fermentation, and this contributes to the clean, crisp fermentation character (maybe with a little hint of sulfur.) If you don't have the means to control fermentation temperature (at 10 C or so), there are lager yeast strains that behave pretty well at higher temperatures. (Ignore people who tell you to make your lagers with Norwegian farmhouse yeast.)

Another question…
My starting gravity was 1.039 at room temp. Seems a bit low… Is it because my mashing efficiency was too low? Or should I just use more grains?

Yes, it seems a bit low. You'll learn the specifics of your process as you go. Once you know your typical efficiency, it's reasonable to use more grain to get the gravity you want. Pay close attention to how finely your malt is crushed: this will have a big influence on efficiency.

*Sorry for any grammar mistakes, English is not my native language…

Also is it ok to mix wheat ant barley malts? I tried to brew a light beer today and used 50/50 wheat ant barley malts - was it a good idea?

Wheat malt is a lovely ingredient, and if you like it, can make great beers. High-wheat lagers aren't too traditional, but that doesn't really matter. You'll get great foam.

 

[alutis05]

Thanks for the reply

Since you're boiling the wort (and the pot with it), things on the "hot side" don't need to be sanitized. (They need to be cleaned, but the boiling is your sanitation.) Historically, this is one of the major reasons for beer!

Yes, sorry. I meant that I sanitized my carboy, funnel and everything else that LATER on touched the cooled wort. Obviously boiling kills any unwanted bacteria.

~10% reasonably dark caramel/crystal (I like a mix of crystal rye and DRC, but Caramunich is a pretty good choice), and ~10% huskless roast grains (Weyermann Carafa Special and chocolate rye; roasted wheat is another good choice.)

When should I add these darker malts? I read somewhere that you should only add it in the last 10minutes of the mashing process, instead of soaking it for 60minutes together with base malts, is that true?

 

[AlexKay]

When should I add these darker malts? I read somewhere that you should only add it in the last 10minutes of the mashing process, instead of soaking it for 60minutes together with base malts, is that true?

Caramel/crystal malts should go in the main mash. You can certainly put roast grains in for the full mash as well. Some homebrewers will put the roast grains in for a shorter time (10 minutes) with the idea of getting the color of the grains into the beer but reducing extraction of the astringency developed in the roasting process.

I’d start with huskless roast grains in a full mash. If the beer you make is unpleasantly mouth-drying and harsh, you could experiment with a shorter steep for those grains.