hello everyone.
i've in the middle of starting my 2nd brew which i am using a young's lager kit, coopers brew enhancer (instead of sugar), tescos bottled water as the liquor and intending to use wyeast 2007 (pilsen lager) yeast.
my question is: my og is 1.032, is this too low to produce a premium style lager with a 5% alcohol content?
i never did a OG test on my 1st brew so have no idea what the alcohol content was but it tasted ok although it was a bit flat. turn out a bit like a carling premier, which i didn't mind.
any help, tips or suggestions would be kindly accepted. thanks for reading this ...seymx
2nd time lager brewer req's OG info please
-
sparky Paul
Re: 2nd time lager brewer req's OG info please
Welcome to the forum! 
If you did, the OG you have is low and I would suspect that it's not thoroughly mixed, most likely the spraymalt in the enhancer hasn't dissolved properly. With a 1.5Kg can of extract and 1Kg of enhancer, you should be seeing an OG just below 1040. However, you would expect a FG around 1008, so even that will only give you an ABV of around 4%.
If you are looking for 5%+, then you need to either buy a kit which is specifically designed to produce a beer of this type, such as Cooper's Sparkling Ale, or modify a standard kit by adding more fermentable sugars - probably another 500g or so of spraymalt/enhancer. Additionally, you will may need to make some form of hop addition to balance the extra alcohol and residual sweetness that comes with a higher ABV beer.
Personally, I would advise concentrating on making decent beer first, before starting to tinker too much.
In a word, yes. Did you add 1Kg of enhancer to the kit?seymx wrote:my question is: my og is 1.032, is this too low to produce a premium style lager with a 5% alcohol content?
If you did, the OG you have is low and I would suspect that it's not thoroughly mixed, most likely the spraymalt in the enhancer hasn't dissolved properly. With a 1.5Kg can of extract and 1Kg of enhancer, you should be seeing an OG just below 1040. However, you would expect a FG around 1008, so even that will only give you an ABV of around 4%.
If you are looking for 5%+, then you need to either buy a kit which is specifically designed to produce a beer of this type, such as Cooper's Sparkling Ale, or modify a standard kit by adding more fermentable sugars - probably another 500g or so of spraymalt/enhancer. Additionally, you will may need to make some form of hop addition to balance the extra alcohol and residual sweetness that comes with a higher ABV beer.
Personally, I would advise concentrating on making decent beer first, before starting to tinker too much.
-
seymx
Re: 2nd time lager brewer req's OG info please
thanks for your fast reponses.
i did add 1kg of the enhancer. i've just gave it another good stir and tested again.. it's reading 1.036. does temp make a difference to the test reading?
just checked the label and it say it's a 1.8kg tin (does that include the actual tin itself???) and abv 4.5% when following the instructions. which i'd be happy with.
now the problem is i've only got household granulated sugar as i'm stuck in with the kids without a car to get anywhere to buy any brewing sugar or more enhancer. would you stick with what i've done or add the granulated sugar? if adding the sugar how much? and er..how? on the other hand ..if the enhancer i added hasn't dissolved properly will the yeast still use it?
sorry for the newbie questions and thanks again for your time
i did add 1kg of the enhancer. i've just gave it another good stir and tested again.. it's reading 1.036. does temp make a difference to the test reading?
just checked the label and it say it's a 1.8kg tin (does that include the actual tin itself???) and abv 4.5% when following the instructions. which i'd be happy with.
now the problem is i've only got household granulated sugar as i'm stuck in with the kids without a car to get anywhere to buy any brewing sugar or more enhancer. would you stick with what i've done or add the granulated sugar? if adding the sugar how much? and er..how? on the other hand ..if the enhancer i added hasn't dissolved properly will the yeast still use it?
sorry for the newbie questions and thanks again for your time
-
thedeckking
Re: 2nd time lager brewer req's OG info please
If you've already pitched the yeast then I'd leave it alone as mixing it up too much increases the chance of getting an infection. If the enhancer isn't mixed in properly then it may disolve a bit more as the brew goes on, but it may not. There's not much you can do about it at this point.seymx wrote: now the problem is i've only got household granulated sugar as i'm stuck in with the kids without a car to get anywhere to buy any brewing sugar or more enhancer. would you stick with what i've done or add the granulated sugar? if adding the sugar how much? and er..how? on the other hand ..if the enhancer i added hasn't dissolved properly will the yeast still use it?
If you use beer enhancer or any form of dried malt extract (DME) in the future you will realise it can be really hard to get it to disolve as it tends to clump up. I've found the method that works best for me is using a big pan that's about half full when theres a 2-3 pints of water in it. Bring the water to the boil and then mix in the DME using a balloon whisk. Just make sure to turn the heat down as getting splashed with boiling water that's full of sugar hurts
-
seymx
Re: 2nd time lager brewer req's OG info please
well... what i did was.. dissolved 450g of granulated sugar in 1ltr of boiled water and added that, cos i don't fancy putting in all the effort and end up drinking something that resembles SKOL. tested it, it read 1.040. on the plus side if it doesn't taste quite right the wife may not want to drink it (like my last brew) this means more for me! 
i think as well as the undissolved DME i may have topped up with too much water!! i was counting the bottles going in rather than looking at the measure scale on the fv!! it seems abit full 
oh well ....it's done now i'll give you all an update when...er.....if something happens.
i didn't ignore you Thedeckking. i'd done this before i read your post plus i pitched the yeast after adding the extra sugar.
cheers to you all for your valuable input and advise...seymx
i think as well as the undissolved DME i may have topped up with too much water!! i was counting the bottles going in rather than looking at the measure scale on the fv!!
it seems abit full oh well ....it's done now i'll give you all an update when...er.....if something happens.
i didn't ignore you Thedeckking. i'd done this before i read your post plus i pitched the yeast after adding the extra sugar.
cheers to you all for your valuable input and advise...seymx