I dreamt up this recipe after making a Stella Artois clone. My first venture into the world of lager brewing turned out really well so I decided to add some subtle hop flavors to the basic lager recipe. As I hinted in my previous lager recipe I decided to add a small amount of Citra hops. Using my trusty brew pal app I tinkered with my original lager recipe.

 

Merlin’s Beard!

Character

All grain 23 Litres

OG 1.048
FG 1.009

Ingredients

5Kg Pilsner Malt

40g Saaz Hops 60 mins

10g Citra Hops 20 mins

10g Saaz Hops 5 mins

5g Citra Hops

Irish moss last 15 mins

White labs WLP815 Belgian Ale yeast (Made into a 2 litre starter 24hrs before brew day)

Gelatine (or finings of choice).

Brewing

Using a single infusion mash the grain was mashed with 16 litres of strike water at  77 °c which gave a mash temp of 66 °c. The grain was mashed for 60 mins and then fly sparged with 18 litres of water at 77°c. The wort was put into the boiler and a boiled for an hour adding the hops and Irish moss as above. The brew was cooled with a wort chiller to room temperature and then the 2 litre starter was added.

The fermenter was then put into a fridge and the temperature lowered to 10°c,  primary fermentation lasted around two weeks. The beer was then taken out of the fridge and had 48 hrs diacetyl rest at room temperature, then transferred to secondary, had finings added and was then placed back in the fridge at the coldest setting (around 1°c) for a month to lager.

The beer was then transferred to my cornie keg and forced carbonated.

Results

I have as I have said above I’ve made a lager before and I was rather chuffed with my little self with the results.This brew went really well and I had no problems in the whole brewing process. I have evolved in my brew regime and now use star-san for sanitising, gelatine for clearing and force carbonate the beer in cornie kegs. I find these methods not only save time but produce a more professional and better quality homebrew. This lager is good. The slight taste the citra hops give the lager are great and yet again I was pleased with the results. The lager is crisp and clear and has that added dimension with the citra hops.