Sold as a Lager - this kit really makes an Ale. “Why?”, I hear you ask. Well I will tell you: it’s supplied with a top fermenting Ale yeast and it suggests you ferment it at between 22 – 25*c. Both of these mean that while you get a reasonable beer at the end, you don’t get that clean taste you associate with a proper Lager.
You are also told to add a kilo of white sugar, which if used will give you a very thin astringent beer. We went for a different option; a body booster kit, which contains 500gm of light malt, 250gm maltodextrin and 250gm of dextrose. This brings the finishing gravity up to about 1.012 and adds a good amount of body and mouth feel to the beer.
Now for the process itself -it’s very easy and straight forward. Add the can to 2L hot water and stir, add in the sugar or body booster, stir, add water to measure 23L, add the yeast and stir again. Close it up and let it ferment.
Starting gravity 1.040 Finishing gravity 1.012 Alcohol including bottle priming approx. 4%
Cost - $17.50 for the can plus $3 for the sugar or $9 for 1kg of body booster. You will need 60 bottles for this and 330ml stubbies are 60c each ($36 for 60) plus priming drops $3
Total cost as we made it - $29.50
With bottles - $65.50
Time taken –
10min to sterilize fermenter and stirrer
20min to make up the batch
15min to sterilize bottles and filler
40 min to bottle
10min wash up of fermenter
Total working time – 1hr 35mins
Total fermentation time 16 days
Other changes we would make to the brew are, adding extra hops, a 12gm bag of hops (you choose the type) costs $3.50, soak them in boiling water for 20mins for extra flavor and add them when you add the yeast. You could also change the yeast to Safale US -05 for a cost of $4.95 and get a cleaner taste profile with fewer esters.
The biggest change we would make is to keep the brewing temperature below 21*c it makes the world of difference.
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