BREWING LAGER THE EASY WAY

When I first started brewing, well meaning friends told me:
“Don’t make a lager as your first beer. They are hard to make and require special equipment, cooling apparatus, they take a long time etc. etc.”

While I would suggest getting at least three ales under your belt first, a lot of what is said about lagers comes from a many years ago, old tradition that was a result of circumstance (no refrigeration, under modified malt) and as technology improved until recently that methodology stayed the same.

While the traditional techniques do still work (and some breweries still make their beer in the traditional way), due to technological advances across the board, some of the more time-consuming techniques are no longer essential and the good news is you can get a few lagers done easily and effortlessly before investigating more traditional methods like decoction, protein rest in the mash etc. While it is possible to make great lagers in your garage or basement during the coldest months of the year, you can use Fermentis W34/70 & Fermentis S183 dry yeast to make a beer without any off flavours all year round.

So what defines a lager? From Wikipedia:
Lager is beer which has been brewed and conditioned at low temperature. Lagers can be pale, amber, or dark. Pale lager is the most widely consumed and commercially available style of beer. The term "lager" comes from the German for "storage", as the beer was stored before drinking – traditionally in the same cool caves it which it was fermented. As well as maturation in cold storage, most lagers are distinguished by the use of Saccharomyces pastorianus, a "bottom-fermenting" yeast that ferments at relatively cold temperatures.

Lager:
• Uses a bottom fermenting yeast
• Ferments at low temperatures
• Uses European style malts
• Hops play a supporting and balancing role
• Cold storage before drinking

The Germans do not recognise “Lager” as a style of beer rather naming their beers:
• Helles – a light coloured beer usually around 5% ABV using Pilsner malt
• Pils – a beer in the style of those made in Pilsen and slightly hoppier than a Helles
• Dunkel – a dark lager containing some roast malt
• Vienna – a lager containing some richer and slightly darker Vienna malt
• Marzen/Oktoberfest – a stronger lager containing some richer and slightly darker Munich malt
• Bock – a dark brown, strong malty lager

The Czechs on the other hand, credited as they are with introducing lighter coloured beer to the world, prefer to name their beers from where they originated. That is Pilsner from Pilsn, Praha from Prague & Budweiser from Budweis (České Budějovice in Czech) and so on.

What hops are used?
Traditional German Munich lagers use landrace hops from the Hallertau region:
• Hallertau Mittelfruh
• Tettnang
• Hersbrucker
• Spalt
and from Zatec in the Czech Republic:
• Saaz

Because of their pedigree, their quality, and their ability to thrive in their land, these land race hops were used to breed new varieties.

In New Zealand:
• Wakatu (plants available)
• Pacifica (plants available)
were bred from Hallertau Mittlefruh.
• Motueka (plants available)
• Riwaka (plants available)
were bred from Saaz.
Also used in lagers in NZ is Green Bullet bred from Fuggle, Cluster & Smoothcone (plants available)

In the USA:
• Liberty (plants available)
• Mount Hood (plants available)
• Crystal
• Ultra
were bred from Hallertau Mittlefruh.
• Sterling
was bred from Saaz.
Also used in the USA & Germany is Perle (plants available)

Most German breweries now use Magnum or Hurkules for bittering as well as Perle for bittering and for flavour. The industrial breweries like Kronenburg, Bitburger, DAB use hop oils.

How to Brew a Lager the Easy Way:
1) Use Pilsner malt (or Gladfield Light Lager), 1-2% Dextrin malt (Gladfield Gladiator) for body & mouthfeel and 1-2% light crystal (10 SRM) to add some residual sugar and simulate decoction. (I use Gladfield Toffee malt (7.5 SRM) which is similar to English Caramalt)

2) Step mash:
50°C Mash In
Raise to 62°C for 30 - 45 mins
Raise to 72°C for 30 - 45 mins
Raise to 78°C Mash Out
or
Single inversion mash 65°C for a dry beer, 68°C for a maltier beer.

3) Boil 60 - 90 minutes adding hops as per recipe. A 90 minute boil will create a slightly darker colour.

4) Cool wort to 18°C and add Fermentis Saflager W-34/70 yeast straight from the packet. This yeast has the ability to ferment at higher temperatures than most other lager yeasts and leaves no off flavours.

5) Ferment between 18°C & 20°C (or cooler if you wish) for 2 weeks. This length of time should ferment the beer and clean up any artifacts like sulphur & diacetyl. A cool ferment will take about a week longer to reach terminal gravity, probably 3 weeks.

6) Package the beer and cold condition for 4-6 weeks.