Good ideas for my second brew

I have recently finished my first home brew of wilko light lager. It was ok but looking to try something with more taste to it. I enjoy most lagers but the main ones I prefer are millers, Budweiser and Stella. Not so keen on the likes of Heineken.
Looking for a good lager to try and what are the best ingredients to use along with quantity. I've seen a lot of stuff online in forums but it can get a bit confusing on what will work out best for my needs.
All help would be great full!

I'm a noob, but for my understanding is a little more difficult to spawn a nice lager, do you have the required equipment and most important, you can control your temp at all times? I'm more of an ale guy, but a nice lager is always welcome. Are you doing all grain or extract?

Cheers from Mexico.

Why are you home brewing if you prefer BMC's (bud, miller, coors)? You can buy those cheaper then you can make them for and you will never be able to replicate them. The one thing that BMC has going for them is that they are able to replicate the beer that they produce. If you like lager's, then make a lager, but don't try to make BMC and compare your finished product to what they put out, because you will fail.

Shaneoco1981 said:

Why are you home brewing if you prefer BMC's (bud, miller, coors)? You can buy those cheaper then you can make them for and you will never be able to replicate them. The one thing that BMC has going for them is that they are able to replicate the beer that they produce. If you like lager's, then make a lager, but don't try to make BMC and compare your finished product to what they put out, because you will fail.

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All good points. But there's the "I want to brew an American Light Lager just for the challenge" aspect. However, yeah, doesn't seem to be the case here.

OP, if you're only on your second batch, you won't be able to get anywhere close to the big guys beer. Most brewers who've been brewing for YEARS can't do that. Hell, very few brewers alive would be able to brew that style as well as the big guys do, simply because the big guys have mastered the craft, have the best equipment, and will pick off the best to work for them.

If you want something with "more taste" but still want a lager-like beer, and something you can do in your experience range, go for a Cream Ale.

grantr92 said:

I have recently finished my first home brew of wilko light lager. It was ok but looking to try something with more taste to it. I enjoy most lagers but the main ones I prefer are millers, Budweiser and Stella. Not so keen on the likes of Heineken.
Looking for a good lager to try and what are the best ingredients to use along with quantity. I've seen a lot of stuff online in forums but it can get a bit confusing on what will work out best for my needs.
All help would be great full!

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I take it that you are in the UK if Wilko is a local store. I've done some looking in at "Jim's Beer Kit" just to see what is going on over there with ingredients and type of equipment for home brewing. Seems there are a few good suppliers.
Can't offer to much advice except using brew enhancer with spray malt is better than just the sugar, adding more flavors and body. I've seen the Australia Real Ale kit mentioned as having a good flavor. Don't know if your Wilkos' carries it though.

There is zero point to trying to make a lager if you cant ferment it right. Not sure if you have the equipment or not, but with lagers fermentation is 99% of it.

If you like a lighter beer, with zero hops (or very little) i would try a pale ale and scale back the hops a bit. Though... watch it, this is a slippery sloap... you MAY just end up liking hops and good tasting beer and not want BMC's again! lol

Do an IPA ! Talk about flavor!


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If you want to try a lighter ale that still has good flavor try the cream ale "cream of three crops" from the recipe database.


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I can't see brewing a BMC for the challenge when arguably the best brewers in the world work for those breweries. When they need to hire doctorates to make sure their beer turns out well, I don't plan on trying to replicate it.

The only one I would want to replicate would be Yuenglings and only because it costs a pretty penny to have it shipped to California.

The best beers to start with are darker ales or ones with more hops....dunkleweizens, amber ales, browns, IPAs etc. so you can hide any potential discrepancies in your brewing process. I also find darker styles to generally taste better.