Vienna Lager Kit with No Directions

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lawman67

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Okay, so the same beer shop that gave me a winemaking book with my beer kit instead of a beer making book included a Vienna Lager kit that has no directions. I could probably guess and it would eventually turn into beer, but it wouldn't be worth wondering for 5 weeks.
Hopefully someone can weigh in and help me make the most of it. Here's what I have:
*Pure Malt Extract 3.3 lb MUNICH (nondiastatic unhopped)
*Amber DME 1 lb
*Crystal 80L 8 oz
*Vienna 1 lb
*2-Tettnang Hopps 1 oz pouches
*Dry Yeast for 20 litres
*Priming Sugar 5 oz
Not sure how much water, time, steps, temps etc...Should I add anything? Thank you in advance for thoughts on how to make the most of this!
 
How big of a brewpot do you have? Can you do a full boil (boil the whole wort - would require ~ a 7.5 gallon brewpot) or will you be doing a partial boil (brewing part of the total batch volume and then topping off with sanitized water in the fermenter). Regardless this will be a very simple and straighforward brew. Oh, do you have a fridge or something you plan on lagering this in (fermenting for 4 weeks at 50*F).
 
What type of dried yeast did you get? For the brew heat up 1 gal of water to around 155 put all of your grains in a muslin bag and steep them for 30 min. In another larger pot bring 2.5 gal of water to a boil make sure you have enough room to add the water you are steeping your grains in to the pot. Once it comes to a boil turn off the heat add the lme, dme and steeping water. Stir this till everything is dissolved. Bring back to a boil. When it starts to boil add 1oz of your hops and boil for 60 min. When you have 10 min left in your boil add the other 1oz of hops. Cool your wort down put in fermenter top up to 5gal. Depending on the yeast the next step can be diffrent.
 
What type of dried yeast did you get? For the brew heat up 1 gal of water to around 155 put all of your grains in a muslin bag and steep them for 30 min. In another larger pot bring 2.5 gal of water to a boil make sure you have enough room to add the water you are steeping your grains in to the pot. Once it comes to a boil turn off the heat add the lme, dme and steeping water. Stir this till everything is dissolved. Bring back to a boil. When it starts to boil add 1oz of your hops and boil for 60 min. When you have 10 min left in your boil add the other 1oz of hops. Cool your wort down put in fermenter top up to 5gal. Depending on the yeast the next step can be diffrent.

These instructions sound pretty good.

Inspired by a recent thread, be sure to check whether your grains are crushed or not. If not, you'll need to crush them.

A couple alternatives to simplify a bit:
1) Instead of using the two-pot approach, you could just add 2.5-3.5 gallons of water to a single pot, then either heat that to 155°F and add the grains and hold, or just add the grains at the start, heat continuously, and remove the grains when the temperature gets to between 160° and 170°F.

2) A grain bag is nice and simplifies things, but you can also just dump the grains into the pot and then strain them out when you want to remove them. You'll leave a few behind, but probably not enough to cause problems. But use a bag (muslin or nylon) if you can.

3) When cooling and adding to your fermenter, I prefer to add cold water to the fermenter first, because you don't have to cool the pot of wort for as long before adding it. Add a conservative amount of water, ideally straight from the fridge, then pour the mostly cooled wort in and top up to 5 gallons. (If you're using a glass carboy, be more careful about this, a thermal shock can cause it to crack or worse.)

The usual steps for the dry yeast would be to aerate the wort by rocking/shaking the carboy for a while (again, be very careful if you're using a glass fermenter). Then, once the wort is cooled to about 70°F, you can sprinkle (or dump, if you prefer) the yeast on top and mix it in. Better would be to boil about a cup of water, then cool it to around 90°F and sprinkle the yeast on top of that. Let it sit undisturbed for 10-15 minutes, then using a sanitized spoon, stir it up, and pour into the fermenter and mix.

If you don't know anything about the yeast, I'd shoot for 65-68°F for fermentation temperature, and up to 72° would probably be fine.

Also, there are a lot of sanitation steps in here that we've omitted, so look into those!
 
How big of a brewpot do you have? Can you do a full boil (boil the whole wort - would require ~ a 7.5 gallon brewpot) or will you be doing a partial boil (brewing part of the total batch volume and then topping off with sanitized water in the fermenter). Regardless this will be a very simple and straighforward brew. Oh, do you have a fridge or something you plan on lagering this in (fermenting for 4 weeks at 50*F).

It would be a partial boil. I do have an extra fridge. Would the whole fermenting bucket go in the fridge?
 
These instructions sound pretty good.

Inspired by a recent thread, be sure to check whether your grains are crushed or not. If not, you'll need to crush them.

A couple alternatives to simplify a bit:
1) Instead of using the two-pot approach, you could just add 2.5-3.5 gallons of water to a single pot, then either heat that to 155°F and add the grains and hold, or just add the grains at the start, heat continuously, and remove the grains when the temperature gets to between 160° and 170°F.

2) A grain bag is nice and simplifies things, but you can also just dump the grains into the pot and then strain them out when you want to remove them. You'll leave a few behind, but probably not enough to cause problems. But use a bag (muslin or nylon) if you can.

3) When cooling and adding to your fermenter, I prefer to add cold water to the fermenter first, because you don't have to cool the pot of wort for as long before adding it. Add a conservative amount of water, ideally straight from the fridge, then pour the mostly cooled wort in and top up to 5 gallons. (If you're using a glass carboy, be more careful about this, a thermal shock can cause it to crack or worse.)

The usual steps for the dry yeast would be to aerate the wort by rocking/shaking the carboy for a while (again, be very careful if you're using a glass fermenter). Then, once the wort is cooled to about 70°F, you can sprinkle (or dump, if you prefer) the yeast on top and mix it in. Better would be to boil about a cup of water, then cool it to around 90°F and sprinkle the yeast on top of that. Let it sit undisturbed for 10-15 minutes, then using a sanitized spoon, stir it up, and pour into the fermenter and mix.

If you don't know anything about the yeast, I'd shoot for 65-68°F for fermentation temperature, and up to 72° would probably be fine.

Also, there are a lot of sanitation steps in here that we've omitted, so look into those!

The yeast is BREWFERM LAGER. I'm covered on the sanitation piece. I definitely won't take any shortcuts there. This set of instructions is pretty straight forward. I do have muslin bags and the grains are crushed.
 
Yes - to lager it you'll need to keep it at 50F for a few weeks if you want to do it right. It'll taste fine but lagering it will make it true to the style.

You can follow the instructions the others gave then. It's a straightforward and simple procedure.
 
It would be a partial boil. I do have an extra fridge. Would the whole fermenting bucket go in the fridge?

Yes, you will need to control the temperature of the refrigerator to fermentation temp. Ferement for 10 days at 50-52 F. Then remove to room temp of 65-70F for 3 days (diacetyl rest). Check your FG... Make sure it is done fermenting. Then you can transfer to a carboy or keg for lagering. Then put the secondary vessel into the fridge again and slowly lower the temp 2-3 degrees per day from room temp to 35 F. Once at 35, leave to lager for 4-6 weeks.

Some people don't transfer to secondary... thats fine, generally you will be safe.. But I worry about leaving my beer on the yeast and trub for 6 weeks. Also, some don't think you need to slowly lower the temp. But after reading "Yeast" by Chris White & Jamil Z, I always slowly lower the temp.
 
Would these instructions help?
Don't know what kit you got but this one sounds pretty close
Brewers Best Vienna Lager kit
http://www.ldcarlson.com/public catalog/Brewers Best Recipes/1005.pdf

This is even better than what I was hoping for! This will only be my third batch, so it helps to have every step laid out and explained and the estimated ABV satisfies my curiosity on that. I definitely want to do my homework on lagering as far as the fridge temp. The 55 degrees might be tricky. My basement is 66 degrees, so I'm guessing I need to get a fridge on the warmer side for lagering.
 
Would these instructions help?
Don't know what kit you got but this one sounds pretty close
Brewers Best Vienna Lager kit
http://www.ldcarlson.com/public catalog/Brewers Best Recipes/1005.pdf

Yes - to lager it you'll need to keep it at 50F for a few weeks if you want to do it right. It'll taste fine but lagering it will make it true to the style.

You can follow the instructions the others gave then. It's a straightforward and simple procedure.

Thank you again. This forum doubles the fun of home brewing. I have a can of Blond Ale HME from a Mr Beer kit. Is this something I could add to this kit with a positive result? I just don't see messing with the little batch again and wonder if I could put it to use and what it would mean.
 
Yes, you will need to control the temperature of the refrigerator to fermentation temp. Ferement for 10 days at 50-52 F. Then remove to room temp of 65-70F for 3 days (diacetyl rest). Check your FG... Make sure it is done fermenting. Then you can transfer to a carboy or keg for lagering. Then put the secondary vessel into the fridge again and slowly lower the temp 2-3 degrees per day from room temp to 35 F. Once at 35, leave to lager for 4-6 weeks.

Some people don't transfer to secondary... thats fine, generally you will be safe.. But I worry about leaving my beer on the yeast and trub for 6 weeks. Also, some don't think you need to slowly lower the temp. But after reading "Yeast" by Chris White & Jamil Z, I always slowly lower the temp.

This is great help. Though it's going to make for an agonizing 6 weeks to see how it turns out. I'm sold on the gradually lowering of the temp.
 
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