Help with first recipe for my new kit please?

[Pugilist]

Hello gents. I got the Mr Beer kit for christmas and after reading up and seeing the quality it makes, I got a nice starter kit from a brew supply shop today.

I am very excited to start brewing tomorrow morning! They gave me the ingredients I need and I picked out a "Lubecker Lager" recipe. They gave me as follows:
2 Qts pale malt
.5 Qts Adjunct
1 oz tettnanger hops (pellet)
1.5 oz Hallertau (pellet)
1 scoop Irish Moss
and a packet of dry Saflager yeast from France.

My questions are:
1. He said no grains with the recipe, they were EXTREMELY busy so I didnt push the issue, but why is that?

2. What is the clear adjunct? It looks like fiberglass resin and what does it do?

3. How should I store the ingredients, and how long does this recipe ferment, etc?

Thanks for any help, and for steering me towards a real brew kit.

 

[aekdbbop]

1. some kits don't require specialty grains
2. the clearing adjunct i assume is for clarifying of the beer... probably geletan?
3. room temp should be ok, if it is a lager, ferment at 40-45 degrees for at least 6 weeks IMO

 

[Baron von BeeGee]

3. Freeze the hops and keep the yeast in your fridge. I disagree on the fermentation temp...I'd probably go low 50's at the lowest, say 52-58F. I think it would work exceedling slowly in the low 40's.

After primary fermentation is done you'll want to rack to a secondary and take it down to 32-34F for 2-4 weeks if you can.

 

[boo boo]

That clear adjunt is most likely high malt glucose which is a sugar. It adds fermentables to make you brew stronger in alcohol.

Store the ingredients cool and when you finally brew,and are ready to pitch the yeast, pitch it into room temperture wort before cooling to fermenting tempertures, one pack of dry yeast needs the extra temperture boost to get started. As you are doing a lager, you are planning on fermenting at lager yeast fermenting tempertures, aren't you?

 

[Pugilist]

Thanks for the helpful replies guys. I only see a couple of problems.

I dont have a secondary, the kit just came with the bottling and fermentation buckets. Maybe invest in a 5 gal carboy for that purpose? Is using a secondary very important in aging/clearing the beer?

Would love to put it in a secondary and chill at 32-34degrees, but I live in a 1 bed room apartment, so no fridge keg-erator yet

Thanks again!

 

[Markusface]

I did that with my first ever brew, a Bavarian lager at Ale temps... it turned out quite nicely actually, and my brother told me it was quite a convincing lager not sure if he was just being nice... heh. Learned OHSO much since back then, and have mainly these forums to thank

 

[boo boo]

The saflager yeast you have is really meant to be brewed at colder than room temperture. You'll still make beer, just not as good as you could have. There are ways to brew a beer cold without refrigeration. Google swamp cooler brewing.
You can use your bottling bucket as a primary and secondary in the other. Clean the first bucket and use it to bottle with.

 

[Baron von BeeGee]

You can use your bottling bucket as a primary and secondary in the other. Clean the first bucket and use it to bottle with.

Yep, that works great.

 

[Pugilist]

Hmm. Got the directions for brewing this that they put in the supply box out. It basically has the ingredients listed, but not how specifically.

So it appears the adjunct doesnt get boiled initially with the malt syrup? I also picked up a homebrew book. It says I will have to strain the hops out of the wort while adding it to the fermenter. I guess I could just sterilize a plastic strainer for the purpose? I thought the hops came with those muslin bags, guess not

 

[Yuri_Rage]

Is the "clear adjunct" a "clearing adjunct," or is it some kind of sugar or flavoring? What does it smell like? What does it taste like? If it's a flavoring or sugar product, it goes in at the end of the boil. If it's meant to clarify the beer, it probably goes in at the end of fermentation.

 

[Pugilist]

I am a little disappointed in the service I received at my LBS. The guy there new I was a newbie and I asked for a fairly easy beginner recipe. So he gives me a pilsner/lager that needs to be fermented at such low temps?

As well he said the easy to use instructions were in the box with the recipe supplies. All it is, is basic instructions for their in house brewing (they allow people to brew their own wine and beer at the store). So all of the equipment, steps, etc listed do not apply.

 

[the_bird]

Are you sure that's a half quart of "clear adjunct"? Kits usually include priming sugar, but you didn't list any. Is it about three-quarters of a cup in volume? If so (and it tastes like sugar), that's the priming sugar, which you add at bottling time.

 

[Pugilist]

The recipe says 0.5 quarts adjunct. But they also included a sandwich baggie of corn sugar for priming. Maybe it gives the brewer an option of either?

Thanks again for the timely helpful responses, you guys are great.