Using Grain and Grape Artisanale Hopped Fresh Wort

Grain and Grape Artisanale Hopped Fresh Wort Kits are designed to be used as a high quality base for making a variety of beers.

The lager wort kit is 17 litres, has an Original Gravity (OG) of 1060 with a bitterness level of 34 IBU. There is a very small late addition of a German noble hop meaning that there is no need to add any hops at all if you are making a style without a significant hop flavour or aroma.

You can use it as a base to produce many different beers within the “lager” range including Czech or German Pilsner, Munich Helles or Munich Dunkel, Schwarzbier, Dortmunder, European Lagers and even hybrid ale/lager styles such as Kolsch and Alt.

Making an Ale with a lager kit

The major differences between ales and lagers when using modern malts are the yeast, hops and specialty grains in addition to fermentation temperature. The bittering hops used in this kit are neutral in flavour and the late hop addition is small so you can go ahead and use the Lager base with confidence knowing you’ll be able to make a great Pale Ale, Stout or Belgian Ale given the correct choice of yeast, hops and (if necessary) malted barley.

The possibilities are limitless – just ask at Grain and Grape for ideas. For those of you with more technical questions relating to using lager malts to make ales, please ask.

Hops

Small amounts of hops used in the method outlined in the Czech Pilsner recipe below is a great way of personalizing you brew.

Making an easy Czech Pilsner

Boil 20g of Czech Saaz hop pellets with 3 litres of water for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat, add 20g more of Czech Saaz hop pellets. Put the lid on the saucepan. Leave to soak for 1 minute. Cool in a sink filled with cold water before adding to the fermenter and pitching yeast. Allow to drop to under 15 degrees and proceed with fermentation as usual. This will make a great Czech Pils with an OG of 1051 and 32 IBU.

Making an easy European Lager

Follow the same procedure above using Hallertau or Tettnang hop pellets and adding a further 3 litres of water for 23 litres of this Lager with an OG of 1045 and IBU of 28.

Malt

Steeping small amounts of grain or doing a mini mash can be the basis for darker style beers such as Munich Dunkel or adding more malt complexity to a Helles.

Making an easy Munich Dunkel with a mini mash

Heat 1.5 litres of water in a saucepan to 72 degrees. Mill/Crush 200 g Vienna malt, 200 g Munich malt and 100 g Carafa Special 1 and place into a grain bag and put into the water. Put the lid on and leave to soak for 20 minutes. Lift the grain bag out and squeeze between a pair of tongs or plates. Add water to make a total of 6 litres. Bring to boil and boil with lid on for 10 minutes. Turn heat off, add 10g Hallertau hops. Follow the same procedure as above from this point on. The Dunkel will have an OG of 1050 and an IBU of 26.

More complex recipes – Let your imagination run wild

Your imagination is the only limitation to making your own beers. Beer is made from malt, hops, water and yeast. At Grain and Grape we have 64 varieties of malted and unmalted grains and malt extract, 24 varieties of hops in pellet and plug form and 48 varieties of yeast.

Wyeast swap

Included in the price of $39.95 of the kit is a Fermentis (also known as DCL or SAF) yeast of your choice. You can swap this for a Wyeast liquid yeast culture of your choice for $10. If no yeast is required, the kit is $35.95.

Make it as it is

Simply pour the wort kit into your fermenter, add the lager yeast pack provided and this will produce a bitter beer of around 6% alcohol, nicely malty with a slight hop aroma. Not really a beer of any recognized style but certainly very drinkable.