Toasted Lager: Blue Point

Chezzy1290

Tried a pint of Blue Point lager today and I was most impressed, really nice.

I was just wondering if there is a recipe for this or what the closest extract kit is?

I'm new to brewing so I'm not sure I've got the confidence to try an all grain brew just yet. If I can get my hands on a fairly close extract kit with a couple of tweaks off the pro Brewers out there and get it to taste like Blue Point I'd be made up!

Any advice would be great.

Also try the beer if you never have done..

HBO_Staff

Hi there, the Blue Point Lager is not one which any of the beers have yet been compared to by customers who have made them, if wanting to make using extract ingredients then there is a Vienna style lager, more details and description are here on this link

http://www.home-brew-online.com/beer-kits-c1/festival-world-beers-vienna-red-lager-p1824

There is also an all grain recipe kit if wanting to make it from scratch, again it is a Vienna style but how close to the Blue Point it is we can't say unfortunately, but the Brewolution ingredients are great:

http://www.home-brew-online.com/beer-kits-c1/brewolution-all-grain-kit-german-viennese-waltz-lager-p1793

If wanting to make a clone we have found this recipe on an American site:

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=23937

If you do opt for a full all grain recipe then this is much more involved and needs equipment to mash it etc

Chezzy1290

Excellent.

The Vienna Red lager kit looks like my next brew then.

Thanks for the help.

HBO_Staff

We do have one other that is temporarily unavailable as Coopers have changed their range, it involves a partial mash of some malt, then adding to an extract kit - so the best of both really. It will be changed soon to include the new Coopers extract and back on sale asap - but this could be a few weeks away unfortunately:

http://www.home-brew-online.com/beer-kits-c1/home-brew-online-recipe-packs-vienna-sparkling-amber-p1686

Chezzy1290

Gutted I would have bought that one!

The partial mash doesn't seem too difficult either. I'm off on my holidays for 2 weeks next week so maybe when I get back it will be back in stock. Would have been ideal to kick it off before I leave though.

I've just finished brewing a Preachers Hefe wheat beer, the brew time was really quick but 8 days start to end) I'm wondering if that was due to the constant temperature of around 24 degrees. The FG was steady at 1.012 for a couple of days so I've bottled it anyway. The point I'm getting at now was that bottling was a lot of effort which has turned my attention to kegging my next brew.

Will kegging the Vienna Sparkling Amber alter the taste/quality of my brew, or is this fine for this type of ale?

Thanks

HBO_Staff

8 days is fine and the temperature of around 24 degrees C is fine, you can brew a couple of degrees cooler if you like but it may take slightly longer. When bottling if you don't already have one then we recommend one of these bottling sticks with the sediment trap on it, they make it so much easier and faster:

http://www.home-brew-online.com/equipment-c40/home-brew-online-little-bottler-bottling-stick-with-lever-tap-p669

You can put any brew into a barrel or bottles, often this is personal preference or people tend to bottle when needing to chill the brew before drinking. Some people say they can taste the difference and we bottle most of our brews here, it's just more flexible and they can be stored for longer, this guide has more info and the pros and cons of each:

http://homebrewonline.vanillaforums.com/discussion/299/bottles-or-pressure-barrel#latest

Let us know how the Coopers Hefe turns out

Chezzy1290

By the way, I've purchased the Vienna Sparkling Amber ale partial mash kit, most of it from this site but I had to get the coopers can off eBay which was quite cheap.

I may bottle and barrel the next brew, or if I have swing top bottles and the bottling stick I may bottle them all again.

No bottle bombs on the preachers yet, but it has only been 24hrs. I've checked the bottles and they're currently lay on their side, when I pick them up there's a thin layer of sediment that sort of dissolves when I gentle shake them. Is that normal?

Thanks

HBO_Staff

This is normal and is just sediment that settles out, it is recommended to store your bottles stood up and then any sediment will settle in the bottom of the bottles. Then when ready to drink if you pour carefully it wont disturb it and you will end up with a nice clear pint