As previously mentioned, I now know more than I knew about lagers.  I also know that everyone in my family except for me prefers lagers.  This makes it quite difficult to test out ales on my test subjects so it was either time to find new test subjects or try a different style of beer.  I'll settle for both and we'll see which finishes first. 

I've decided to create several batches using the same yeast and hops. I will be using the Saflager S-23 yeast, and the Chech Saaz pellet hops, which has a description of "very mild with pleasant hoppy notes, earthy, spicy, and herbal."  I really would prefer some better definitions to hops, but the main parts are the earthy, spicy and herbal.   The hops are given an alpha acid% of 4% (range of 3-4.5).

The first set of tests will be varying amounts of sugars.  This helps me find what body, color and alcohol content I'm looking for and will likely affect the taste as well since the three sugars I will try have different flavor properties.

Single Gallon tests. OG=1.050	Sorghum Extract 60DE percent	Brown Rice Syrup	Dextrose (Corn sugar)	Results
Test 001	100	0	0
Test 002	75	25	0
Test 003	75	0	25
Test 004	50	50	0
Test 005	50	25	25
Test 006	25	75	0
Test 007	25	50	25
Test 008	90	0	10

A lot of these, especially that with the dextrose, probably won't even be tested.  My first batch was 1.4 lbs sorghum and 2 oz dextrose before which is why I will likely approximate that again after trying a 100% sorghum batch.


The second set of tests will be hops tests.

Hops Test	AA%	Amount to reach about 24 IBU
Mount Hood	3-8%
Liberty	3-6%
Crystal	2-4.5%
Hallertauer	3.5-5.5%
Saaz (US)
Saaz (Czech)	4%	9g=23.69 IBU at 4%?