Pre Prohibition lager anyone?

Beer Recipe Design
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Thinking about doing one of these in the near future…Anyone have any thoughts or tips on making one? And most importantly was it worth the effort? Distinctly different? 6 row seems to be a mainstay but what yeast and hops have you used, etc…?

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I enjoy the style and will continue to make a batch about once a year.

I’ve made a few batches all of which are close to the recipe described by George Fix in this publication. You’ll need to do some math to calculate a 5 gal batch recipe.

As for grains, I used a blend of 6 row, domestic pils, and flaked maize. Some use all 2 row plus flaked maize. The main component would be a high level of the flaked maize, 20-30%, appropriate mash schedule, and hop character well above today’s domestic lagers approximating a German/Czech pils.

For yeast I used a domestic lager strain WY2035. August Schell strain has been my favorite.

For hops, he advocates use of domestic and noble hops. Some have used all domestic hops such as Sterling. Mine was Liberty and Mittelfruh.

for the recipe, look for the link “accompanying box” under the “pre-prohibition pale lager” header

http://www.morebeer.com/brewingtechniques/library/backissues/issue2.3/fix.html

I am probably leaving you with more questions than answers but it’s a starting point. Let’s see if other weigh in.

good luck

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I agree with @bwmac2. Your grist and need for 6 row is probably more dependent on the percentage of flaked maize. I would probably include some though.
Cluster would be the traditional hop used. I’ve never made an all cluster hopped beer but from my experience they are a little more ‘rough’ than the noble hops. Depending on what you want you could go all cluster or mix with noble.

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I’ve made Northern Brewer’s all grain pre-pro kit several times and it always turns out good. I used 34/70 for the last batch.

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@voodoo_donut, Here is another excellent read of pre-prob beer.

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image.jpeg2448×3264 1.46 MB
Thanks again for all the info. Brewed yesterday(long overdue, too long of a break with hurricanes and power outages etc) and had a nice uneventful brew day. Into the fermentation fridge it goes at 50*.
Very simple first attempt:
7#6-row
2#flaked corn
2 rehydrated packages of S-23
Cluster for bittering
Hallertauer Mittelfrueh at 10
1.052 OG
2.96 SRM
And…this will be my first brew that gets kegged if Santa is nice to me!

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Sounds great. I enjoy a simple lager. Hope you have behaved. A pre pro needs to be kegged IMHO

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I love this beer!! A nice drinkable beer. I did use two packages of yeast. Patients, patients and you will be rewarded. I bottled mine and had it at a temp 34-35 degrees in the bottles for 4-5 weeks.