I want to do a light beer that will be ready in the spring. Something light and easy drinking. Something similar to a coors light or a miller light…
anybody have suggestions on a recipe?
I made this a while back (2011) just for the heck of it. It was good but would’ve been easier to buy a case of curs lite instead.
5lb 2 row
1.5 lb rice solids
1 oz saaz at 60 min
WLP 840 American lager yeast
OG 1.040
My notes said it was a good beer- great malt flavor, but could’ve used a little more bitterness.
Tough style, though. Any flaws will be right in your face.
pkrone’s recipe will work, and it’s not so different than what I’ve done. And yes, any mistakes you make will be glaringly obvious to the drinker because there are no strong flavors to cover them up.
I would make sure you get the lightest malt you can - pilsner malt or if you want it to really match the commercial stuff, 5 row. Also, you can use any noble hop to around 10 IBUs. Consider Tettanger or Halletauer Mittelfruh if you don’t want to use saaz.
Your basic recipe should be about 70% base malt and 30% (by sugar content) adjunct. The adjunct could be rice syrup (for a coors clone), corn syrup (for a miller or bud clone) or simple table sugar if you aren’t worried about cloning anything specific. You can also use unmalted grains, but that will require a cereal mash to convert the starches.
I’ve actually got one of these lagering now. Recipe was 4 lbs pilsner malt and 1.5 lbs 4-grain breakfast cereal (think old-fashioned oatmeal, but with wheat, rye and barley mixed in). Full cereal mash. Used 0.5 oz of Halletauer Mittelfruh at 90 minutes for bittering. 100 minute boil, pitched 2042 into 4 gallons of wort, which I’ll dilute with boiled water to 5 gallons when it goes into the keg. Taking into account the dilution, it will end up being: OG = 1.035, FG = 1.006, IBUs = 11, SRM = 2 (probably the lightest beer I’ve brewed). ABV = 3.8%.
If you don’t lager maybe a cream ale. Do as stated above pilsner malt and sugar.
Believe it or not these type beers are the hardest to make good. Any mistake shows. Can be done by home brewers though! :cheers:
Why bother? It’s the one beer you can buy cheaper than you can make. 10.99 for a 30 pack
Because it is a challenge. Hobbies shouldn’t be about saving money. Ask anyone who has a boat.
I agree, I was just in a mood last night so I figured I would tweak the post, get something going. I agree they are hard to make and they have a mass appeal. Maybe someday I will brew one. But like you, it may be the last style I try. Yea I had boats, and trucks, down to one each now. Brewing is a cheap hobby really.
I brew light American lagers because I can make a better product that is fresher than what I’m getting from the store. They are easy drinking so if I want to drink 6+ of them I can still function compared to the 8% IPA. There is less palate fatigue, people who don’t like flavorful beer drink and appreciate them. I could keep going…
That’s why I brew about 3 per year.
[quote=“Loopie Beer”]I brew light American lagers because I can make a better product that is fresher than what I’m getting from the store. They are easy drinking so if I want to drink 6+ of them I can still function compared to the 8% IPA. There is less palate fatigue, people who don’t like flavorful beer drink and appreciate them. I could keep going…
That’s why I brew about 3 per year.[/quote]
Fresher? Isn’t there a big ass Budweiser brewery in Columbus?
There is and I live close enough that I have to admit it smells lovely when they are brewing. Prob with AB is nothing stays local.
Josh I like your style. I brew several American lagers each winter ready to be enjoyed by spring time.
SO I made mine. 3 row (2lb), 6 row(2lb), flaked rice (1lb) and flaked corn (1b) and some rice hulls. I made it an ale cause I do not have the ability to lager right now. And I used dry yeast safale 05. Even thought I do not have all grain equipment I did this as an all grain the bet I could- used a 5 gallon pot with about 4 gallons to mash and then added some additional water to sparge the grain.
I did add a small amount of corn sugar (about a cup or a little less).
I was surprised to get an initial gravity of 1.036 but I was even more surprised to see my final gravity which, no lie, was reading 1.002. That puts the beer at around 4.5%.
What I can say is it is a good clean light beer. As light as a Miller 64. It is definitely an ale but it is really good. I could definitely drink a bunch of these - but at 4.5% they might sneak up on me… I like it- I enjoy the taste - good spring/summer beer and was my first try at basically all grain.
Nice.
Funny, I’m brewing one of these on Friday.
25% minute rice and the rest 6row. 1.038
10 ibus with Cluster and wyeast Gambrinus Lager yeast.
Hoping for a Texas temperature pounder for early summer.
