My cousin’s Husband really, really like Lone Star Light.
He recently helped me out with a lot of work on our Ranch, so I thought it would be kinda neat if I payed him back by brewing a Lone Star Light equivalent. I’m just not getting into home brew, so I was curious if anyone out there (particularly the Texans amongst us) have ever tried brewing a Lone Star Light equivalent and have a recipe they’d like to share?
I don’t mind it, so if it took a couple batches to get it right, no harm there!
I haven’t had Lone Star Light, but recipe-wise the differences between light lagers are miniscule. Roughly 2/3 pale malt, 1/3 adjuncts (corn or rice, generally), and a single bittering addition for something like 10-15 IBU. Figuring out the yeast strain and how to use it to get the correct levels of any off-flavors is going to be the hardest part.
Process-wise, lagers are a little less forgiving than ales, and I couldn’t tell from your post how much brewing you’ve done. Also, FYI, it’s going to be less expensive to buy him a couple cases.
I brew a light (colored) yellow mex lager routinely now using WLP’s mexican lager yeast. My BMC & Corona relatives love it. But, it is a lager (as is Lonestar, right) so you need the ability to ferment at controlled low temperature.
Although, you could probably brew it as an ale using a generic ale yeast and ferment it according to the yeast’s preferable temp range.
The other thing is that this is possibly the hardest style to brew and brew well. I know that seems weird considering that there is so much beer out there that looks like this but you need to be able to keep a constant 45-50° temp range while the beer is fermenting, the water has to be just right and a beer like this has nothing to hide flaws so if something goes wrong, it will be very evident. If you’re a new brewer, you probably don’t want to start with this style. I have been brewing for 12+ years with over 500 batches and I have all of the right equipment, processes & information and I still screw up this style (and similar styles) occasionally. I agree with the other posts… American 2-row pale malt for 70% and corn for the rest (you could go 80/20 too), a mild hop at the beginning of the boil to 15-20 IBUs and then something like Wyeast 2007, Wyeast 2035 or maybe White Labs 840. Use soft water, ferment between 45 and 50. I have a MAKING LAGERS
page on my site with some additional info. Cheers and good luck.
