NB has so many recipe titles, is there one styled after Mexico’s Negra Modelo? My favorite commercial beer.
I searched dark Mexican lager recipes in some detail earlier this year. I finally settled on a Gordon Strong recipe from his book “Modern Homebrew Recipes.” He said the recipe was inspired by a beer called Noche Buena. I tweaked the recipe a bit due to limited supply at my HBS
It was a good beer which I’d definitely call ‘in the ballpark’ vs NM. NM probably has an OG more on the order of 1.052. I’ll make it again and back off the caramunich and aromatic by 15-25%. I am assuming you are doing all grain.
6.25 gal, 1.056 OG, 82% eff, 22 IBU, 1.014 FG
6.25 pils weyerman
2.5 vienna weyerman
0.6 aromatic
0.2 C120
0.2 carafa II
0.75 caramunich II
WL940 Mexican lager yeast
Styrian goldings, 4.1% AA
.9 oz at 60
.9 oz at 30
.5 oz at 10
.5 oz at 1
My understanding, its a vienna style lager, old school. Seems some of the Austrians, and Germans found Mexico inviting, and brought their brewing skills to that area. So with that, you could look to vienna style lagers and then tweak to emulate that special brew you want. Sneezles61
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As a Vienna lager I think an extract kit would not really work as there should be mostly Vienna malt. Might still get something tasty though.
I really do not like Negra Modelo but to each their own right?
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I do have some as a change up, I also like schells dark too. I’m going with the idea that they brew their base beer, when done fermenting, they will steep some darker malt, and add to the base. Unfermentable dark malt liquor ifn you will. Sneezles61
NB had a limited edition beer called El Modelo de Mayo. It was an amber lager. If you search on the name you can find the instruction sheet for it. Here’s the ingredient list.
O.G: 1.050 READY: 6 WEEKS
3–4 weeks primary, 2–3 weeks bottle conditioning
KIT INVENTORY:
MAILLARD MALTSTM
SPECIALTY GRAIN
– 0.25 lbs Weyermann CaraAroma
– 0.25 lbs Weyermann Caramunich III
– 0.125 lbs Weyermann Dehusked Carafa I
MAILLARD MALTSTM
EXTRACTS & OTHER FERMENTABLES
– 5 lbs Amber DME (60 min)
– 1 lb Corn Sugar late addition (0 min)
BOIL ADDITIONS
– 0.75 oz Perle (60 min)
YEAST
– WYEAST 2124 BOHEMIAN LAGER. Apparent attenuation:
73-77%. Flocculation: Medium-low. Optimum
temp: 45-68° F.
Following is my award-winning Vienna that was inspired by, but not an exact clone of, Negra Modelo. A friend of mine brewed a similar recipe and I think his is even better than mine. He swears that the Mexican lager yeast WLP940 is the secret to his success. So consider the yeast options. Wyeast 2206 is truly fantastic as well.
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Looks pretty tasty Dave! May have to give this one a spin myself. Any flavor impact from the chocolate malt?
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Nope, the chocolate malt is only for color adjustment. It is such a tiny amount that you won’t taste it.
