American style lagers-

MikeFlynn74 · 11-27-2007, 06:40 PM

I know its often looked down on but-

How many people have used rice when brewing American Style Lagers? Any good recipies that you would reccomend? The wife loves lighter tasting beers and I thought it would be a good way to go.

**Reverend JC** · 11-27-2007, 07:12 PM

I suppose those that put down the American style lager are those that do not have the brewing ability to properly replicate one as they are, as concidered by most, the most difficult style to recreate.

Alot of people do use rice to replicate them. I say if you want to, go for it!

**Orfy** · 11-27-2007, 07:14 PM

I'll go find my how to brew BMC.....back in a minute.

Edit: Here you go. Yo may find something of use.

**Orfy** · 11-27-2007, 07:19 PM

Here's some ideas. FOR BMC stuff....

I don' like full bodied ales and prefer a fizzier, light coloured easy to drink beer like what I am used to. And my wife likes it and my friends all drink it by the bucketful.

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Okay, not really but to show I am not always an EAC here’s some pointers for those that do.

Millions of people like to drink Bud/Miller/Coors (BMC) style beers. These beers are loosely grouped under the style of American Pilsners although they have little in common to a true Pilsner. They are light in colour and body and lightly hopped.

So how is it made?

Well Beer is made from Water, Malt, Hops and Yeast. The main addition to this is the use of corn or rice because it is cheap, adds very little body, colour or flavour to the beer, which is what gives it its properties. The corn and rice is unmalted so relies on the enzymes from the malted barley to convert the starch from the rice/corn to fermentable sugars. Because of this 6 row barley is used because of its higher diastic properties. To help beer production take less space instead of brewing lots of weak beer some of the breweries brew a stronger beer and then water it down at production.

If you are going to try this then you should be aware that because there are no heavy or strong flavours and off flavours caused by method or ingredients will show through and not be masked so fresh ingredients should be used.

Malt:
UK 2 row pale malts are generally to dark for pilsners and don’t have enough diastic power, so a US 2 row or German Pilsner 2 row can be used. 6 row has a grainier profile than 2 row hence the reason for using some 2 row.

Adjuncts:
To get Corn into the mash then you can use; Flaked maize which is pre-gelatinised and add it to your mash. Corn syrup can be added late to the kettle. You can also use corn grits but they need a separate mash. The same goes for flaked maize, rice syrup and rice grits.

Hops:
Obviously a lot off American hops are used although some foreign styles of hops are grown domestically as well as some imports are used. Importantly the bitterness is low at around 10-14 IBU.

Yeast:
Obviously a lager yeast is the best bet. It’s difficult to tell what the big boys use bit an American Lager yeast is a good choice, like Wyeast 2035 or similar.

So far we have an outline of the beer.

OG 1040 - 1045
FG 1005 – 1007
SRM - ~ 2-4
IBU 10-14
ABV 4-5%

So from the info above we can put a list together.

2 row pale or pilsner malt
6 row pale palt
Rice or Corn adjunct
Hops from the list of : Noble, Cascade, Willamette, Spalt, Newport, Sterling and a few others.
Yeast. Lager, American, Wyeast 2035.

A good clean tasting water is a must especially if you plan to brew strong and water it down. Sterilised water can help with this but you’ll need to add brewing salts to it. You can also use Camden tablets to take out chloramines and boil to remove chlorine.

Now that info above is well is enough to get you well in the way to understanding how to brew a BMC style beer.

Now this is where the EAC bit comes in. I’d say it’s all toooo much effort and it’s much easier to just go buy a case for $20 dollars or what ever it costs and use your brew time to brew a Real Ale worth the effort. But because I’m in a good mood here’s a little more info.

You need to mash for a highly fermentable wort, which means at the lower end of the mashing scale maybe 150-152 or if you have the inclination ability to step mash then do some lower temp steps with a rest at 140 really helping to get a dry beer. I’m no expert on step mashes so can’t really help more than that.

With sparging clarity is important so fly sparging can help or at least returning plenty of the first mash back to the mash when batch sparging. You need to be careful not to sparge bellow around 1010.

A good boil is required to make sure you boil off any DMS and allow a good hot break.

Also note that due to poor handling and clear bottles that these beers quite often get skunked and the beer swilling masses have got used to it and see it as a positive flavour in these beers. So short of finding a passing skunk...I suggest looking after a few bottle and also letting a few bottles skunk in daylight. Taste two side by side warm then taste two side by side chilled to see what you think.

That’s enough for now. If any one who is less of an EAC wants to pick up on the actual recipes, hop additions, fermenting ageing and carbing schedules please feel free.

I’m off for a Real Beer.

MikeFlynn74 · 11-27-2007, 07:26 PM

lol- Thanks! haha Pilsner is what I meant duh.

Hrmm. Seems tough to do

**Orfy** · 11-27-2007, 07:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MikeFlynn74

Hrmm. Seems tough to do

It is. The Big breweries have mastered it.

Brakeman_Brewing · 11-27-2007, 07:38 PM

Really by way of the complexity, cost of ingredients, time and effort, I would agree with Orfy and utilize your brewing time for a nice hearty ale.

Not that it wouldnt be fun, or a good learning experience, I just personally think your resources outweigh the final product. I enjoy drinking Labatt's and Yuengling and other such BMCs on occasion, but I certainly wouldnt give up a brew day to replicate them.

RadicalEd · 11-27-2007, 10:28 PM

Wow, orfy, one of the least EAC, and most objective, BMC related posts I've seen. Ever.

I have to admit, I am a little curious as to how an "American Pilsner" would taste justing pure malt, no corn or rice. And then allowed to cold condition for a while. Essentially do as most homebrewers would perceive the "right way". Would it be remarkably better than what we generally perceive as BMC "swill?" Would it be worth the time and effort over just picking up a case? And for that matter, what would separate it from a European Pilsner? Hops? Yeast? Neither should leave too much character if the style is followed correctly.

Would I brew one? No, I got into this hobby to expand my beer horizons, to experiment with beers that would be otherwise too expensive or difficult to obtain. But I would take my hat off to anyone who managed to brew one, and genuinely make it tasty.

**david_42** · 11-28-2007, 01:01 PM

If you don't want to lager, use a neutral ale yeast at the low end of its temperature range.
There are rice extracts and syrups available, if you aren't doing AG.

Haven't used rice, but corn certainly adds an interesting set of flavors to beer.

elkdog · 11-28-2007, 01:07 PM

Jamil actually did a show recently about making American Lite Lagers. I listened to it just because I figured he'd give some tips on controlling the various variables, and because he's generally fun to listen to. Anyway, it's downloadable over at thebrewingnetwork.com, and includes a presumably good recipe as well. Apologies if this is all stuff you knew already.