frontiercdk

Recipes 

I am doing my first all grain batch this weekend (10 gallons). I want to get close to the Brewers Best American Light that I have been making.I have to local brew stores. One gave me a recipe that would cost just under 50 bucks. The other told me to just use two row barley. No other grains at all. It would cost me around 36 smackers, Good idea or not? Anyone got any better ideas?

zachattack

Recipes 

To get something approaching an American Light, you'll want some adjuncts in there (corn or rice) and maybe some simple sugar to really dry it out.

However: a beer with one type of malt and one type of hop is referred to as a Single Malt and Single Hop (SMaSH) beer, and is a great way to get into all grain. It's a simple beer and you really get to learn the ingredients. Check this thread out:

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/best-smash-recipe-youve-made-336665/

Yooper

Recipes 

If you want an American Light, you'll want some US two-row and maybe some flaked corn and/or flaked rice. (Minute Rice is great for this!). I can not see it costing anywhere near $50!

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Broken Leg Brewery
Giving beer a leg to stand on since 2006

Jayhem

Recipes 

I can make 11 gallons of my light cream ale for $12. This is where buying grain in bulk and reusing yeast come into play!

I agree on the corn and/or rice to make it truly low body and dry. Also mashing on the low side will help dry out your beer...shoot for a mash of 148-150F for 80 minutes.

__________________
Next up: Caramel Amber Ale (Chinook)
Primary #1 + 2: Red Zombie IPA
Bottle Conditioning: Centennial Blonde Summer Ale, Shmuck's Belgian Dubbel, Dry Irish Stout
Drinking: Honeybee American Wheat Ale

Yooper

Recipes 

I was just thinking- if you post the recipe you've used and liked, we could convert it to all-grain for you so you can match it properly.

__________________
Broken Leg Brewery
Giving beer a leg to stand on since 2006

frontiercdk

Recipes 

Man, thanks for the input. The brew is an extract kit ( http://www.brewersbestkits.com/pdf/1018%202013%20American%20Light%20Recipe.pdf ). Any help IS apriciated!

Wouldn't mind if it was a little higher in achohol content.

Jayhem

Recipes 

I would probably do something like this for a 5 gal batch:

5 lbs 2-row malt
2 lbs Pilsen (Pilsner) malt
1 lb Flaked Corn
0.5 lb minute rice

Mash at 150F for 80 minutes

Same hop schedule but 25% less bittering hop if you do a full boil down to 5 gallons. I aim for 16 ibu's.

Fermentis US-05 dry yeast

Would be around 4.5% abv. You could add another 8-12oz of table sugar or corn sugar if you want to dry it out further and boost alcohol to 5%+

This is almost exactly the recipe I use for my light cream ale and it's highly drinkable and cheap! You can use generic unsweetened corn flakes for the corn and generic "minute rice" instead of flaked rice. I get my minute rice from the dollar store along with the corn flakes!

__________________
Next up: Caramel Amber Ale (Chinook)
Primary #1 + 2: Red Zombie IPA
Bottle Conditioning: Centennial Blonde Summer Ale, Shmuck's Belgian Dubbel, Dry Irish Stout
Drinking: Honeybee American Wheat Ale

TheLastDamnBatch

Recipes 

6-7 lbs Pilsner
1 lb Flaked Corn
1 lb Flaked Rice

Same hops.

US-05 yeast.

Add 1Tbs Amylase Enzyme to secondary; will dry it out and raise ABV.

90 min mash @148; 90 min boil.

frontiercdk

Recipes 

Yall talking about " Toney the Tiger" type corn flake cerial? Except not sweetened.

stratslinger

Recipes 

I don't think you should use breakfast cereal for this - looking at the ingredients for Kellog's Corn Flakes, for instance, it includes Sugar, Malt Flavoring, and Salt. Flaked Corn, which you can get at your LHBS, is just corn processed in a specific way so that you can add it directly to your mash without having to first do a cereal mash on it. I've read you can also use some form of grits or quick grits as a substitute, but I don't know the details off hand.