lager like ale

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jim_reaper1066

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A member of my local homebrew club put on a batch of light ale that tastes really close to a Mill street organic lager (toronto). Im going to put a batch of this on but wouldn't mind bumping up to alcohol a little around 6-6.5%. Can anyone help me tweak this recipe?

6 lbs. American 2-row info
1.5 lbs. American Vienna info
1.5 lbs. Corn Flaked (Maize) info

1 oz. Czech Saaz (Pellets, 3.9 %AA) boiled 60 min. info
0.25 oz. Czech Saaz (Pellets, 3.9 %AA) boiled 15 min. info

Yeast : Fermentis US-05 Safale US-05 info

Bitterness 20.8 IBU
Original Gravity - 1.054
Final Gravity - 1.014

5.3%
 
Sticking to those ingredients i bumped the 2 row up 8 lbs
and i bumped the flaked corn up to 2.5lbs
i left the vienna as is

this gave me 6.4%

however with the increased grain your going to have to adjust your hops to keep the ibus in line, other wise your going to have a higher abv but its going to be sweeter based on the extra malt.

typically when i want to brew a clean lagerlike beer i brew cream of 3 crops, if you search for it it will come up under the recipes.

I usually brew
5lbs 2 row
1.5 lbs flaked rice
2.5 lbs flaked corn

again this only gives me about 4.8% abv
 
Im still new to the world of all grain and hops. How do I calculate how much more hops to use to get enough IBU's to balance the increase in malt?
 
if you dont have brewing software go to hopville.com/beercalc

they have a good recipe generator, you plug in the ingredients, the style your brewing, how much water and how long the boil.

it then lets you plug in the hops. it will calc fg and og. and it also gives you the bcjp specs so you know your within the style limits.

ive used it religously since going ag and my beers have been wonderful
 
oh man this is awesome! I just played around with beercalc for the last hour instead of working. I came up with something, not sure what it is tho (light/cream/blond ale, Kolsch?). I love sazz hops and a little extra alcohol so hopefully this will turn out ok.

Bitterness 21.3 IBU
Original Gravity - 1.057
Final Gravity - 1.013
6.0%

8 lbs. Domestic 2-row
1. lbs. American Vienna
1 lbs. 10 oz Corn Flaked

1.25 oz. Czech Saaz (Pellets, 3.9 %AA) boiled 60 min.
0.5 oz. Czech Saaz (Pellets, 3.9 %AA) boiled 15 min.
0.25 oz. Czech Saaz (Pellets, 3.9 %AA) boiled 1 min.

Yeast : Fermentis US-05 Safale US-05
 
oh man this is awesome! I just played around with beercalc for the last hour instead of working. I came up with something, not sure what it is tho (light/cream/blond ale, Kolsch?). I love sazz hops and a little extra alcohol so hopefully this will turn out ok.

Bitterness 21.3 IBU
Original Gravity - 1.057
Final Gravity - 1.013
6.0%

8 lbs. Domestic 2-row
1. lbs. American Vienna
1 lbs. 10 oz Corn Flaked

1.25 oz. Czech Saaz (Pellets, 3.9 %AA) boiled 60 min.
0.5 oz. Czech Saaz (Pellets, 3.9 %AA) boiled 15 min.
0.25 oz. Czech Saaz (Pellets, 3.9 %AA) boiled 1 min.

Yeast : Fermentis US-05 Safale US-05

Heres my 2 cents, take it or leave it.

Id personally drop the vienna and sub it with a pound of flaked rice, bump the corn up to 2 pounds,(its almost 2 pounds already)

Also I would recommend a 90 boil as well as a 90 min mash, when ive made cream ales before the longer mash gave it that dry crispness thats typical of a lager and the 90 min boil drove off the dms again adding to the crispness of the beer.

For hops maybe sub the flavor addition with some williamette? When I did my last cream ale I used Saaz/williamette combo. It was a 90 min boil, first hop addition at 60 min and flavoring at 20 min.

Just some food for thought, let us know how this turns out when you make it
 
That sounds good wcater, I was thinking about performing a 90 minute mash. When doing so for cream and kolsh styles, is it recommended to use a lower temp (148-150) and a thicker mash around 1.25 quarts/lb or does that come down to personal preference.
I like the idea of a 90 minute biol to get rid of DMS, is there a need to change my hop schedule or just stick to the first 60 minute addition.
I think I have some Hallertau left over that might be nice to throw in as well, mabey sub out the sazz at 20.
 
This brew is starting to sound better and better, I wish my LHBS wasn't so slow when it comes to ordering ingredients otherwise I would be brewing this tomorrow instead of next weekend.
 
That sounds good wcater, I was thinking about performing a 90 minute mash. When doing so for cream and kolsh styles, is it recommended to use a lower temp (148-150) and a thicker mash around 1.25 quarts/lb or does that come down to personal preference.
I like the idea of a 90 minute biol to get rid of DMS, is there a need to change my hop schedule or just stick to the first 60 minute addition.
I think I have some Hallertau left over that might be nice to throw in as well, mabey sub out the sazz at 20.


i mashed at 1.25Lb and i think my mash temp was 152 due to the fact that i mashed for 90 min.

as for the hops keep the schedule the same.

i dont have a mash tun or a typical ag setup. i simply mill the heck out of the grain in my corona mill and use a Brew in the bag stove top method and then dunk sparge and combine and most of my brews have been averaging around 80% efficiency.

if your using a mash tun, id probably throw some rice hulls in there, the corn and rice are pretty sticky and it will make things easier since it will be a thicker mash.
 
I finally found some spare time to brew last week. I decided to put two batches on, one following the original recipe and a tweaked version of it.

Pale ale 1:
6 lb 2-row
1.5 lb Vienna
1.1 lb Flaked corn

1 oz Sazz 60 min
0.5 oz Sazz 20 min
0.5 oz Sazz 5 min

Pitched S-04, OG 1.048, 5 gal.

Pale ale 2
9 lb 2-row
11.55 oz Vienna
1.1 lb Flaked corn
4.1 oz CRYSTAL 60L

1 oz Sazz 60 min
0.5 oz Wilamette 60 min
0.65 oz Sazz 20 min
0.25 oz Willamette 20 min
0.65 oz Sazz 5 min

Pitched 2 jars washed wyeast 1056, OG 1.059. 5 gal.

I crunched the numbers by hand and got 85% and 90% efficiency for brews 1 and 2, respectively. This seems too good to be true so I assume it is not. Can anyone with a beer program verify my ridiculous efficiency?
 
I finally found some spare time to brew last week. I decided to put two batches on, one following the original recipe and a tweaked version of it.

Pale ale 1:
6 lb 2-row
1.5 lb Vienna
1.1 lb Flaked corn

1 oz Sazz 60 min
0.5 oz Sazz 20 min
0.5 oz Sazz 5 min

Pitched S-04, OG 1.048, 5 gal.

Pale ale 2
9 lb 2-row
11.55 oz Vienna
1.1 lb Flaked corn
4.1 oz CRYSTAL 60L

1 oz Sazz 60 min
0.5 oz Wilamette 60 min
0.65 oz Sazz 20 min
0.25 oz Willamette 20 min
0.65 oz Sazz 5 min

Pitched 2 jars washed wyeast 1056, OG 1.059. 5 gal.

I crunched the numbers by hand and got 85% and 90% efficiency for brews 1 and 2, respectively. This seems too good to be true so I assume it is not. Can anyone with a beer program verify my ridiculous efficiency?

For brew number 1 you got 76% efficiency and for brew number 2 you got around 73% efficiency. I plugged your numbers straight into hopville and thats what i got. THe cool thing is once you save a recipe and you take your og an fg you can plug them in and it calculates your efficiency for you. it even lets you adjust your brew house efficiency once you know what your system gets you so you can keep within target of the style.

Cheers, let us know how they both turn out:mug:
 
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