Blonde Ale Miller Lite (Really Triple Hopped)

Bam! Heres a pic. Decided to make this my fiancees first AG brew. She did a good job and the flavor keeps getting better. Thanks for a great recipe Shlenkerla

Schlenkerla said:

Awesome, you made a very good Miller High Life.

If you get a weird dry parched taste, don't sweat it. It disappears after a few weeks chilled. After that it's chuggable lawnmower beer.

You will be surprised how good this is and many of your BMC beer drinker friends will request it regularly.

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ive made a ton of great beers and most people who have tried them have liked this best, haha
having little hops, a lot of filtering, gelatin, and a cold crash this was easily the clearest beer i have ever made by a mile.
ill make it again in late february

How would this go with vanilla? Miller Vanilla?

It might work, but you would need to go very easy on the vanilla.

If you wanted a vanilla light beer I'd try this on an English Mild Recipe. I think a debittered chocolate malt would balance out better. If you over did the vanilla it could be less like a Miller Cream Soda. Makes me think a tongue in cheek, Pseudo, Cream Ale.

IMHO-Too much vanilla makes it very soda like.

Schlenkerla said:

It might work, but you would need to go very easy on the vanilla.

If you wanted a vanilla light beer I'd try this on an English Mild Recipe. I think a debittered chocolate malt would balance out better. If you over did the vanilla it could be less like a Miller Cream Soda. Makes me think a tongue in cheek, Pseudo, Cream Ale.

IMHO-Too much vanilla makes it very soda like.

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Wasn't really serious, Just liked the name, sounds like milli vanilli lol

Naturallight16oz said:

Wasn't really serious, Just liked the name, sounds like milli vanilli lol

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Ok, that's good. When you make light beer it's supposed to be near flavorless and flawless. To me bad light beer is really bad.

What you jokingly propose is similar to bud lime. Kind of like a sprite and beer radler.

So mix Miller light with cream soda and call it milli-vanilli.

Does this sound ok for the hops?

1 oz cascade 60 minutes
1 iz cascade 0 minutes
And dry hop with sorachi ace along with the enzyme addition?

smagic14 said:

Does this sound ok for the hops?

1 oz cascade 60 minutes
1 iz cascade 0 minutes
And dry hop with sorachi ace along with the enzyme addition?

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Yes, it sounds right. Your target IBU should be 16 to 18 from the first addition.

If you are worried about hitting the target for bitterness use a brewing calculator.

If you don't have a brewing calculator use this. http://hbd.org/recipator/

I look at my original recipe it used 0.6 oz of cascade at 60 minutes. 1oz would be a little too much for the style guidelines.

Schlenkerla said:

I look at my original recipe it used 0.6 oz of cascade at 60 minutes. 1oz would be a little too much for the style guidelines.

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Thanks boiling it now!

Whats your fermentation temperarure schedule like for this?

have it at 62°F right now (3days in) and was wondering if I should keep it like this through the secondary as well?

Thanks

smagic14 said:

Whats your fermentation temperarure schedule like for this?

have it at 62°F right now (3days in) and was wondering if I should keep it like this through the secondary as well?

Thanks

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Mine was at about 65 all the way through

Schlenkerla said:

Well, regarding;



1. Bottle with 5oz by wt of corn sugar......

2. Drink when thirsty.

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I'm going to brew this recipe as in OP. This will be my 1st AG. I've had great success with Mr. Beer and then Brewers Best extract kits.

I will bottle

I've read this complete thread and now completely understand the process except:

1. What is the prefered method of adding the 5oz of corn sugar at bottling?

2. How long should I store bottles at fermented temp. before moving to the frig. and how long in frig. for the best tasting beer?

This thread has been a fun read. Thanks everybody!

Bulk prime, by boiling the 5 oz by weight of sugar with a cup or so maybe two of water. Add the boiled sugar water to a bottling bucket. Rack your beer to the bottling bucket. Stir gently during the tracking process, then bottle.

Then keep the bottled beer at fermentation temps for 4 weeks. Refrigerate two bottles, drink when cold, decide if it's carbonated enough when you drink it. If not, wait a few weeks longer and repeat.

Thank you!!!!!!!!

Just my 2 cents. I find 5 oz of corn sugar is to much when storing bottles for a long period of time. I get over carbed bottles. Being this is a lighter beer I would think more like 4 oz of corn sugar. Of course if I would just drink them faster I would not have this problem. Also, when you boil the corn sugar, let it cool for a little before adding it to the bottle bucket.

shadows69 said:

Just my 2 cents. I find 5 oz of corn sugar is to much when storing bottles for a long period of time. I get over carbed bottles. Being this is a lighter beer I would think more like 4 oz of corn sugar. Of course if I would just drink them faster I would not have this problem. Also, when you boil the corn sugar, let it cool for a little before adding it to the bottle bucket.

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I have always used 5 oz by weight of corn sugar. If you use table sugar it will be different.

You have to weigh out the sugar to be accurate. Not to mention, done fermenting.

This link will help you dial in carbonation.
http://hbd.org/cgi-bin/recipator/recipator/carbonation.html

I've read through 300 of the nearly 700 posts on this thread and haven't seen anyone bring up the issue I think I'm going to have when I take a shot at this beer, so sorry if this is a repeated question...

I still bottle condition my beer (hopefully for not much longer. Im hoping I will start kegging in 2014). In the meantime, are there any specific instructions for bottle conditioning. I'm afraid of adding my standard 5oz of corn sugar to the bottling bucket with this beer the way I do with my other beers (IPAs, scotch ales and stouts). I'm afraid the sugar will somehow effect the taste.

I'm wondering if I shouldn't simply cut the secondary (w/ AE) down a few days and transfer to bottle and let the final AE-induced activity do the carbonating.

Thanks

overtonbrew said:

I've read through 300 of the nearly 700 posts on this thread and haven't seen anyone bring up the issue I think I'm going to have when I take a shot at this beer, so sorry if this is a repeated question...

I still bottle condition my beer (hopefully for not much longer. Im hoping I will start kegging in 2014). In the meantime, are there any specific instructions for bottle conditioning. I'm afraid of adding my standard 5g of corn sugar to the bottling bucket with this beer the way I do with my other beers (IPAs, scotch ales and stouts). I'm afraid the sugar will somehow effect the taste.

I'm wondering if I shouldn't simply cut the secondary (w/ AE) down a few days and transfer to bottle and let the final AE-induced activity do the carbonating.

Thanks

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I think this is a fair question. With a brew this light, anything you do is going to impact flavour to some degree. That said, I think the impact from priming sugar would be minimal. The alternative you suggest is certainly possible but might be unpredictable. (Although bottle conditioning is fraught by its very nature)

If you use corn sugar at the quantity of 1 oz per gallon you will make perfectly good beer. The beer is fermenting dry and the sugar has a very high percentage of fermentability. The only thing you need to do is let it age long enough to carb and not be too young tasting. Like i said, about four to six weeks is pretty standard.

The idea of bottling from the secondary will not work. The gravity would be too low. The thought of trying this from the primary would result in too much sediment. Something you don't want in this beer.

I use 5 oz of cane sugar and don't have any problems. It is very carbonated but that's what I want for this style of beer. I keep enough on hand to where the oldest beer in rotation is roughly 3 months from brew day give or take. I don't really see much if any difference in cane sugar.

I've brewed this twice. Once with Cascade and once with Centennial. Both batches were delicious. This is a great recipe for sharing with people who are used to the light stuff. I think I'm giving some to my family for Christmas.

Racked to secondary yesterday, added the amylase, OP mentioned having a blowoff tube for his secondary, I have had no activity in mine...

Per the OP. I had a full carboy. Brimming... it blew through the air lock.

The activity is slow. Lots of tiny bubbles. Tomorrow put a flashlight up against your carboy. You should see some activity.

Thanks, it's a half batch in a Mr Beer keg. I see light amount of bubbles after removing it from my swamp cooler setup and letting it warm up.

skitter said:

Thanks, it's a half batch in a Mr Beer keg. I see light amount of bubbles after removing it from my swamp cooler setup and letting it warm up.

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You will go through this so fast you'll wish you made 5 gallons.

Schlenkerla said:

You will go through this so fast you'll wish you made 5 gallons.

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I already go through beer so fast I wish I had a setup to make 5 gallons Although now I have 2x LBK's I can do 1 5g batch, but I still havn't found that one perfect beer I want to keep on hand

I threw this in the secondary on Saturday, first couple days the yeast was moving slowly from bottom to top, so I assumed good fermentation. Yesterday looked at my keg and saw the yeast hovering about 1" from the top.

With me fermenting half the batch size, does that affect overall time needed for fermentation and then secondary? or is it no matter the volume you always ferment for x days. I was contemplating bottling this weekend.

It's done when the gravity bottoms out. 1.000 - 1.002. Or That's about 14 days at the fermentation temp.

This beer is good if you let it clear before bottling. Seriously, it's pretty light colored, less sediment makes for a better beer.

Schlenkerla said:

This beer is good if you let it clear before bottling. Seriously, it's pretty light colored, less sediment makes for a better beer.

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Roger doger

So brewed this last Monday. So 8 days into primary. Still have substantial airlock activity. I saw u transferred after 7 days. I'm going to wait til it slows before transfer. Ended up shooting over og. 1.041 on a 11.25 gal batch. Freaking 86% efficiency did me in
Guess what I'm wondering. We're most of you finished after 7 days or transferred no matter what?? Thanks.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Home Brew mobile app

to secondary? The transfer to secondary was for addition of Amalyse

PleasantValleyHops said:

So brewed this last Monday. So 8 days into primary. Still have substantial airlock activity. I saw u transferred after 7 days. I'm going to wait til it slows before transfer. Ended up shooting over og. 1.041 on a 11.25 gal batch. Freaking 86% efficiency did me in
Guess what I'm wondering. We're most of you finished after 7 days or transferred no matter what?? Thanks.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Home Brew mobile app

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I think you need to call it as you see it. When it's really slowing move it over. Siphon to the secondary on top of amalayse enzyme (AE). The duration all depends on your fermentation temperature and your pitch rate.

The other thing to consider is how much it clears when it finishes out. At the time when it stops, roughly about 1.000 then it's done. You want to bottle or keg when it's clean so you have good looking clear beer.

Most of the specified durations have caveats to fermentation temperature. Give it time, don't worry about holding to schedule. It doesn't matter that much. If you have it in glass carboy you will see it clear. Then check the gravity see how close it is to finishing. If you are patient and let do its thing you will be pleased with results.

It doesn't have to be at zero gravity, just make sure it's done and close to zero.

The extremely clarity you will see, will be enough to convince you is done. Taste it you'll know.

If the AE may leave a very parched dryness right after the yeast sputters out. This super dry taste goes away in a week or two. If you detect it don't worry about it. Ok

Cheers!

Schlenkerla said:

If the AE may leave a very parched dryness right after the yeast sputters out. This super dry taste goes away in a week or two. If you detect it don't worry about it. Ok

Cheers!

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So bottle conditioning for carbonation at this point will help it balance out by the time the carbonation is done from what your saying, or does introducing the sugar for carbonation re-start the cycle to where you should wait 5 weeks instead of the normal 3?

No, carbonate as normal. Three weeks is about right.

Cool, I do apologize, trying to figure out the science behind it all and have yet to go buy a book, I have several on my list though

PleasantValleyHops said:

View attachment 58991

Heres mine. Taste kinda like i thought it would. And by that i mean kinda jus a really clean no crazy taste beer!

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This is from the first time I brewed. Brewed a few times since then just guess this is the most controlled ferm temp. Guess I'll just keep an eye and be ready for the transfer!!!

Pleasant Valley Hops inc.
Carroll Brewing Company
Frederick Md

Bottled this Sunday, I think next time I'll be dry-hopping with half as much, that was an almost overpoweringly strong smell of cascade. The sample I tried tasted like grass clippings >< I'm hoping the 3 weeks helps mellow it out. The Cascade I got was 7.1%AA so I ended up with .25oz for first addition, .25 for second, and .5 for dry hop for a 2.5g batch. I did 1lb 2 row, 1lb 6 row, and 1lb corn. Once this is done conditioning I'll see if it needs any changes for my palate, I am going to try Beirmunchers Cream of Three crops next and compare the two to find out which will be my go-to beer. The fact this is super cheap helps out a lot