What would you call this?

My buddy, "Mr. Jim", made this a few years ago. Good brew:

5 lb Breiss 2 row pale
1 lb flaked maize
1 lb rice syrup solids

1 oz hallertau bittering, 1/2 oz Saaz finishing hops.

Step mash the malt and maize at 122 and 158 for 20 min and 1 hr; mash out 10 min at 170, sparged w/ grain bed at 150; add the hallertau at boil, RSS at 15 min remaining, Saaz at 5 min remaining...

He used white labs german lager yeast, aged at 50 for 2 months, then a diacetyl rest at 60 deg. for a couple days, then 4 more months at 50 deg. OG was 1028, fg 1009 I think. "lawnmower beer" he called it; or "american light".

Now my question: I don't have a spare fridge. Me and my buddies made the same stuff with his procedures but used Danstar Nottingham dry yeast and aged it at 70* (in my bathroom closet). Primary 3 weeks and secondaried for 6 or 7 weeks.

sure is good stuff, but, what did we make?

With the corn and/or rice low OG & mild hops he pretty much made a bud/miller light type of beer. Being home brew I'm sure it was better tasting than theirs though.

Lawnmower Beer is right...


What you made there was 3.5% "Bud Light". Glad you enjoy it!

Spyk'd said:

What you made there was 3.5% "Bud Light".

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with ale yeast at ale temps tho????

it does get kudos from the "I don't like dark beer" / "I don't like homebrew" crowd.

has good foam but NO body.

and low alc. so you can have a couple liters on a hot day (after the yard work is done and the dangerous stuff like weedeaters are put away!!! ) and still be coherent. and not so full you can't eat a 24 oz ribeye still.

hey... I think I have a slogan for it... it's Less Filling... and tastes Great!

<scurrying off to copyright office>

I was being somewhat facetious in my last comment, but yeah the Nottingham Dry would lend some "lageryness" to the water...er...brew...I'm not surprised you can drink a few (liters) and still feel fine...


...to ammend my post, you made "Bud Light Ale".

Oops - I didn't read your last paragraph... What did you make . I agree, bud light ale. But if it tastes good there ya have it. Could increase your two-row to get it a bit higher of an ABV. However, since you aren't using lager yeast you let it sit / ferment longer than necessary with ale yeast. Not that it hurt it but could be done in 3-4 week time window as well...

There really is a style called "American-style Light Ale" and you nailed it.

david_42 said:

There really is a style called "American-style Light Ale" and you nailed it.

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Uh... no, there's not... but if you look at BJCP Category 6. Light Hybrid Beer there is 6A. Cream Ale which is the closest to what he made... he was a little low on OG and just a tad high on hops (maybe... with a higher OG then it would be "perfect") but all in all it's a Cream Ale...

I'd say bump up the Pale by 1 lb. and the maize and rice solids by 1/2 lb each and you should be bang on in the middle of this style

http://www.bjcp.org/styles04/Category6.html#style6A

The BJCP is your FRIEND!!!




mikey

Spyk'd said:

I was being somewhat facetious in my last comment, but yeah the Nottingham Dry would lend some "lageryness" to the water...er...brew...I'm not surprised you can drink a few (liters) and still feel fine...


...to ammend my post, you made "Bud Light Ale".

Click to expand...

ahhhh.... reading your post a few times I figgered it out... dang I'm slow...

bet we'd get in trouble if we called it BLA....

Mykel Obvious said:

I'd say bump up the Pale by 1 lb. and the maize and rice solids by 1/2 lb each and you should be bang on in the middle of this style

http://www.bjcp.org/styles04/Category6.html#style6A

The BJCP is your FRIEND!!!




mikey

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Whoa! The other AG we've done has 5 lb 2 row 5lb 6 row (Breiss) 2 lb flaked maize and a lb of RSS, 1 oz bittering and 3/4 oz finishing hops... I guess we missed that style in the other direction...

the BJCP is cool... thanks...

desertBrew said:

However, since you aren't using lager yeast you let it sit / ferment longer than necessary with ale yeast. Not that it hurt it but could be done in 3-4 week time window as well...

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understood. long times weren't intentional, just out of necessity.

Surprisingly, it's a tad hoppier than I'd like. next time gonna trim them back just a tad, and also add a 1/2 lb of crystal 120L (because I got some left over) and who knows what else... heh heh...

I was refering to the Brewer's Association 2006 style guide, not the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP)'s guide which is less complete, more trendy and mainly focused on contests.

freebird said:

...bet we'd get in trouble if we called it BLA....

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LOL, touche my friend, touche!






Although, it wouldn't be hard to call it just that!