My Corona Clone... input please.

A few weeks ago I brewed a Corona clone. I got the recipe from Charlie Papazian's Homebrewer Gold book.

I brewed a 3 gallon batch as follows:

4.5 pounds of 2 row
1.5 pounds of cracked corn (gotten from the feed store... more on this later.)

I mashed with the strike water at 62C. It rested at 54C (129F) for about an hour. Then I bumped up to 65C (149F) for another hour. I took it to 170F and sparged. 1 hour boil.

Hop additions (if it was a 5 gallon brew) were 1 oz of Perl and 1/3 ounce of Hallertauer, for 60 minutes, 1/4 ounce Hallertaer for 10 minutes. My hops were a little old, say 2 years, but they were in heat sealed bags and frozen in the deep freeze all that time.

I used a Morgans dry lager yeast 11g packet. SG was about 1.042.

Results. Its not too far off from a Corona. Its a nice drinking beer. Its a tiny bit darker. The hopping is a little weak and its a bit sweeter and maltier. It has a prominent corn taste to it, a bit too strong.

If I could modify the beer, I would want it drier, a bit more hops, less corn taste and of course a bit lighter.

As far as the corn taste goes, CP warns to use rolled corn instead of cracked corn. I think that causes the cornier taste. That is easily enough fixed.

How does one fix the rest of the differences ?

Thanks

brewman ! said:

If I could modify the beer, I would want it drier, a bit more hops, less corn taste and of course a bit lighter.

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Drier: well, since you mash pretty low (149F) which should yield a highly fermentable wort, I'd say focus on aeration and pitching an adequate amount of yeast (you didn't detail your procedures for those). Also, keep the fermentation temp very stable.

More hops: add more hops

Less corn taste: lower % of corn

Lighter: try using Pilsner malt instead of 2-row. 2-row is usually a few shades darker than Pilsner malts.

Drier: well, since you mash pretty low (149F) which should yield a highly fermentable wort, I'd say focus on aeration and pitching an adequate amount of yeast (you didn't detail your procedures for those). Also, keep the fermentation temp very stable.

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Bingo ! This beer got fermented in my garage, which is pretty cool. I'll bet it got cold one night and the yeast shut down.

I didn't aerate before pitching, except to pour the cooled wort from the boil pot to the fermentor. That gives it an inch or so of foam. It might also be the yeast I am using isn't attentive enough.

Here is the picture of the yeast packet. Notice the 15C to 25C pitching temps.
http://picasaweb.google.com/beermeister1/VariousThingsBrewing/photo#5050127971151639682
http://picasaweb.google.com/beermeister1/VariousThingsBrewing/photo#5050127971151639698

Less corn taste: lower % of corn

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I think using rolled corn (flaked corn) instead of cracked corn would do the trick. Here is what the corn looked like.http://picasaweb.google.com/beermeister1/SteamMashing/photo#5035553354764233458

Here is what the finished beer looked like. I don't have a commercial example to compare with at the moment.
http://picasaweb.google.com/beermeister1/VariousThingsBrewing/photo#5050127975446607010

Lighter: try using Pilsner malt instead of 2-row. 2-row is usually a few shades darker than Pilsner malts.

Click to expand...

Interesting. Does Pilsner malt ferment dryer too ?

brewman ! said:

Interesting. Does Pilsner malt ferment dryer too ?

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Without digging through spec sheets, I'd guess "not much if at all". But it is lighter and would be a better choice for this style IMO.