Dos Equis Amber Help

Hello all I have a recipe that I have put together for Dos Equis Amber and I am looking for advice and help. I batch sparge and I have no idea what temps to use for this. This will be my first lager.

Pre Boil Size: 9.0 gal
Batch Size: 7.5 gal
Efficiency: 75.0%
Attenuation: 75.0%
Calories: 185.23 kcal per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.056 (1.046 - 1.052)
Terminal Gravity: 1.014 (1.010 - 1.014)
Color: 15.56 (10.0 - 16.0)
Alcohol: 5.47% (4.5% - 5.5%)
Bitterness: 21.7 (18.0 - 30.0)

Ingredients:
9.75 lb American 2-row
1.5 lb Munich 10L Malt
1.5 lb Vienna Malt
1.25 lb Caramel Malt 40L
1.25 lb Caramunich® TYPE I
1.25 lb Wheat Malt light
1.75 oz American Black Patent
1.5 oz Hallertau (4.5%) - added during boil, boiled 60 min
0.75 oz Saaz (5.0%) - added during boil, boiled 15.0 min
1.5 tsp Irish Moss - added during boil, boiled 15 min
0.75 oz Saaz (5.0%) - added during boil, boiled 1 min
1.5 ea White Labs WLP940 Mexican Lager Yeast

BillyBeer said:

Hello all I have a recipe that I have put together for Dos Equis Amber and I am looking for advice and help. I batch sparge and I have no idea what temps to use for this. This will be my first lager.

Original Gravity: 1.056 (1.046 - 1.052)
Terminal Gravity: 1.014 (1.010 - 1.014)
Color: 15.56 (10.0 - 16.0)
Alcohol: 5.47% (4.5% - 5.5%)
Bitterness: 21.7 (18.0 - 30.0)

Ingredients:
9.75 lb American 2-row
1.5 lb Munich 10L Malt
1.5 lb Vienna Malt
1.25 lb Caramel Malt 40L
1.25 lb Caramunich® TYPE I
1.25 lb Wheat Malt light
1.75 oz American Black Patent
1.5 oz Hallertau (4.5%) - added during boil, boiled 60 min
0.75 oz Saaz (5.0%) - added during boil, boiled 15.0 min
1.5 tsp Irish Moss - added during boil, boiled 15 min
0.75 oz Saaz (5.0%) - added during boil, boiled 1 min
1.5 ea White Labs WLP940 Mexican Lager Yeast

Click to expand...

My thoughts:

• Drop or significantly reduce the Caramel/Crystal 40 and the Caramunich. You'll have plenty of body and maltiness from the Munich and Vienna. The crystal malts are overkill and will leave your beer overly sweet.
• I'd exchange the 2-row for Pilsner malt, which is what I believe you'd find in Dos Equis or Negra Modelo.
• I'm not sure what the wheat malt is for. Body? Head retention? Probably not necessary, but if you want to keep it, reduce the amount by half.
• Your OG is a bit high for the style. Vienna lagers (which is what Dos Equis is, and it's a light version) range from 1.046 to 1.052. You get your alcohol content by drying the beer out rather than loading up on the front end.
• WLP940 is wonderful. Great yeast. I used it on a Vienna Lager last year -- 2 vials pitched into a 3L starter -- and it fermented out clean and crisp, with very bright beer and a tight yeast cake. Can't say enough good about it.

In short, you're on the right track but the recipe as written will give you a thicker, sweeter beer than Dos Equis actually is. Get rid of the crystal malts, mash about 148° to 150°, make a big starter, pitch and ferment cold (I did mine at 48°), and let the yeast take it down to 1.010 to 1.008. That should give you a clean, malty Vienna lager closer to Dos Equis -- at least that's how it worked for me. I'm adding a pound of flaked corn to my next Vienna as an experiment to see if I can get the body a little lighter.

Chad

Thank you for your input Chad I appreciate it.

Anyone else have any ideas or opinions???