light ale recipes

I'm an Extract brewer. I'm trying to brew a 10 gallon batch of a Light Ale this weekend. Let me know what you think:


6LB Pilsner LME from NB
1LB Briess Extra Light DME
1LB Rice Syrup Solids
1LB German Pilsner Malt for steeping (not set on this one- want to add an extra dynamic to the beer but don't want it to feel "out of place")
2LB Corn Sugar
2oz hops (help me- i'm tired of using Hallertau for this- any suggestions?)
(1.5 @ 60min, .5 @ flameout)

1056 Wyeast

Any suggestions?

I'd toss the corn sugar and add 2# (or 3#) of extra light DME to the recipe.

For hops, it's more a matter of what you're looking to get from them and such... I would do a 15-20 minute addition to get some flavor in there, and then either a 5 minute or 0 minute (flame-out) addition for aroma... You can also dry hop it before bottling it up.

You could also look at recipes for blonde ales and cream ales for reference... Look in the Light Hybrid Beer recipes section for more ideas...

IMO steeping a base malt doesn't do much in the way of adding extra character. some things to add might be a pound of caramel 10L,and maybe 8 ounces of biscuit malt to give it some extra depth.

and +1 replacing the corn sugar with DME

oh and hops suggestions, heres a hopping schedule i might use for this
1 oz cascade at 60

1 oz saaz at 20

1 oz saaz at 5

thanks. i'd like to get away from rice and corn so i feel you all on switching to extra light dme. i'll see how that does.

isn't caramel 10 gonna give me a little bit of a color issue? biscuit malt is a cool suggestion i'll def give that one a shot.

and finally, i love cascades but isn't their bitter gonna be too much for a light malt bill like this? unless i'm reading your hop schedule wrong, 3 oz of hops is hopheavy i think, especially if i'm doing the world a justice by converting Girls Light drinkers into men and women with class and dignity.

When in doubt, run the recipe through software... That way you'll have a much better idea of what you'll be getting...

I just ran it through the recipe builder on brewmasters warehouse website, and 4 pounds of pilsen dme 6 pounds of pilsen lme, 1 pound of 10L and 8 oz of biscuit malt gives you a SG of 1044 and a srm of 3.96, which is pretty light.

color examples of the srm scale can be found here

edit: also, the hopping schedule i posted gives you 20 or so ibu, and wyeast 1056 will bring the beers FG to around 1011 and the ABV to 4.3 or so.

edb you're the man. i'll give it a try and let you know.

thanks to everyone as well for the input.

yeah keep me posted, i was thinking about doing a ten gallon batch of something like this as well for a little experiment

This looks just like a recipe I received for a Burkhardt Mug Ale, originally produced by Burkhardt's Brewing Co from Akron OH that operated until the 1930's or so. Here it is:
Mug Ale

8 oz 20 deg Crystal malt

(1) 3.3 lb can of briess pilsen syrup
1 lb light dry malt
1 lb rice syrup solids

4 hbu tettnang hops (45 min)
1/2 oz tettnang (15 min)
1/2 oz tettnang (2 min)

Wyeast #1056

3-5 days primary
5-7 days secondary

3/4 cup corn sugar to prime

There's an idea for the hop addition. I was considering a dark dme for added color. This recipe as it stands produces a really light yellow beer. Let me know what you end of doing with your recipe, as I am eager to make changes to my own.

edb thanks for the suggestions and more importantly, for introducing me to that website. don't know if you order from them but i just ordered ingredients for 2 separate batches for saturday-- that light ale plus a simple bavarian hef (i'm on a light kick lately).

i copied your recipe suggestions verbatim- we'll see how that comes out- it'll be a young beer so i'll let you know soon.

i'll even post some pics to show you what we got.

i don't actually order from them but that brew builder is the best way to zone out in front of the tv, i'm excited to hear how it turns out.

edb23 said:

i don't actually order from them but that brew builder is the best way to zone out in front of the tv, i'm excited to hear how it turns out.

Click to expand...

That website is awesome. The pic shows the ingredients for the light ale recipe on the right and an easy Bavarian hef on the left. The ingredients came in 2 days from georgia to new york by fedex which was only a few dollars extra.

Plus I was able to save that recipe so I can just click it and press buy to have it sent to me again.

Found a new favorite brewing supply site.

HoboBrewery said:

That website is awesome. The pic shows the ingredients for the light ale recipe on the right and an easy Bavarian hef on the left. The ingredients came in 2 days from georgia to new york by fedex which was only a few dollars extra.

Plus I was able to save that recipe so I can just click it and press buy to have it sent to me again.

Found a new favorite brewing supply site.

Click to expand...

Brewed the cream ale recipe yesterday. The aroma is unbelievable. I only made a 5 gal batch. I added a full oz of cascade at 60 instead of a half and then followed the saaz hop schedule. I'm already thinking highly of this one.

It did rain inches of rain yesterday. That made it interesting. And my propane tank ran out during my second batch. Fun times.