Light Beer Recipe

Hey all, okay before I get flamed....I am trying to do a light beer for my BMC drinking friends. Not all of them think my Bell's Two Hearted Ale is as awesome as I do.:rockin:

So after a little research I decided to try to shoot for a "Cream of Three Crops" type recipe. Not doing all-grain yet, so this wold be an extract with specialty grains style recipe. Let me know what you think:

5 Gallon Recipe:

4.4 lbs extra light DME
2.0 lbs corn, flaked
1.0 lbs flaked rice
0.5 oz Williamette hops @ 60 mins
0.5 oz Crystal hops @ 15 mins
Yeast: Safale-05

I dont' think rice and corn can convert themselves, so you'll have to add some 2-row or 6-row to your mash.

If you can mash 6 pounds of grain total, you could do it. You'd just mash the grains, along with 3 pounds of base malt at 150-155 for 45 minutes or so. You can put all fo the grains in the same grain bag, or use two big grain bags if you don't have enough room in one.

You have to mash the rice and corn, but if you absolutely can't do it, you could use corn syrup (NOT the karo stuff with vanillin in it) and rice syrup instead.

So how much water would I have to steep the 6 lbs of grain in?

Also if I couldn't use grains, would I use the same amount of syrups or is there a conversion of sorts?

1 lb rice syrup
1 lb corn syrup

+1 to what yooper said, and you don't need both the corn and rice, you could just get the rice syrup solids (or liquid) and just use that (or corn syrup). using one or the other will give you a similar result to using both since you don't want to taste the adjunct anyway.

RedHeadBrew25 said:

So how much water would I have to steep the 6 lbs of grain in?

Also if I couldn't use grains, would I use the same amount of syrups or is there a conversion of sorts?

1 lb rice syrup
1 lb corn syrup

Click to expand...

not sure on the conversion, i'm sure there is a chart online or here that will tell you how much extract potential to expect from either product. but you will want 1.25 - 1.5 qt of water per pound of grain.

RedHeadBrew25 said:

So how much water would I have to steep the 6 lbs of grain in?

Also if I couldn't use grains, would I use the same amount of syrups or is there a conversion of sorts?

1 lb rice syrup
1 lb corn syrup

Click to expand...

There IS a conversion, but I'm not sure what it is! I could run it through Beersmith for you, and see what we come up with for an OG and the % of the grains.

You would steep the grains in approximately 9 quarts of water (at 1.5 quarts per pound of grain). I'd heat the water to 165, and then add the grains and keep it around 153. Stir well, making sure all the grain was thoroughly wetted inside. Then, after 60 minutes, lift out the grain bag and pour 170 degree water over those grains (keep them in a strainer over the pot- it's easier!) until you reach your boil volume. The grains will probably absorb more than you think, so you'll have to add some sparge water. That would work well, and probably be easier than the syrups as well as great tasting!

You may have to decrease your DME by a pound or so- maybe even drop to 3 pounds DME.

Instead of mashing the corn and rice, you can do a simple extract version of a light blonde ale. Use 4 lbs of extra light dry extract and 1/2 lb of cane sugar. The sugar will help dry out the beer (make it crisper, less sweet - as counter-intuitive as that may seem).

This would give you an original gravity of 1.040, which is light. If you add only a small portion of the dried extract at the beginning of the boil and most of it in the last ten minutes, you will also help keep your beer light colored. And add Irish Moss in the final 15 minutes for clarity.

The US-05 yeast is great for this. For the hops, I would not go over 18 or 20 IBU, to please your BMC-drinking buddies.

Good luck!

Man, thanks for all the help!

You all and this site are a great resource for the beginning brewer!

Think I got it, let me know what you all think:

3.0 lbs extra light DME
1.0 lbs corn syrup
1.0 lbs rice syrup solids
0.5 oz Williamette hops @ 60 mins
0.5 oz Williamette hops @ 30 mins
0.5 oz Saaz hops @ 15 mins
Yeast: Safale-05

Which, according to Beer Recipator, should give me:
OG: 1.041
Color: 4 HCU (~4 SRM)
Bitterness: 19 IBU

RedHeadBrew25 said:

Think I got it, let me know what you all think:

3.0 lbs extra light DME
1.0 lbs corn syrup
1.0 lbs rice syrup solids
0.5 oz Williamette hops @ 60 mins
0.5 oz Williamette hops @ 30 mins
0.5 oz Saaz hops @ 15 mins
Yeast: Safale-05

Which, according to Beer Recipator, should give me:
OG: 1.041
Color: 4 HCU (~4 SRM)
Bitterness: 19 IBU

Click to expand...

I think your ratio of grain to adjunct (extra light DME to corn syrup and rice syrup) is a little low - I plugged it into BeerSmith quickly and 40% of your fermentables will be from the adjuncts. You could cut that in half and it would be better, I think.

If you cut the adjuncts each in half (1/2 lb each) and increase the dried extract to 4 lbs, your ratio will be 80% grain, 20% adjunct - which is good, I think.

Cheers!

I agree with Jim here - you don't want your adjuncts to typically take up more than 20% total of your recipe, or you run the risk of having it taste "cidery".

Otherwise, good luck!