Amber Lager

[Pappers_]

So my brew partner/son and I brewed a new-to-us beer, what the BJCP guidelines call an International Amber Lager. In the guidelines, the Overall Impression is:

A well-attenuated malty amber lager with an interesting caramel or toast quality and restrained bitterness. Usually fairly well-attenuated, often with an adjunct quality. Smooth, easily-drinkable lager character.

In my mind, I was aiming for a Brooklyn Lager or a Sam Adams Boston Lager kind of beer. It turned out pretty well, we've been drinking it for a few days now. It may be a touch more bitter than we anticipated, but overall I enjoy it. Easy to drink, light, clean, smooth, with enough caramel and toastiness, and no off-flavors that I'm picking up yet. Perhaps you can't tell from this photo, but it is brilliantly clear.

I'm looking forward to getting this in front of some judges anonymously and read their feedback, see if they're perceiving any off flavors.

We used a recipe from Zymurgy as the basis for our recipe, it was in the HomebrewCon issue, the brewer had won a gold medal at the National Homebrew Competition with it, so we thought it was a good place to start. Of course, we adjusted it to our equipment, ingredients on hand, and process. Here's what we did:

OG 1.053
FG 1.010
ABV 5.7%
Estimated Bitterness: 22 IBU
Estimated Color: 10.2 SRM

Grain Bill
7.5 lbs (65%) Munich 10L
2.0 lbs (17%) Pilsner 2L
1.0 lb (9%) Wheat 2L
0.5 lb (4%) Aromatic 26 L
0.5 lb (4%) British Crystal I 25L

Mash
Single Infusion, Batch Sparge
152F for one hour
pH adjustment - 5 ml of lactic acid

Hop Schedule
0.5 oz Sterling (8% aa) @ 60 minutes
1 oz Liberty (3% aa) @ 20 minutes
1 oz Liberty @ 10 minutes

Yeast
We repitched yeast we had saved from a Festbier we had brewed. The yeast was originally from Hailstorm Brewing (in Tinley Park, Illinois) - the brewer there had given me a growler full of their lager yeast when I brewed the Festbier. When we racked the Festbier off the yeast, we left a little beer in the fermenter and swirled it around, then poured it into a large, sanitized Ball jar, which we kept in the fridge for two weeks before we repitched it.

Fermentation/Lagering
We pitched at 50F and left it at that temperature for two weeks. Moved it to 65F for a couple of days, then lagered it at 32F for two weeks. Kegged and carbed at 32F for two weeks.

I'm serving about three gallons of it at home, on tap, and bottled the remainder, which we will be giving away.

 

[Brooothru]

So my brew partner/son and I brewed a new-to-us beer, what the BJCP guidelines call an International Amber Lager. In the guidelines, the Overall Impression is:


In my mind, I was aiming for a Brooklyn Lager or a Sam Adams Boston Lager kind of beer. It turned out pretty well, we've been drinking it for a few days now. It may be a touch more bitter than we anticipated, but overall I enjoy it. Easy to drink, light, clean, smooth, with enough caramel and toastiness, and no off-flavors that I'm picking up yet. Perhaps you can't tell from this photo, but it is brilliantly clear.

I'm looking forward to getting this in front of some judges anonymously and read their feedback, see if they're perceiving any off flavors.

We used a recipe from Zymurgy as the basis for our recipe, it was in the HomebrewCon issue, the brewer had won a gold medal at the National Homebrew Competition with it, so we thought it was a good place to start. Of course, we adjusted it to our equipment, ingredients on hand, and process. Here's what we did:

OG 1.053
FG 1.010
ABV 5.7%
Estimated Bitterness: 22 IBU
Estimated Color: 10.2 SRM

Grain Bill
7.5 lbs (65%) Munich 10L
2.0 lbs (17%) Pilsner 2L
1.0 lb (9%) Wheat 2L
0.5 lb (4%) Aromatic 26 L
0.5 lb (4%) British Crystal I 25L

Mash
Single Infusion, Batch Sparge
152F for one hour
pH adjustment - 5 ml of lactic acid

Hop Schedule
0.5 oz Sterling (8% aa) @ 60 minutes
1 oz Liberty (3% aa) @ 20 minutes
1 oz Liberty @ 10 minutes

Yeast
We repitched yeast we had saved from a Festbier we had brewed. The yeast was originally from Hailstorm Brewing (in Tinley Park, Illinois) - the brewer there had given me a growler full of their lager yeast when I brewed the Festbier. When we racked the Festbier off the yeast, we left a little beer in the fermenter and swirled it around, then poured it into a large, sanitized Ball jar, which we kept in the fridge for two weeks before we repitched it.

Fermentation/Lagering
We pitched at 50F and left it at that temperature for two weeks. Moved it to 65F for a couple of days, then lagered it at 32F for two weeks. Kegged and carbed at 32F for two weeks.

I'm serving about three gallons of it at home, on tap, and bottled the remainder, which we will be giving away.

Recipe looks like it would make a near perfect clone of Negra Modelo if you subbed flaked maize for wheat, and used a Mexican Lager yeast. Either way I'll bet it's a winner! Looks delicious. Mind if I "borrow" your formula?

Brooo Brother

 

[Pappers_]

Recipe looks like it would make a near perfect clone of Negra Modelo if you subbed flaked maize for wheat, and used a Mexican Lager yeast. Either way I'll bet it's a winner! Looks delicious. Mind if I "borrow" your formula?

Brooo Brother

Well, I borrowed it from someone else LOL.

The old style guidelines have Negra Modelo, Boston Lager, etc. as examples of Vienna Lagers, but now both of those would seem to be better fits under the International Amber Lager category.

 

[rburrelli]

Nice work on the label as well. I enjoy making those for m beers.

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

Nice! What was your overall packaged yield in gallons?

 

[Pappers_]

Nice! What was your overall packaged yield in gallons?

About five gallons. Ended up bottling (with a beer gun after force carbing in a keg) about 18 bottles.