Question regarded super easy beer

[smallkiller]

-3.15# liquid gold malt extract (Northern Brewer)
-2# Flaked rice steeped for about 30 minutes ~150-155 degrees
-1 LBS of cane sugar
-I'm keeping the IBU below 12 so bittering is going to very minimal but I plan on dry hopping an oz or a little more of left over hops from old brews.
-I'm using the gold pack of coopers generic 15g yeast off of NB website

What I'm wondering is, will this come out to be a hyped up version of american commercial beers (minus the lager clarity?) I really need an easy drinking beer down here in Texas since winter decided to come and go in a matter of weeks. I'd like to have a nice, simple, cheap recipe that will yield something the masses can respect but so can we.

What I'm thinking is the rice will lighten up the body giving it that easy drinkable aspect. Cane Sugar, keep it cheap here folks, shouldn't give off flavors since it's not a very high percentage of the recipe. Using 1:1 spring water and distilled water and treating with calcium chloride to achieve a decent pH between 5.0-5.4

 

[Dan]

Just my stupid opinion, can that be a new accronymn JMSO But your recipe sounds decent to me.

Sorry for anohter accronymn but in "IMO", sounds like you already pretty much know what you're doing.

Give it a shot and report back.

 

[unionrdr]

That makes 2 places that carry the 15g cooper's ale yeast. Northern Brewer & Midwest. It has high flocculation,so you can easily get clear beer. Good idea on the recipe,imo. I've been kicking the basic idea around for quite a while. The yeast is said by Midwest to be good between 62-72F,so 64F would be a good temp to try. No/less fruity esters that way they claim. So that'd give more of the flavor profile you're looking for.

 

[smallkiller]

The trick is to maintain ~64 degrees and, also, pitching at or below 70 degrees (I have very reduced lag time with my starters) to be sure I have as little esters as possible. Now the depth to this trick is to keep the beer at 64 degrees in a 70 degree house.... I was thinking maybe putting it in the garage when we have our next cold front but we've had horrible consistency, lately, in weather.

 

[unionrdr]

It's been the same here temp-wise man. Boy,I wonder if that old freezer in the basement still works? The only problem with me is picking heavy fermenters in & out at my age. Don't relish the thought of all those clean jerks...

 

[frazier]

Doesn't the rice need to be mashed? Or at least mini-mashed. You won't get any fermentables out of the rice starch.

 

[3PegBrew]

Rice requires a cereal mash. Unless you go with flaked maze or something already pregelatinized. Otherwise the rice will not add anything at all. I have yet to include rice. I have heard pros and cons. The cons sticking out more than pros. For instance stuck sparge.

 

[unionrdr]

Rice requires a cereal mash. Unless you go with flaked maze or something already pregelatinized. Otherwise the rice will not add anything at all. I have yet to include rice. I have heard pros and cons. The cons sticking out more than pros. For instance stuck sparge.

Hmmm...in that case,would rice hulls help in regard to the stuck sparge?

 

[3PegBrew]

I believe that is a remedy

 

[3PegBrew]

There are a few threads about cereal mashes in case nobody is familiar with the process.

 

[unionrdr]

I remember reading that on the Midwest site. I've been trying to pick up on partial mash brewing just to compare to what I'm doing currently.

 

[3PegBrew]

Partial mash is fun! And only adds an extra 45 minutes to 1 hour onto your brew day.

 

[Yooper]

As was mentioned, rice must be mashed (even flaked rice).

I'd either do the mash (no longer a quick and easy beer) or simply sub rice solids. Rice solids are perfect, just like the corn sugar, if you can't do a mash.

 

[unionrdr]

It does indeed sound like a fun experiment,to say the least. I'm thinking of maybe a PM milk stout with a little coffee. I liked the Left Hand Brewing milk stout I tried last week. And yooper,how about rice syrup? Or is mashing rice flakes better?

 

[Yooper]

It does indeed sound like a fun experiment,to say the least. I'm thinking of maybe a PM milk stout with a little coffee. I liked the Left Hand Brewing milk stout I tried last week. And yooper,how about rice syrup? Or is mashing rice flakes better?

Rice syrup would work! I never see it, but I see the "solids" in the stores. If it's available, it would be perfect.

With a partial mash, the only thing you really need is some base grain (equal in amount to the total of specialty grains) and to keep 1.5 quarts of water per pound of grain in the 150-155 range for 45 minutes to an hour. Then you can sparge by simply raising up the grainbag(s) in a colander and pouring more water over it, up to your boil volume. It's fun, but if time and simplicity is of the essence, then using the corn sugar (for flaked maize) and rice solids (or syrup) for the flaked rice will work just as well.

 

[unionrdr]

I was thinking of trying the Op's recipe applied to my own idea I've been kicking around for months. Was just hazy about the flaked rice. Thanks.

 

[smallkiller]

I'm used to doing partials. So, yooper, mash at 155 with 2# flakes rice and 2# 2 row?

 

[Yooper]

I'm used to doing partials. So, yooper, mash at 155 with 2# flakes rice and 2# 2 row?

Yes, or 6-row. I'd probably mash closer to 150, though.

 

[smallkiller]

No six row available, im working off of leftovers haha. Why lower temp? So it reduces the amount of unfermentables?

 

[BrewMU]

Doesn't the rice need to be mashed? Or at least mini-mashed. You won't get any fermentables out of the rice starch.

True.

 

[Yooper]

No six row available, im working off of leftovers haha. Why lower temp? So it reduces the amount of unfermentables?

Yes. If your goal is a light crisp lager-like beer, then a lower mash temperature would be preferable.

 

[3PegBrew]

Yooper, your avatar is......

 

[3PegBrew]

Here is an article from BYO on an American Pilsner using Corn/Rice
Brew Your Own: The How-To Homebrew Beer Magazine - Beer Styles - American Pilsner: Style of the Month

"The key to making your adjunct work for you is gelatinization. Gelatinization is the thermal decomposition of the starch molecule that allows amylase enzymes to attack. The gelatinization temperature of corn falls in the range of 143.5° to 165° F and is 142° to 172° F for rice."

 

[smallkiller]

I love you guys, I'll post probably revive this post from the dead when it's all done

 

[smallkiller]

The beer is coming out wonder. It had a nice 3 finger thick krausen for about 3 days and had such little sediment fall out that I don't even feel like moving it over to a second carboy. My racer 5 BYO clone on the other hand..... damn that was messy. Back to the simple beer, it had a 1.033 OG. I'm letting it sit for a couple more days to check gravity. I dry hopped Chinook and Amarillo hops (majority amarillo). It smells like a tropical fruit orgasm. ITS AWESOME

 

[Brulosopher]

Yes. If your goal is a light crisp lager-like beer, then a lower mash temperature would be preferable.

Lower temp increased the amount of fermentables, no?

 

[Brulosopher]

Lower temp increased the amount of fermentables, no?

Yeah... missed the "un"

 

[smallkiller]

Steeped the rice (kept nibbling it after I was done with it too) and used chinook/amarillo for bittering and dry hopping (1 oz with 70% amarillo). It has an amazingly fruity/tropical taste and smell. Easy to go down. I wouldn't call it full bodied but it's lightness is deliberate so it works. I'll be using this style again for sure, I may not use more than 3lbs of extract for my warmer weather beers from now on. Sugar Land Imperial Cane Sugar didn't leave any off flavors either. It feels as clean as a lager to boot