nDub
Nor(Best)Cal Native
Drink a case of Bud. Bottle the urine.
Woah there. No giving out trade secrets.
Drink a case of Bud. Bottle the urine.
That may be true; I don't know much about the Cry Havoc strain. However, Jamil lists Chris White's source of the WLP840 American Lager strain as Budweiser. The description even matches the character of Budweiser. If I were to set my mind to cloning Bud products, I'd start with WLP840.
Yep, I'm familiar with the Mr. Malty chart, it's a great resource. I'd go with the 840 too, just to play it safe. I read the story about the Cry Havoc strain in one of Papazian's books. It would be kinda funny if White Labs was selling the same strain with 2 different names. Using the 2 strains in separate batches of the same recipe would be an interesting experiment for someone besides myself to try.
Not sure where "here" is for you, but I am in Utah and the beer (sold in grocery stores and on tap) is 3.2%ABW, which equals 4%ABV.
Note: If you really want to mimic Bud Light you'd have to actually ferment a higher ABV wort (probably around 1.080) and then dilute with 50-60% water at packaging time.
Kal
Challenge. It's difficult to get a very light tasting lager right.Why would anyone want to make a Bud Light clone?
Not sure where "here" is for you, but I am in Utah and the beer (sold in grocery stores and on tap) is 3.2%ABW, which equals 4%ABV.
Note: If you really want to mimic Bud Light you'd have to actually ferment a higher ABV wort (probably around 1.080) and then dilute with 50-60% water at packaging time.
Kal
Challenge. It's difficult to get a very light tasting lager right.
Kal
Here's one I've brewed several times. Latest was all pils and S-189. Went from1.036-1.005 and is the best batch yet.
Thanks. It also had acid malt for pH adjustment to 5.3 mash pH, RO water w/ 50ppm Ca from CaCl2. Not as difficult to get this beer to taste good as people say. An experienced brewer should be doing the things that'll get you there. Mash pH, proper ferm temps, sanitization, etc.Love the simplicity, and the Tyranena glassware!
You will be trying to make the hardest style beer to replicate at the homebrew level IMO..... Recipe has to be perfect, mash perfect, water chemistry perfect, Cleanest yeast, perfect temp control, and a way to filter out all yeast. If you can get those you may only get close...
It's 3.2% ABV not ABW.
I think it's a local law, since decades ago, before I was old enough to drink, they used to have to label anything higher as "strong" stamped on the can top.
I think Utah state law has a limit on ABV, and their bud is in the 3% range... I want to say I saw it on Drinking Made Easy or another show.
You should look a little closer. There are several states with a "3.2" beer law and in all of them they are measuring using the ABW scale. The major breweries already have to modify their beer to the 3.2%ABW standard for certain markets, I highly doubt they are also making a 3.2%ABV beer just for one state.
In fact, I recently read that Oklahoma might abandon the 4%abv requirement, and if they did that the major beer makers would most likely stop making that product all together.
the off flavor will make it taste like home brew
this has come up before in this thread. it is 3.2% ABW
Here's one I've brewed several times. Latest was all pils and S-189. Went from1.036-1.005 and is the best batch yet.
1.032-.001, 4.07% ABV
78% Rahr pils
13% Corn starch (Sub Rice here for Bud Light)
6.5% Instant rice (Sub corn here for Miller Lite)
2.5% acid malt
.5 tsp amylase enzyme in primary
W34/70 lager yeast or S-189
The recipe above
All Pils
not so exact. there is some variance from batch to batch
wish I could find it again, but I saw a documentary on Budweiser's entire brewing process where, near the end, Official Taster Dude (yes, that's his title ) sampled from like 17 different batches and would instruct the brewers on how much of each of those batches to blend to get the final product
Casualbrewer - what was your hop schedule?
What is your recipe for especial? It may be my favorite adjunct lager. I just tried to clone it using 2 row, a little Vienna, and flaked corn. Fermented using wlp940. It is pretty good even though I haven't lagered it yet. Actually just had Mexican last night.... I really think model is just 2 row, corn, and a small amount of crystal malt for the color.I'm gonna give my $.02 on the idea of an exact BL clone. Those are my beers in post #123 and I brew mostly lagers. May have brewed 1 ale in the last 4 years. That very pale top beer was rice and corn adjunct. The bottom is all pils. The all pils beer (bottom one) tastes similar to Coors Banquet. I prefer it to the adjunct version.
The adjunct beer tastes similar to many light beers. I brewed it for my dad who is a ML drinker. I had my neighbor try it before my dad came to visit. He slams BL one after another every night and on weekends.
We poured mine and a can of BL into glasses and tried them side by side. His words: "Yours tastes good. Mine(the BL) doesn't smell too good. Sips--doesn't taste too good either" Prolly the first time he had his nose in a glass of his own beer. BL smells and tastes like DMS/cabbage to me and he noticed it w/o prompting from me.
Dad came up and drank some of the light beer then tried my house lager which is a dead ringer for Modelo Especial. A full bodied gold lager. He fell in love with it and drank it exclusively from then on.
I say, brew what you like to drink and stock BL in the fridge. Don't try to please those who are stuck in the "Coke vs Pepsi" mindset. All you'll do is be upset when the FIL turns his nose up at your hard efforts. I also think you'd have to purposefully cause DMS to form during the brewday and that would be ridiculous.
I tell people who ask about my beer "This beer is similar to...." If they don't like the beer that I mention then I just tell them that they probably wouldn't like what I have.
You should look a little closer. There are several states with a "3.2" beer law and in all of them they are measuring using the ABW scale. The major breweries already have to modify their beer to the 3.2%ABW standard for certain markets, I highly doubt they are also making a 3.2%ABV beer just for one state.
Under Utah law "alcoholic beverages" include all hard liquor, spirits, wine and beer. Beer and other malt beverage products that exceed 3.2% alcohol by weight or 4.0% by volume are considered "liquor", and beer with an alcohol content of 3.2% or less is defined as "beer".
12-46-103. Definitions. Definitions applicable to this article also appear in article 47 of this title. As used
in this article, unless the context otherwise requires:
(1) "Fermented malt beverage" means any beverage obtained by the fermentation of any infusion or
decoction of barley, malt, hops, or any similar product or any combination thereof in water containing not less
than one-half of one percent alcohol by volume and not more than three and two-tenths percent alcohol by
weight or four percent alcohol by volume; except that "fermented malt beverage" shall not include
confectionery containing alcohol within the limits prescribed by section 25-5-410 (1) (i) (II), C.R.S.
My recipe was not intended to be a clone, it just ended up tasting like Especial. Someone in this thread played around with my recipe but mine is extremely close. I tasted mine next to Modelo and they were nearly indistinguishable.What is your recipe for especial? It may be my favorite adjunct lager. I just tried to clone it using 2 row, a little Vienna, and flaked corn. Fermented using wlp940. It is pretty good even though I haven't lagered it yet. Actually just had Mexican last night.... I really think model is just 2 row, corn, and a small amount of crystal malt for the color.
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