Coors light clone (for my wife)

[Sematary]

My wife is a Coors light fan so I decided I'd try an all grain recipe that I found. I had cut everything in half because in order to "lager" it, I needed a small vessel so decided to use a spare Mr. Beer that I have so I cut the 5 gallon recipe in half. This was the original recipe:

5 lbs 0.3 oz - Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) (Grain)
3 lbs 1.4 oz - Rice, Flaked (1.0 SRM) (Grain)
0.8 oz - Cascade [5.5%] - Boil 60 min (Hops)
0.4 oz - Saaz [4.0%] - Boil 15 min (Hops)
0.4 oz - Saaz [4.0%] - Boil 2 min (Hops)
1 pkgs - American Lager Yeast (White Labs #WLP840) (Yeast)

My local place didn't have flaked rice so this is the recipe I ended up with.

Coors light clone
2.5 lbs 0.3 oz - Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) (Grain)
1.5 lbs 1.4 oz - Rice syrup solids
0.8 oz - Cascade [5.5%] - Boil 60 min (Hops)
0.5 oz - Saaz [4.0%] - Boil 15 min (Hops)
0.5 oz - Saaz [4.0%] - Boil 2 min (Hops)
1 pkgs - Saflager S23 Dry Lager Yeast (Yeast)

The original recipe called for an OG of 1.041
I ended up with 1.04 but added 3 oz. more of the rice syrup solids to give the ABV a small boost. The original recipe came in at 4.4%

60 minute steep with Pale Malt then 60 minute boil with the Rice Syrup solids and followed the hop timing. It's almost cooled down as I write this and will be adding the yeast shortly. Oh - ya, he didn't have that specific strain of yeast so I went with the one I have.

Overall, it looks very blond and hopefully at the end will be very tasty for my wife. The original recipe had a FG of 1.007. I guess I'll find out how far off I am from that with the small amount of additional Rice syrup solids.

 

[brewcat]

You can lager in a keg or bottle.

Give her a Coors Banquet.

 

[Cevan65]

Wow, you must really love her. ;-)

 

[Sematary]

Wow, you must really love her. ;-)

You know it man. I'll only drink that stuff in a pinch.

As an update, it has been sitting in that bucket of water with ice changes all week now and I've managed to keep the temp pretty steady in the mid 50's so I'm feeling pretty good about the eventual outcome.
I really do want to try the sodastream to carbonate so I'll probably use my brew pot to do that in so that stuff doesn't go all over the place. I really can't wait to see how it comes out.

 

[RM-MN]

You know it man. I'll only drink that stuff in a pinch.

As an update, it has been sitting in that bucket of water with ice changes all week now and I've managed to keep the temp pretty steady in the mid 50's so I'm feeling pretty good about the eventual outcome.
I really do want to try the sodastream to carbonate so I'll probably use my brew pot to do that in so that stuff doesn't go all over the place. I really can't wait to see how it comes out.

DON'T DO IT unless you want to spray paint your walls with beer. Without back pressure that CO2 will not dissolve into the beer to any extent and you will not get carbonation.

 

[Sematary]

DON'T DO IT unless you want to spray paint your walls with beer. Without back pressure that CO2 will not dissolve into the beer to any extent and you will not get carbonation.

Alright man. I believe you. lol

 

[myndflyte]

Could I use the soda stream with paint to paint my walls? Or paint them with carbonated paint?

I'm eager to hear how the recipe turns out though.

 

[JonM]

DON'T DO IT unless you want to spray paint your walls with beer. Without back pressure that CO2 will not dissolve into the beer to any extent and you will not get carbonation.

There's all sorts of fun videos online. Apparently, the sodastream works only with water. Wine, beer, pre-mixed sodas, etc. make things go kablooie.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MM5Uhj-i2BI[/ame]
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=860e_AgaF-Y[/ame]

 

[RM-MN]

Could I use the soda stream with paint to paint my walls? Or paint them with carbonated paint?

I'm eager to hear how the recipe turns out though.

Most likely but you'd end up painted too. Somebody has to be there to push the button down.:rockin:

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

I tried our soda stream to quick carb a beer....bad idea

Also As far as I know Coors uses corn and Bud uses rice. You may have made more of a Bud clone. Not that it will taste like either. There has never been a clone made of either one. Not a single person has ever come up with a dead on recipe. BMC is the Kentucky Fried Chicken secret recipe of beer

There is no shame in trying to make a BMC. If you could nail it you would be the greatest home brewer of all time

 

[Miraculix]

I actually did it, I had my first Coors light ever and... I actually liked it. Ice cold, not much taste and not much alcohol, it's actually not a bad beer!

 

[yugga]

You know it man. I'll only drink that stuff in a pinch.

As an update, it has been sitting in that bucket of water with ice changes all week now and I've managed to keep the temp pretty steady in the mid 50's so I'm feeling pretty good about the eventual outcome.
I really do want to try the sodastream to carbonate so I'll probably use my brew pot to do that in so that stuff doesn't go all over the place. I really can't wait to see how it comes out.

I use the sodastream all the time with no issues. It's easy to overdo the carbonation though. Just give it 3 very quick bursts, whatever you do don't hold on the gas until the pressure releases. The next thing you'll want to do is wait half an hour or so before removing the bottle from the machine. Cold beer works better for carbonating.

 

[SoCal-Doug]

Having worked in professional rodeo, I got to know some high ups at the Integer Group (marketing firm for coors). One day at the annual PRCA conference in vegas, I was able to get their secret recipe

Water: 500 gallons stream water (filter but do not remove deer urine)

Beer extract: 17 drops

Chill.

Bottle.

 

[user 125772]

@Sematary, I'm curious why you didn't scale back the hops (like you did the grain) ...I don't think Mama's gonna be pleased

 

[Sematary]

There's all sorts of fun videos online. Apparently, the sodastream works only with water. Wine, beer, pre-mixed sodas, etc. make things go kablooie.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MM5Uhj-i2BI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=860e_AgaF-Y

Looking at those - they actually had to have done that on purpose. Those are WAY overfilled. I was actually talking about filling it to slightly less than it's fill point (which is a quarter way down the bottle), then bottling it after. It only takes the first setting to carbonate beer (I've done that) but you still get alot of foam which is why I was thinking of doing it in a brew bucket to catch the foam (sanitized brew bucket, of course) then bottling it. I just didn't know what might happen AFTER it's bottled. Filling one of these to the top with something like beer will naturally leave you with a huge mess. I was just wondering if anyone had successfully attempted it. Since, apparently, no one has given it any serious thought - I guess I'll do half the batch with sugar and the other half with this and see what happens (and place the bottles in a place where they can explode at will).

 

[Sematary]

@Sematary, I'm curious why you didn't scale back the hops (like you did the grain) ...I don't think Mama's gonna be pleased

I actually did halve the cascade, but I guess I typed that wrong. I actually saved one package of the saaz and put in half a package (about .5) split into the two drop times as described. My bad for writing that incorrectly. hmmm
lol

 

[yugga]

Looking at those - they actually had to have done that on purpose. Those are WAY overfilled. I was actually talking about filling it to slightly less than it's fill point (which is a quarter way down the bottle), then bottling it after. It only takes the first setting to carbonate beer (I've done that) but you still get alot of foam which is why I was thinking of doing it in a brew bucket to catch the foam (sanitized brew bucket, of course) then bottling it. I just didn't know what might happen AFTER it's bottled. Filling one of these to the top with something like beer will naturally leave you with a huge mess. I was just wondering if anyone had successfully attempted it. Since, apparently, no one has given it any serious thought - I guess I'll do half the batch with sugar and the other half with this and see what happens (and place the bottles in a place where they can explode at will).

The only way you can do it is with the special sodastream bottles. The beer should be up to the fill line then just 2-3 quick bursts, let it sit for a while, then remove. I don't know how you would bottle half a batch that way unless you had a ton of sodastream bottles. I usually only do this when Im taking my final hydrometer measurement so I can have a quick preview of what the finished product will taste like.

 

[user 125772]

Something to keep in mind if you continue with this quest, I've read a few posts where some brew a fairly concentrated wort (~1.070), ferment, cold crash, transfer off the trub, dilute with RO water to the desired ABV, and bottle.

 

[Sematary]

The only way you can do it is with the special sodastream bottles. The beer should be up to the fill line then just 2-3 quick bursts, let it sit for a while, then remove. I don't know how you would bottle half a batch that way unless you had a ton of sodastream bottles. I usually only do this when Im taking my final hydrometer measurement so I can have a quick preview of what the finished product will taste like.

Well, I wasn't intending on leaving the beer in the sodastream bottle. - Carbonate, transfer to a sanitized container with a spigot then bottle normally was my plan
Since the batch is only 2 1/2 gallons it shouldn't be more than a dozen bottles.

 

[yugga]

I'm afraid in the transfer you'll lose all your carbonation. Feel free to give it a try though, let us know how it works.

 

[bradleypariah]

I use the sodastream all the time with no issues. It's easy to overdo the carbonation though. Just give it 3 very quick bursts, whatever you do don't hold on the gas until the pressure releases. The next thing you'll want to do is wait half an hour or so before removing the bottle from the machine. Cold beer works better for carbonating.

I use one of the pint-size bottles, fill it to the line, and give it one good burst. I then tilt the bottle to release the pressure, and it naturally fizzes up toward the top. Once the foam hits the top, and all the oxygen is supposedly out, I lock it back in, burst it one more time, then leave it until I can remove the bottle without it foaming over. Usually takes around 15 minutes.

I can definitely taste that weird saline-like aftertaste from force-carbonating, so I don't like doing this per se, but recently I kegged a beer, and found out two days later that I had a CO2 leak. I wanted a beer after a long day's work, and I didn't want to spend nine friggin dollars for a six pack, and I wasn't about to drink my beer flat.

Sodastream warns the user not to carbonate something besides plain water, but that's just to cover their butt. It's very simple to do if you're careful. If you try to carbonate flat beer the same way you carbonate water, you're going to have a geyser, so just don't do that. It's not rocket science.

Thanks for posting your Coors Light clone. This is all my step son drinks. He hates my IPAs. I can totally drink a lager if it's home-grown and I'm doing chores. I have nothing against the taste of a great lager. I just don't want to support companies like InBev because I'd rather support someone local. People tie the stigma of InBev/MillerCoors with highly-sessionable lagers, and that's a shame. There's a time and a place for every gravity.

 

[kydan47]

Try using 1/2 Beano tablet - I think you’ll find it removes flavor, increases alcohol by fermenting lower, and no need to Lager.

 

[Parrothead01]

I heard the same thing about beano for cloning light beers. Never tried it though.

 

[Sematary]

I'm afraid in the transfer you'll lose all your carbonation. Feel free to give it a try though, let us know how it works.

Ya, it's an experiment. And I should be able to go through it pretty quickly. I have 2 sodastreams and can rip through the volume pretty quickly then bottle quickly. Dozen bottles should only take a few minutes. But I am curious

 

[z-bob]

Thanks for posting your Coors Light clone. This is all my step son drinks. He hates my IPAs. I can totally drink a lager if it's home-grown and I'm doing chores. I have nothing against the taste of a great lager. I just don't want to support companies like InBev because I'd rather support someone local. People tie the stigma of InBev/MillerCoors with highly-sessionable lagers, and that's a shame. There's a time and a place for every gravity.

A light American lager is very hard to produce, for a beer you can buy cheaply. Nothing wrong with that if you just want a challenge, but can I suggest making a cream ale instead? Much easier, and you still end up with a light guzzle-able beer that has some flavor to it.

The one I did was 80% pilsner malt, 20% rice, and a little acid malt (I know that makes more than 100%) A single hop addition at 20 minutes to get about 20 IBU and a little flavor. I used German ale yeast, but I'm going to try Nottingham next time.

 

[bradleypariah]

A light American lager is very hard to produce

If James Spencer can do it, I can do it. I currently have a Sam Adams Black Lager clone (but made with California Common) in the basement. My next beer will be an Anchor Steam clone. By then my basement will be actual lager temps. I may not make Coors Light, but I really want to give a sessionable lager a try. I've been brewing for the better part of decade, which may not be a long time compared to some, but it's time to try some difficult things.

 

[SoCal-Doug]

Light American lagers should be easy to reproduce. Some rice, some corn, hang a picture of some barley on the mash tun. Mash at about 145F for an OG of about 1.020

 

[cmac62]

I have also heard an American light lager is hard to pull off because there is nowhere to hide. Any off flavors will be front and center. I want to try one to test my process.

 

[cmac62]

I was thinking something like 6 or 7 lb 2 row, 3 lb minute rice, maybe 8 to 10 Oz acidulated, with maybe 1 Oz halertau or some other noble hop at 60 and .5 at 10. Finally use a good German lager yeast, something super crisp. Do a traditional 50-55 fermentation and lager for 4 wks at 32° I believe if this comes out my process is dialed in. Any comments would be appreciated.

 

[z-bob]

I was thinking something like 6 or 7 lb 2 row, 3 lb minute rice, maybe 8 to 10 Oz acidulated, with maybe 1 Oz halertau or some other noble hop at 60 and .5 at 10. Finally use a good German lager yeast, something super crisp. Do a traditional 50-55 fermentation and lager for 4 wks at 32° I believe if this comes out my process is dialed in. Any comments would be appreciated.

That seems like a lot of acidulated malt, but might be right if you have alkaline water. Other than that, it's about right, but a little strong for the style (over 6% ABV) for a 5 gallon batch. IBU's will be about 20. Actually, it kind of sounds like you're shooting for 6 gallons...

Mt Hood is a also good American "noble" hop. (I haven't tried Liberty yet) You can't go wrong with Hallertau or Tettnanger.