International Pale Lager Japanese Rice Lager

[Allyster]

This recipe was inspired by Amaze (ake) Me Japanese Pilsner | Beer Recipe. I made several changes to fit my tastes and brewing setup. I also borrowed the hopping schedule from this thread Fruit Beer - Lemon-Lime Hefe Weizen. That was one of the first beers I made and liked the hop combo a lot. I went with that hopping schedule because its a little more unique than just using noble hops. Sorachi Ace is used in Sapporo so it fits within the Japanese theme along with the rice. The two hops together will give you a subtle lemon/lime character, making it even more refreshing.

Grains:
5# Briess Pilsen
4# Jasmine Rice (or any other rice variety)
1/2# Acid Malt
1/2# Carapils

Hops:
.25oz Motueka @ 60
.25oz Motueka @ 20
.25oz Sorachi Ace @ 20
.25oz Sorachi Ace @ 7

I am not sure if I am missing something here, but what are the weights on the grains, is the # supposed to be kgs?

 

[Toto's]

• lbs	Pilsen Malt		Base
  4 lbs	Long Grain White Rice	Uncooked
  4 oz	Carapils® Malt		Dextrine
  1 oz	Hallertau Hops (5.5% AA)	Boil 60 minutes
  1 vial	WLP840 American Lager Yeast

 

[Toto's]

If you actualy click on Amaze (ake) Me Japanese Pilsner | Beer Recipe the whole recipe will show with the directive how to brew it

 

[z-bob]

If you actualy click on Amaze (ake) Me Japanese Pilsner | Beer Recipe the whole recipe will show with the directive how to brew it

Thanks for the link. That looks like a little too high percentage of rice to me (I'd change it to 6# pils and 3# rice) but I guess it works for them. I'm also not sure what the 110* rest is for; an acid rest?

You can buy the rice pre-cracked at an Asian grocery to save a step, and it's a little cheaper than whole long-grain white rice. That's what I used for my rice beer. HTH

 

[ebbelwoi]

I’m going to try and add a subtle “Japanese” flavor by doing a very light dry hop with cashmere 5 days before packaging.

There's not really anything "Japanese" about that, but I'm sure it'll make a good beer.

 

[dirty_martini]

There's not really anything "Japanese" about that, but I'm sure it'll make a good beer.

it’s kinda playing off midori and a buddy of mine that traveled to Tokyo a lot talked about melon soda being very popular. Then when I think of Japanese citrus, I think of yuzu which has that lemon/grapefruit/orange complexity. Since they are common drink flavoring, i figure if I can get a hint of honeydew/cantaloupe with a touch of citrus, that’s what I’m going for.

 

[TheDogsRump]

No offence to your member, but the Sapporo brewed in the US or Canada is an abomination compared to the Sapporo from Japan.

I visited the Sapporo Brewery in 1989, and lived in Japan for a few years in the 1990's. The beer there is so much better than the crap they peddle in N America. I can't understand why they changed the recipe for North America but there is no comparison. Maybe it's the corn syrup in the US.

@ebbelwoi happoshu is drinkable really cold but just barely.

Anyhoo, just discovered this thread. Thanks to all that bumped it and contributed. This winter I have added a Sapporo lager to my list!

I strongly second this. The Sapporo from Japan is world's apart from the crap brewed in N America. I find you can generally find Asahi imported from Japan, imported from Thailand, and those brewed in N America at liquor stores. I'd encourage those interested to try and get their hands on all three and do a side by side. Even better is Sapporo Classic which is only sold in Hokkaido--though admittedly, I think it is a mind game and I haven't done a side by side with regular Sapporo to see if it is actually any different. Maybe I'll do that this summer (if the world opens up again and I finally get back).

Anyways--I'm chiming in because I'm making the jump from beer to Sake and have been studying up on the process for a long time. It's a lot of work and a lot more time, but honestly, I am looking forward to not having to deal with bottle carbonation. I am first making a Koji Black Lager (kind of like a very distant cousin to Asahi Black but with some koji aroma), where I will start the Sake process with a rice/koji "Moto" and then add this to the mash. A bit of a hybrid experiment. We'll see what happens.

My two cents to add to the forum, is to try and aim for rice that has a high "shinpaku" (and if you can polish it--even better--but that is out of the realm of most peoples capabilities). Koshihikari would be a great choice and will probably get you better results than Jasmine IMO. I would strongly back steaming rather than cooking the rice before the mash as well.

 

[Toto's]

Thx for the input,
I had the asahi beer last summer and it was a nice refreshing beer.
You should start a thread when you are about to do your sake so we will follow your process.
I wanted to try as well but its the special yeast that is not that easy to find.

 

[TheDogsRump]

Thx for the input,
I had the asahi beer last summer and it was a nice refreshing beer.
You should start a thread when you are about to do your sake so we will follow your process.
I wanted to try as well but its the special yeast that is not that easy to find.

Will do. The yeast hasn't been too big an issue for me. Ive found a few suppliers in my city and those who will ship it. Rice is the problem I need to solve before starting as there is a bit of a shortage at the moment. Ive found a supplier for Koshihikari here in Canada but the next problem after that is polishing. I could skip this step, but I want to make good sake or not at all so polishing is a must for me. I found a small rice polisher which will be a bit time consuming but it seems the only route at the moment. Just have to commit to the purchase.

Anyways, looking forward to following this thread. I love me some craft beers but sometimes you want nothing more than a crisp, dry beer and the Japanese are absolute pros at that.

 

[kmarkstevens]

@TheDogsRump, a couple of winters back I made sake. Instead of the hand mixing method, I used a power drill with a wine de-gasser attachment. You sound like a purist, but it only took about 2 sessions of sticking my arm in deep and squishing by hand before I figured the de-gasser should have the same effect.

Sake yeast and Nottingham go well together for making beer. Sake yeast also makes a decent cyser, but note that there is an aroma I can only describe as "puke" for a few weeks until it fades away.

I used premium japanese rice from the local Japanese supermarket but didn't go crazy about finding the most expensive Japanese rice and then polishing it. That's a whole 'nother level.

I ended up with decent Sake but decided it wasn't my thing. Your mileage may vary.

Basic Brewing Radio had a session with Bob Taylor in Anchorage on making sake, that I found helpful. It seems BBR also did a video at Sake One in Portland, which I am going to watch right now.

 

[Roxhambrewshed]

Hey saltymirv,Just to check before I try your recipe....you listed 1/2 # of acidulated malt. Seems like a lot? Especially with a target mash ph of 5.3-5.4.

 

[dirty_martini]

Kegged mine up last week. Soooo light and easy drinking. Maybe a touch too light. I think I would back it down from 30% rice to 20% just to get a little more pilsner malt character. The light cashmere dry hop worked nicely giving a soft citrus and floral aroma with just the slightest hint on honeydew.

 

[TheDogsRump]

Kegged mine up last week. Soooo light and easy drinking. Maybe a touch too light. I think I would back it down from 30% rice to 20% just to get a little more pilsner malt character. The light cashmere dry hop worked nicely giving a soft citrus and floral aroma with just the slightest hint on honeydew. View attachment 717046

Looks great!

 

[Toto's]

Kegged mine up last week. Soooo light and easy drinking. Maybe a touch too light. I think I would back it down from 30% rice to 20% just to get a little more pilsner malt character. The light cashmere dry hop worked nicely giving a soft citrus and floral aroma with just the slightest hint on honeydew. View attachment 717046

Carbonation looks good as well.
How much did you carbobated? Co2 volume ... 3.0?
Didn't had time to do it last weekend.... hopefully will have time this week.
I have the intention as well to lower a bit the rice to 25%

 

[z-bob]

I have 10 pounds of Vienna malt and a fresh bag of jasmine rice pieces. Thinking about brewing this again with Vienna instead of pilsner, and some Crystal hops. Not sure if I'll go 20% rice or 25%.

So many beers to brew, so few weekends to do it.

 

[Toto's]

I was browsing for an authentic dunkel beer recipe and i ended up reading ... someone is making a
" homebrew challange "
Brew 99 different beers in 99 weeks!!!!! That is dedication lol

https://www.youtube.com/c/TheHomebrewChallenge/videos

 

[Snark_Wolf_Brewing]

I was browsing for an authentic dunkel beer recipe and i ended up reading ... someone is making a
" homebrew challange "
Brew 99 different beers in 99 weeks!!!!! That is dedication lol

https://www.youtube.com/c/TheHomebrewChallenge/videos

That guy is a homebrewing BEAST! lol

 

[dirty_martini]

Carbonation looks good as well.
How much did you carbobated? Co2 volume ... 3.0?
Didn't had time to do it last weekend.... hopefully will have time this week.
I have the intention as well to lower a bit the rice to 25%

I’ll be honest. I have no idea what I’m carbing to. I burst carbed at 35psi for about 18 hours. Checked it. Needed a little more. 35psi for another 6-8 hours. Let it sit a couple days and it was perfect and bright.

pretty much how I carb every beer. I do it to taste and mouthfeel

 

[Toto's]

Today i brew this rice beer.
Well i ended up putting
3.18 kg pilsner (70%)
1.30 kg of jasmin rice (28.4%)
0.1 kg acidulated (2.2%)
1/2 table spoon calcium chloride

Cascade 7gr. At 60 min.
Perle 7gr. At 20 min.
Citra 7gr. At 20 min.
Citra 7gr. At 10 min

My ph was 5.3
Got a OG 1.057
Next time i will gave to lower my grain because OG was supposed to be 1.048 !!
But it went very well.
Cant wait to try it

 

[Snark_Wolf_Brewing]

Today i brew this rice beer.
Well i ended up putting
3.18 kg pilsner (70%)
1.30 kg of jasmin rice (28.4%)
0.1 kg acidulated (2.2%)
1/2 table spoon calcium chloride

Cascade 7gr. At 60 min.
Perle 7gr. At 20 min.
Citra 7gr. At 20 min.
Citra 7gr. At 10 min

My ph was 5.3
Got a OG 1.057
Next time i will gave to lower my grain because OG was supposed to be 1.048 !!
But it went very well.
Cant wait to try it

It'll still be beer! That's all that matters.

 

[John Spiegel]

Brulosohpy did an experiment with 34/70 at ale temperature. Apparently it was indistinguishable from one fermented at lager temps... I haven't done it but it might be worth a try. Otherwise a kolsch yeast like 029 is a great choice for this beer.

The rice flavor might come througha little. I don't really detect it. It's mostly to lighten the body and a bit of fun/interesting way to brew

Good luck and post back with your results!

This is a bit late to the party, but I've tried 34/70 at 67 (ambient house temp) and it worked great. Currently trying it at the same temp with a rice lager recipe and I'm getting way more sulfur/egg smells than normal. We'll see how it cleans up.

 

[dirty_martini]

This is a bit late to the party, but I've tried 34/70 at 67 (ambient house temp) and it worked great. Currently trying it at the same temp with a rice lager recipe and I'm getting way more sulfur/egg smells than normal. We'll see how it cleans up.

there’s been a big social media buzz about Wayfinders “cold IPA” the last couple of weeks. They use 34/70 at 65f for that beer and still get a nice clean character. Brulosophy has used the Augustiner yeast (imperial harvest/omega bayern) the same way fermenting it warm.

 

[deadwolfbones]

If you ferment in a corny keg you can also ferment lager yeast warm (room temp) under pressure and get similar results to fermenting cold not under pressure.

 

[dirty_martini]

If you ferment in a corny keg you can also ferment lager yeast warm (room temp) under pressure and get similar results to fermenting cold not under pressure.

I’ve always wondered what you do with all of the yeast and trub at the bottom when you ferment in keg. I always go a 5.5-6g batch to account for loss when xfering to keg.

 

[deadwolfbones]

You leave it there. I brew 3-4 gal batches most of the time anyway, though.

Also, they make 10gal corny kegs.

 

[z-bob]

You leave it there. I brew 3-4 gal batches most of the time anyway, though.

Also, they make 10gal corny kegs.

How do you leave it there; do you have to trim a little off the dip tube? Also maybe the first mug you draw is a nasty mess of yeast and then they are clear after that? I assume you mean you serve it from the fermenter.

 

[kmarkstevens]

You can also use a floating dip tube...

 

[Toto's]

Today i brew this rice beer.
Well i ended up putting
3.18 kg pilsner (70%)
1.30 kg of jasmin rice (28.4%)
0.1 kg acidulated (2.2%)
1/2 table spoon calcium chloride

Cascade 7gr. At 60 min.
Perle 7gr. At 20 min.
Citra 7gr. At 20 min.
Citra 7gr. At 10 min

My ph was 5.3
Got a OG 1.057
Next time i will gave to lower my grain because OG was supposed to be 1.048 !!
But it went very well.
Cant wait to try it

I wanted to give update ...
Started the fermentation 15th of February.at 13 degrees. I used the 34/70 yeast. On the 6th of march i did a ez rest fermentation at 14 degrees. Why did i do a ez-rest? Honestly i had some neck problem and didn't feel lifting 21 liters if beer lol. So for me that was a very convenient reason to extend the fermentation. I transfered today to a secondary. My FG on my refractometer was 1.025. My OG was 1.057 so it bring me to a 1.010. It smelled really good. I lowered the temperature to 11 degrees now. I will continue lower the temperature every day by 2-3 degrees per day until i will reach 1 degree. I intend to lager it for at least 5 weeks.
Cant wait to taste it!!!

 

[deadwolfbones]

How do you leave it there; do you have to trim a little off the dip tube? Also maybe the first mug you draw is a nasty mess of yeast and then they are clear after that? I assume you mean you serve it from the fermenter.

As @kmarkstevens said, I use a floating dip tube (CBDS, specifically). People do clip their dip tubes, though.

 

[ba-brewer]

As @kmarkstevens said, I use a floating dip tube (CBDS, specifically). People do clip their dip tubes, though.

Are you serving and fermenting in the same keg, if so how long have you had beer sitting on the yeast without issues?