Malt Liquor Lover

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TURBOANSARI

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I need help from a more experienced brewer to make my ideal homebrew.

My Drinking Habbits: I typically like to enjoy microbrews, but since times are tough and I cannot stand most major brand beers, I have been drinking Schlitz High Gravity malt liquor. 2 24oz cans usually gets you a buzz, it tastes like something other than water and only costs about $1.38 a can.

My Brewing experience: I have brewed about 7 homebrews; some better than others. I have never lagered anything. Usually the simpler the recipe and the lower original gravity the better my beer turns out. I dont get to spend a lot of time tending to my beer, but on weekends i can take necessary steps to move it along.

My equipment: Turkey fryer, 6 gal kettle, assorted buckets with spigots and without, 6 gal glass carboy, airlocks syphons thermometer, specific gravity mesurer, chest freezer with outlet cutoff to control temps, and basic kegging equip. I am not looking to make any large investment for this brew, but willing to pick up a few small items if necessary.

I am looking for some recommendations to make a powerful light colored beer similar to my favorite varieties of malt liquor, maybe a lager. I would prefer to do extract with maybe a little grain to complexify the flavor. Can anyone recommend a good kit, ingredients, or some combination of the two along with a short write up on any special steps I might consider through the process?
 
I am looking for some recommendations to make a powerful light colored beer similar to my favorite varieties of malt liquor, maybe a lager. I would prefer to do extract with maybe a little grain to complexify the flavor. Can anyone recommend a good kit, ingredients, or some combination of the two along with a short write up on any special steps I might consider through the process?

I'm really not sure about malt liquor, but making a high alcohol light beer isn't too tough I suppose. Lot's of fermentables, a little steeping grains and some high alpha bittering hops for balance. You can use stuff like corn sugar, candi sugar, honey or even something like rice syrup to boost the ABV without adding color, flavor or body. You'll need a yeast strain that has a high alcohol tolerance of course. That's about all I can contribute considering I probably like me beer with a bit more color and a bit less alcohol (and better flavor ;)) than you.
 
I recall a recent "Can You Brew It?" podcast where the guys tried to do Rogue's "Daddy's Little Helper", interesting take on a malt liquor. It was on July 6, 2009's show. Interesting techniques used to make it!
 
Here is something you can try.....

6 lbs. of Extra light Dry Malt Extract
2 lbs table sugar
.5 oz. warrior (14.4 AA) hops at 60 minutes
.5 oz. warrior (14.4 AA) hops at 30 minutes

1 or 2 Pkg. of Danstar Nottingham yeast

Run the fermentation in your keezer at about 60 degrees. Be sure to get all the way down to fermentation temperature before you pitch your yeast.

After one week in fermenter turn up the temperature to 64 degrees. Four days later check the gravity. Then 3 days after that check the gravity again. If the 2 measurements are the same turn the freezer down to 32 or 33 degrees for 3 days to get all the yeast and everything else to drop out of suspension. Then bottle/keg.

The use of extra light extract and the added table sugar should keep the beer light bodied and with little malt flavor. The warrior hops used this way should give decent bitterness but relatively little hops flavor. The low fermentation temperature should keep ester production low so there won't be a lot of floral character.

This would be a dirt cheap beer and as long as you keep the fermentation temp down it should be pretty clean. The 25% of fermentables being table sugar could lead to a cidery taste if you let the temp run too much or use a different yeast that produces more esters.

Alternatively you could try making a bigger version of BM's Cream of Three Crops: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f62/cream-three-crops-cream-ale-66503/
 
Papazian's Olde English 800 Malt Liquor recipe is legendary...

Olde English 800
5 Gallons

OG: 1.055 (13.5)
FG: 1.004 (1)
ABV: 7%
Color: 4.5 SRM
Bittering Units: 14

3.5 lbs. American 2-row pale malt
3.75 lbs. American 6-row malt
3 lbs. flaked corn
2 HBU (56 MBU) American Cluster hops (pellets) - 105 minutes (bittering)
1.5 HBU (43 MBU) American Nugget hops (pellets) - 105 minutes (bittering)
1/4 tsp. Irish moss
Wyeast 2007 Pilsen Lager yeast

A step infusion mash is employed to mash the grains. Add 10 quarts (9.5L) of 130-degree F (54.5 C) water to the crushed grain and flaked corn, stir, stabilize and hold the temperature at 122 degrees F (50 C) for 30 minutes. Add 5 quarts (1.9 L) of boiling water. Add heat to bring temperature up to 150 degrees F (65.5 C). Hold for about 60 minutes.

After conversion, raise temperature to 167 degrees F (75 C) water, lauter and sparge with 4 gallons (15 L) of 170 degree F (77 C) water. Collect about 6.5 gallons (25 L) of of runoff, add bittering hops and bring to a full and vigorous boil.

The total boil time will be 105 minutes. When 10 minutes remain, add Irish moss. After total wort boil of 105 minutes (reducing wort volume to just over 5 gallons), turn off the heat, then separate or strain out and sparge hops. Chill the wort to 65 degrees F (18 C) and direct into a sanitized fermenter. Aerate the cooled wort well. Add an active yeast culture and ferment for 4 to 6 days in the primary at 55 degrees F (15 C). Then transfer into a secondary fermenter, chill to 50 degrees F (10 C) to age for two more weeks, then lager for two to four more weeks at 40 degrees F (4.5 C).

When secondary aging is complete, prime with sugar, bottle or keg. Let condition at temperatures above 60 degrees F (15.5 C) until clear and carbonated, then store chilled.
 
Schlitz High Gravity malt liquor.

Billy-Dee-Williams.jpg
 
ah yes...Billy D WAS the malt licka picka. I drank alot of 40s in college myself, preferred Mickeys; ya gotta drink it outta the paper bag...you just gotta
 
Will this carbonate with the yeast dropped out of suspension if you bottle?

even with a week or so of cold crashing you should have no trouble carbonating. It might take just a little longer but it will carb up fine.

Revvy's post with Uncle Charlie's Malt liquor recipe looks good too. A lot less hoppy than the one I posted, if you want it less hoppy like that just make the first addition about .33 ounces rather than 1/2 ounce and eliminate the second addition all together. That will get you around the same bitterness.

As for corn v. white sugar it will make a small difference but not much, especially for the price difference, this is supposed to be a cheap, cheap, cheap beer. Too much can bring cidery flavors 25% is right around the maximum you can go without getting those off flavors.
 
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