American Lager Pottsville Common (Yeungling Lager Attempt)

[jamesnsw]

Brewing this right now. Smells great.

 

[bucktown1860]

I am a big fan of Yuengling. I travel from New Olreans to Mobile to buy it. Can you give ne specific recipe instructions as how to make this brew?

 

[Jbt]

I am a big fan of Yuengling. I travel from New Olreans to Mobile to buy it. Can you give ne specific recipe instructions as how to make this brew?

Did you look at the first page of this post?? Everything you need is right there. I will be making this one again real soon!!

 

[Jbt]

I have made several varying recipes using the original as a guide line. I been grooming it into something beautiful. Problem now it is not that close to Yeugling Traditional anymore. It is a excellent beer anyway. But I must say the original recipe is real close. I have 2 more experimental batches in 2ndary right now. We will see in a few weeks what they turn into!

 

[ekjohns]

I got a friend I will be brewing for soon that loves him some yuengling. So I should stick to the original then?

 

[waldoar15]

I brewed a variation of this about 10 days ago with an added lb of light Munich, a little less corn, Cluster hops for bittering. I tossed in about a 1/2 oz of chocolate malt to darken it up a tiny bit.

 

[Jbt]

Brewing this right now. Smells great.

How did it come out?? I see you are drinking it right now.

 

[jamesnsw]

How did it come out?? I see you are drinking it right now.

It is definitely good. I've been too long without the real thing, so I can't say exactly how close it is. Color is definitely on. I definitely enjoyed drinking this over the summer.

 

[Jbt]

It is definitely good. I've been too long without the real thing, so I can't say exactly how close it is. Color is definitely on. I definitely enjoyed drinking this over the summer.

What temp did you mash at? My last 2 batches I mashed at 154-153 and don't taste near as good as my first batch, which was suppose to be at 153 but ended up at 151.

 

[jamesnsw]

What temp did you mash at? My last 2 batches I mashed at 154-153 and don't taste near as good as my first batch, which was suppose to be at 153 but ended up at 151.

Actually, I mashed pretty low- 149 or so. It still came out maltier, not very dry. Not sure why. I didn't get great attenuation.

 

[ekjohns]

So has anyone who has had the real thing not to long ago tried this to see how close it is? jamesnsw and jbt can you please post the recipes you feel are closest to the real thing in you best opinion! Thanks!

 

[waldoar15]

So has anyone who has had the real thing not to long ago tried this to see how close it is? jamesnsw and jbt can you please post the recipes you feel are closest to the real thing in you best opinion! Thanks!

My first batch is out in the cold garage still in secondary.

BTW, this is the basic recipe I used. Yeast was 2112 and I used 6 row for a base malt, 90 minute boil.

5 lbs. Lager or pils malt
1 lbs. Munich Malt
7/8 lb. American Caramel 80°-90 L
2 lbs. Corn Grits
.75 oz. Cluster (Pellets, 7.00 %AA) boiled 60 minutes.
.25 oz. Centennial (Pellets, 10 %AA) boiled 15 minutes. (or 1/2 5% cascade)
.25 oz. Centennial (Pellets, 10 %AA) @ knockout. (or 1/2 5% cascade)

14 days primary
4-6 wks secondary

 

[waldoar15]

I opened a few today. It's not as dark as it looks in the pic and is damn good. My wife doesn't drink and really liked it. That says a lot.

 

[EdMerican]

I made an extract version of the OP's recipe, and used about 4.25 lbs breiss golden light DME in place of grain, but everything else was the same. Had a smaller grain bag than i would've liked, so the crystal, corn and rice hulls were a bit snug. OG turned out to be 1.036 Did I totally screw up my extract conversion or do ya think it could've been the grain bag being overstuffed? Steeped grains for about 40 min at 154 in 3 gallons. Should I have gone longer? Wort tasted decent enough, and I'm sure it'll make a tasty low abv brew, but I would have preferred it to be as close as possible to Yeungling. Any suggestions, other than go all grain? I'm working on it. Still pretty new to the homebrew scene, but I'm learning... I think...

 

[CraigH78]

waldoar15 - Ahh a fresh home brew while surfing AR15.com, does it get any better?

 

[waldoar15]

I made an extract version of the OP's recipe, and used about 4.25 lbs breiss golden light DME in place of grain, but everything else was the same. Had a smaller grain bag than i would've liked, so the crystal, corn and rice hulls were a bit snug. OG turned out to be 1.036 Did I totally screw up my extract conversion or do ya think it could've been the grain bag being overstuffed? Steeped grains for about 40 min at 154 in 3 gallons. Should I have gone longer? Wort tasted decent enough, and I'm sure it'll make a tasty low abv brew, but I would have preferred it to be as close as possible to Yeungling. Any suggestions, other than go all grain? I'm working on it. Still pretty new to the homebrew scene, but I'm learning... I think...

Corn adjuncts have to be mashed with base malts to convert.

 

[Krrazy]

Thanks to those who replied to this thread today and made it pop up in "New Posts," I may have never seen it! As a PA native now living in AZ, I've been dying to brew some "Lager" but haven't tried brewing a lager yet because of the fermenation temp challenges in Tucson. This thread gives me hope...I could probably brew it right now!
My best man and I are planning to brew together in July before my wedding so I'll definately need a temp control setup by then but I think this is what we'll brew on that occasion if it turns out good! Any feedback on the modified recipe from the OP? Thanks!

 

[EdMerican]

Corn adjuncts have to be mashed with base malts to convert.

Well crap. So the Crystal wont do it then? I guess i know for next time...

 

[waldoar15]

Well crap. So the Crystal wont do it then? I guess i know for next time...

Read up on doing a mini mash. You'll probably need 2lbs of six row to convert the flaked maize. You can throw the crystal in there too. Mash @152-154 for at least an hour, drain, sparge, then you can add whatever DME/LME you need to get the OG. You can probably do it as a BIAB on the stove top or oven.

 

[EdMerican]

Read up on doing a mini mash. You'll probably need 2lbs of six row to convert the flaked maize. You can throw the crystal in there too. Mash @152-154 for at least an hour, drain, sparge, then you can add whatever DME/LME you need to get the OG. You can probably do it as a BIAB on the stove top or oven.

Well, i DO plan on the next brew to be a stove top AG brew ala DeathBrewer, so I may get away from extract altogether... or maybe just for the most part, as I tweaked a steam ale extract recipe that turned out AWESOME, and not sure I wanna bother it. But I digress

Next time I brew this, (and I believe it to be sooner than later, to please SWMBO) it will be stove top AG. Either way it was a good learning experience, and the wort tasted fairly good. I think it will turn out to be a tasty low abv brew that will be good for yard work if winter ever ends, albeit not quite what i was going for.

Oh, and BTW thanks for the input

 

[waldoar15]

The neighbor just asked me to brew 10 gallons of this for a wedding. Naturally, he'll have to buy all the ingredients and do the work under my direction.

I guess most of the people he shared it with prefer it to the real thing.

 

[ekjohns]

Im going to be brewing this based on the original post with only a few modifications being 1) 2 lbs of flaked corn, 2) cluster hops instead of chinook (cluster is what yeungling uses) and 3) wyeast 1007 German Ale yeast. I have brewed a couple of beers with the San Fran lager yeast and it always tasted a little too fruity to me (personal taste). After alot of searching people are saying the german ale yeast brewed around 50 F is SUPER clean and closer to a true lager than the san fran yeast brewed at ideal temps. As always, Ill post the results in a month or so

 

[Jbt]

Im going to be brewing this based on the original post with only a few modifications being 1) 2 lbs of flaked corn, 2) cluster hops instead of chinook (cluster is what yeungling uses) and 3) wyeast 1007 German Ale yeast. I have brewed a couple of beers with the San Fran lager yeast and it always tasted a little too fruity to me (personal taste). After alot of searching people are saying the german ale yeast brewed around 50 F is SUPER clean and closer to a true lager than the san fran yeast brewed at ideal temps. As always, Ill post the results in a month or so

Why not go for 840 since you would be at lager temp anyway??

 

[ekjohns]

2 reasons, im impatient and I am concerned by ferm. chamber is gonna struggle to hold it at laggering temps (36-40F) for a month. I will eventually do a lager after I have spent some time adding extra insulation to it so it doesnt have to work so hard

 

[Jbt]

Only reason I asked because 840 recomended temp is 50 to 55.. Good luck

 

[ekjohns]

Yea I was looking into lagering but i think ill try a slow conversion into it. The lowest I have gone so far is 60F.

 

[waldoar15]

Im going to be brewing this based on the original post with only a few modifications being 1) 2 lbs of flaked corn, 2) cluster hops instead of chinook (cluster is what yeungling uses) and 3) wyeast 1007 German Ale yeast. I have brewed a couple of beers with the San Fran lager yeast and it always tasted a little too fruity to me (personal taste). After alot of searching people are saying the german ale yeast brewed around 50 F is SUPER clean and closer to a true lager than the san fran yeast brewed at ideal temps. As always, Ill post the results in a month or so

Well, the only real tip I can give you is to probably go with a 90 minute mash.

I did an iodine test @60 minutes and the corn just wasn't converted yet.

Let us know how it turns out.

 

[Jbt]

Well, the only real tip I can give you is to probably go with a 90 minute mash.

I did an iodine test @60 minutes and the corn just wasn't converted yet.

Let us know how it turns out.

I am wondering if that was the problem with the last 2 batches I made. I only mashed for 60min no iodine test. I will have to go pick some up.

 

[Chad]

Or do a cereal mash if you aren't using pre-gelatinized flakes.

 

[skeeordye11]

Glad to see that this thread has had some activity here lately and people are still brewing and enjoying it. Please continue to post your results and changes. This recipe was really just a jumping off point meant to be tweaked and retooled along the way. Cheers!