Anyone?
I’m asking again as I didn’t receive a definate answer about the Strohs recipe to my original query in the link provided. The link discussion turned into a Schlitz discussion.
Also, final post “I contacted Jason at AiH. He said the the online recipe is what the put together for a customer. He’s not sure how accurate that is.”
im not being dismissive, but truly wonder what flavour elements/profile you want from 1970s strohs?
did you taste it or are you trying to recreate what i believe people described to be one of the better north american industrial lagers?
I would start breaking down what flavours you expect/want -ie. corn, what esters, level of “cleanness”, maltiness, bitterness level
and you can start to approximate the to be fair, likely imagined or at best distorted by time, flavour of a 1970s mainstream lager.
I believe BYO had an issue like ten or so years ago with several older American lager recipes. Stroh’s might be in there but might not be a 1970s recipe. You can order back issues but maybe somebody locally has a copy you could look at.
Yes, I recall drinking Stroh’s in the 70’s. Unfortunately, at that time I wasn’t a homebrewer. This means I had no way to critically analyze the Stroh’s. Too many years have passed since then to accurately recall and reforumlate a clone recipe.
The current Stroh’s isn’t, to me, the same as the 1970’s version.
I have all BYO issues. I haven’t found a recipe for Stroh’s.
I find photos of the classic Stroh’s cans and boxes online. Unfortunately, I haven’t seen any specs on cans, bottles, boxes, cases to help me.
Appreciate any input on this matter as long as we stay on topic this time.
Thanks.
just cutting to the heart of this tbh.
i know that some mega lager brands had relatively superior products from the 1950s to even 80s or 90s, but i believe you would find that their grists would be varying, but not greatly, ratios of 6-row, 2-row malts and various types of corn and rice all done with various lager yeasts. to be fair canada’s mega brews had versions of this but with ale yeasts (molson export/labatt 50) and theyre still bleh industrial garbage barely distinguishable from any industrial lager.
sorry, but you are chasing an image of a time in your life. so IMHO, take a grist that sounds good for a CAP and choose an american lager yeast and ferment it nicely and you can make your own version of Stroh’s.
Though thinking of the recipe, the only way is likely to contact former workers of Stroh’s and ask if they can point you in the right direction. Stroh seeks pension aid for 3,000 brewery retirees – Twin Cities
also
https://web.archive.org/web/20230000000000*/http://strohbeer.com/
It seems you are chasing an undefined or undefinable target. Just make a beer you like and call it 1970 Strohs.
It’s interesting, at least to me, in all the “Clone” books, clone recipes I’ve seen online, there are clones for Schlitz, Hamms, Lone Star, etc, but not for Strohs. To me Strohs had a unique, enjoyable taste. Unfortunately, the current Strohs is not the same as the 70s version.
Anyone remember the Strohs marketing? “Fire brewed”? I wonder if this caused caramelization and created their unique flavor?
Time to fire up my old version of ProMash. I’m hoping I found a Strohs recipe when I used ProMash and still have the recipe.
This ProMash recipe may be close.
82.4% Vienna Malt
11.8% Maize
5.9% Dry Malted Rice Extract
9.3 IBU Hallertau Hersbrucker for 90 minutes.
5 IBU Hallertauer Tradition for 30 minutes.
0.7 IBU Czech Saax for 5 minutes.
2.5 qts/grain ratio
Wyeast #2035 American Lager
Do a cereal mash on the “maize”. Flaked corn will work, but not the same result
still going with this as an undefinable goal, but i heard on a podcast recently from an authority!! that up until the 90s many lager breweries in america were pitching lager yeast at barely ale yeast amounts. the suggestion was this would have led to a more impactful flavour from the yeast back then. consider this.
Interesting. Stressing the lager yeast.
What about using a bock yeast?
I don’t understand your question, as Bocks are a strong lager.
What’s a bock yeast?
you source it from goat hair.
Most interesting…
Greatest Of All Time?
Denny, I look up to you as a knowledgeable brewer. As General Patton once said “I’ve read your book(s)”.
https://www.beeretseq.com/stroh-then-but-also-now/
“The new/old Stroh is over 30 IBUs and Vienna malt in the grist to get some of the old colour and taste.”
“Those copper kettles are the only modern versions I’ve seen that employed rummagers, copper chains that rotated against the bottom of the direct-fired kettles to keep any solids from sticking to them.”
A 1960’s pamphlet on the subject:
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Made with Malt, Hops and Rice
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“Fire brewed” (i.e. boiled) in copper kettles with oil furnaces that produced 2000F + degree heat
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“During this fire brewing process, the distinctive flavor of Stroh’s beer is born”
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Fermented in cypress wood fermenters @ 50F using the “original Stroh yeast culture”
Maybe the fermenters were lined or made with a safe cypress variety:
https://mutedog.beer/brewing-a-cypress-beer/
The recipe and process changed over time and by the 1970’s and 80’s it may have used corn and/or rice along with a variety of hops.