My next brew I’m trying a German (no adjunct) Pilsner but with American hops.
9# Castle Pils
1# Carapils
No sparge 9 gallon mash at 146f
90 min boil shooting for 5 gallons of 1.050
1 oz centennial FWH
1 oz Willamette at 15 min
1 oz Mt Hood at FO
Cold crash at 45f decant to primary
Wyeast 2007 at 50f till <1.020
Step up to 60f Drest till no diacetyle or Acetaldehyde detected
Step down to 35f and keg condition for 4 weeks.
The same day I’m doing an American No Adjunct malty pre prohibition, which will be more experimental.
10# Maris Otter
No sparge mashed at 150f
1 oz Simcoe at FWH
1 oz Amarillo at 15 min
1 oz Cascade at FO
B) The first brew might be passably close to what you are shooting for (a German Pils style with American hops). The second brew will be nowhere close to a CAP, even though you’re using 2035. It will probably be a pretty good APA, though.
I really like brewing hybrid styles myself (i.e., continental lager styles with New World hops). The thing is, if you really want to pick up on the lager side of the hybrid I think you need to keep the malt bill close to the intended style. Lagers are typically very malt-forward (and most lager yeasts will push it further in that direction as well), so you kind of need to catch some of that to make it “lagery”.
I also found that WY2007 is so clean that it doesn’t really leave any lager character behind. I brewed a hoppy Helles Bock recently with it, and it was too clean. I might as well have used a clean ale yeast and saved myself the trouble. In the future I’m going to stick with continental lager strains for my hybrid styles.
+1 to losing the Carapils on the first recipe and subbing more noble type hops. I would add the Munich per Denny or some flaked barley. Although, you’ll have quite an interesting lager otherwise!
On the second, it looks very interesting but I really do not like 2035. Unless you bought it already, I’d use 2007 or something else. Maybe sub in a German variety and do the reverse of the first? It’s also definitely experimental as none of those hops existed pre-prohibition!
a cap will typically be higher og and a little hoppier. also usually corn. Coors (ugh) makes one called Batch 19. that is actually pretty good. drink it side by side with any other bmc type beers and you will notice the difference
I brewed a CAP on Monday. Pretty much my standard recipe (10% Munich, 60% 6-row, 30% corn) but since I was pressed for time I used flaked maize instead of corn meal and skipped the cereal mash. Surprisingly the OG was the same as the corn meal/cereal mash batches. I thought it would be lower.
Based on the last competition reviews of the beer I raised the IBU’s to 49 (was 40 before).
And on this one I used the WLP Mexican Lager yeast (very clean) since I had harvested it from the Mexican Lager.
This will be my third with 2035. One coming up on the calendar, one in the fermentor, one has been conditioning in the kegerator for a few weeks. I’ve sampled that one and I think it quite nice. Clean but not sterile. Subtle tartness. Works well in a low malty low hoppy beer. Will see how it does in a malt bomb all MO beer.
Wyeast 2007 is the classic American lager strain. This mild, neutral strain produces beers with a nice malty character and a smooth palate. It ferments dry and crisp with minimal sulfur or diacetyl. Beers from this strain exhibit the characteristics of the most popular lager in America.
Maybe it’s the power of suggestion, but I’m definitely picking up a Bud-like note 3 weeks into lagering on my hoppy Helles Bock. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it does stick out as a distinct American lager flavor.
The times I’ve used 2035 I thought it produced too many fruity esters. I did a split batch CAP with 2035 and 2124 and much preferred the German yeast. Let us know how the final products turn out.