In my fridge right now, I have a nice Saison, a hoppy APA, a pumpkin ale, a stout, a porter and an ESB. Basically nothing my friends will drink. Well, nothing my tasteless BMC drinking friends will drink. My preferences are more towards English styles although I’m starting to like APAs a lot. But, I don’t really drink many lagers, especially the mass market types.
So, I’m looking for a clean, light lager style that would appeal to my friends who aren’t craft beer drinkers. I’m wondering about a CAP. I haven’t made one before so I’m looking for a good recipe that I can try. Although it will obviously have some corn in it, I want to keep the quality as high as I can.
Do you think that this would fit the bill for something that would appeal to the masses? If so, can you please give me some guidance on a good recipe (I haven’t checked the Wiki yet. I think this is the style I need but I wanted to hear from you first)?
Thanks
I would suggest a beer that one might describe as a “dry” APA (i.e., not excessively sweet) or as a “light” IPA (low OG, around 1.050-0.055, clean and restrained bittering levels using Summit or Magnum hops, and plenty of fruity/estery/pine hop flavor and aroma from late kettle hop additions of Amarillo, Cascade, Citra, and Simcoe, but no dry hopping). I prefer American Ale II (WY1272) over American Ale/Chico (WY1056). If you’re using BeerSmith, target everything on the low end of the IPA range (OG, SRM, IBU’s, etc.)
I brew a psuedo Kolsch for my wife and BMC drinkers, it’s called Happy Wife ale and has been a house beer for 10 years at least.
10 pounds 2 row, 1 pound toasted at 350F for 20 minutes
1/2 pound Carapils
mash at 152
1.5 oz’s Hallertau(around 4.5 AA) for 60 minutes
1 oz Hallertau at 20
1/2 oz hallertau at flameout
Nottingham yeast
I’ll give it a try. I’ll just cut it all by 1/3 but I have to ask, how important is the C10? That’s the only thing I don’t have right now (assuming I can use 2 lbs of corn meal instead of flaked corn).
Still open to a CAP recipe or even a good pilsner. I’m more than happy to brew a few different trial batches.
Edit: Just read it again and I don’t have 6 row. Can 2 row be used or do you need the graininess of 6 row?
I should add that I’ve done a couple batches of Kolsch that I really liked and so did my wife but I think it’s still a bit different for the people I’m thinking of. I find it a bit fruity (which I think it should be) so it’s still a bit different than what they are used to. I can see how it would be a good gateway beer.
One of my friends did ask if I could do a Sleeman type (by which he meant Sleeman Cream Ale) so this may well fit the bill. Others seem to like Steam Whistle which is an all-grain pilsner. I haven’t done many lagers but I’m looking to try some. I do have a fridge that I saved to put a temp controller on to get accurate 10C temperatures for brewing lagers.
Biggest problem I have with lagers or lagered ales is a lack of kegs that I can tie up for 2 or 3 months. I guess I’ll have to get a few more if I want to get a lager into rotation.
4.41lbs. 2 row pale (MO)
4.41lbs Pilsner Malt
1.76 lbs. Flaked Rice
3.36 AAU Liberty pellet hops (1.12oz/32g at 3%) – 60 Min.
1.68 AAU Liberty pellet hops (.56oz/16g at 3%) - 1 Min
Irish Moss – 15 min.
Single infusion 90 Min. 149 deg., 1.5qt/lb. grist
Batch sparge. SG: 1.040
OG: 1.061
FG: 1.006
Wyeast 1056 - American Ale yeast (2 liter starter)
How do you think this would taste?
9 lbs Weyermann Pils malt
1 lbs Weyerman Munich 1
1.5 oz Hallertau @ 60
1/2 oz Hallertau @ 15 - Would an American hop be better?
1/2 oz Hallertau @ 0 - Is this needed?
Wyeast 2035 American Lager - This is ready to go. I made a 3 L starter, fermented it out, chilled, decanted and added 2 more liters of wort (only 1 gal juice bottle).
Ferment @ 45 to 50 degrees (ambient cold room temp, depends on the weather but it’s been 50 for the last 2 weeks).
May brew tonight or Sunday. Not sure but either way, do you think this would work? I’ve been looking into CAPs but I don’t have 6 row so I may get some and brew on with the slurry from this batch.
Maybe both, actually. At 5% AA the bittering addition would be ~30 IBU, so I’d probably drop it to 1 oz at 5% AA. I’d get rid of the flameout addition, and maybe even the 15 min addition, depending on what you’re going for.