Finally someone who understands. Thank you

Walter
<adam.preble@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1173162562.296471.139230@n33g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...[color=blue]
> On Mar 5, 7:40 am, "Walter Venables" <wvenab...@charter.net> wrote:[color=green]
>> I want recipes not rude opinions. I am not interested in what you think
>> of
>> these beers. So please do not reply in this manner.[/color]
>
> Ahhh hahaha I was waiting for this. I've been toying around with
> American lager recipes for awhile and can say information on the web
> is riddled with a poor attitude towards the style and those that drink
> it. If you had gone through the archives (through groups.google.com
> for example) you'd find this trend.
>
> ... anyways ...
>
> I don't have a recipe that could approximate Molson or Labatt. I
> never really drank either. However, Tecate is rather close to my
> heart, so I've been taking nibbles towards that here or there. I can
> share my experiences in trying to do American lagers. So far, I have
> done roughly 4 attempts.
>
> General thoughts:
> 1. 50/50 6-row/adjunct creates a beer too light in body and color. I
> had done a recipe awhile back that was basically Sprite. I had thrown
> in the acid malt which gave it a fruity character. With a little
> haze, I could have made a Belgian Wit with that (and may attempt it
> yet).
> 2. Adding an ever-so-slight specialty grain seems to be the way to
> go. I recommend a 50/50 split with a specialty grain on top of that
> to give color and some malt character. Granted, 3oz of crystal isn't
> going to go too far, but it takes an otherwise single-dimension beer
> and makes it... wider? Claiming that makes it two-dimensional might
> be too strong. However, it does help cover up what little flaws you
> have, and even these light beers have that slightest hint of some kind
> of malt.
> 3. I have been using the White Labs Czech Budejovice yeast, but
> recently decided it just wasn't doing what I wanted. On the positive
> side, their Mexican Pilsener yeast recently became an all-year
> strand. I haven't finished fermenting the current attempt, but it had
> a slightly more sulphurous character during fermentation. For a
> Mexican beer, I find this desireable.
> 4. I think the adjunct of choice for Bud is rice, but use corn for the
> rest.
>
> So I know you're aiming for extract, but I don't have much experience
> doing this style with anything but all grain. If I were to BS
> something:
>
> For 5 gallons post-boil:
>
> 3# Extra-light DME
> 2# corn sugar (or rice syrup if your adjunct of choice will be rice)
> 2oz 6-row
> 2oz Crystal 60L
>
> I gave up on the tap water here for all-grain on these; I cut it with
> distilled water. I don't know if you need to go that far though.
> However, my clearest results have come from other water sources. That
> included my first attempt, which *did* use extract.
>
> Consider a yeast nutrient--follow its directions. It's a lot of
> sugars without the good stuff yeast need for healthy bones, happy
> minds, and strong libido.
>
> Steep the grains at 142F (as if it really matters for that quantity,
> but you want the simple sugars anyways)
>
> Hop an ounce of vintage saaz pellets as a bitter addition (60 minutes)
> and nothing else. The bittering levels for these beers are very
> slight so the safe way is to use an aged hop just for preservative
> effects.
>
> (I found Tradition pellets at ~1/3 each at 60, 20, and 5 gives a hop
> characteristic like Sapparo, FYI)
>
> Use Irish moss in the last 15 minutes.
>
> Ferment with a very clean, aggressive lagering yeast. You're planning
> to lager, right? If not, it's just a risk, but just use WLP001 since
> it's a rather clean (boring?) yeast. Every day in primary, you will
> want to swirl the yeast around, and monitor the temperature of the
> fermenting beer often. The rousing makes sure the beer finishes dry,
> and you definately don't want off-flavors from a warm fermentation
> here. On the other hand, you don't want it to get too cold or the
> beer will be too sweet.
>
> Make a starter (get extra extract). Do a diacetyl rest at the end of
> primary fermentation.
>
> Consider secondary clarifiers like KC Finings. Of all styles, you
> want this beer to be clear since your drinkers likely expect it.
>
> And for everybody else reading the thread, ignore all that and
> chuckle:
> How to make an American lager:
> 1. Pee in bottle
> 2. Cap it
>
> There, so I don't have to be the pariah. ;p
>[/color]