Miller the Muggle... No Chill... and I'm done with large batch all grain for a while...

Saturday I moved my middle daughter to college... gulp, sniffle, tear... It took way longer than we thought, but we got it done.

So brew day was Sunday, after church.  But first we went to a local place for after church lunch.   If you are in Kansas City, I encourage you to go to 54th street Grill and Bar.  They have lots of locations.  The food is good, the steaks especially.  There is nothing quaint about this place, it is basically a local version of Applebee's... kinda a high gravity version.  But they have Tank 7 on Draft 16 ounce, for $5.75, that alone makes it worth going to for a beer.

Simple Grain Bill 2-2-2

So Sunday I brewed "Miller the Muggle".  Miller the Muggle is a beer I brew for my Non Craft Beer Friends and Family.  It is a Miller High Life clone.  The original recipe is by Charlie Papazian.  It is actually an ale, but you and your friends will swear it is a lager.  You can dry it all the way out with Amylase Enzyme in secondary.  This beer is cheap, easy, and fun to brew.  I had actually forgotten all about this recipe until I saw a Miller Lite clone on Homebrew Talk.  It was like seeing an old friend again. Here's the recipe.

• 2# of 2 row,  which one?  no big deal...brewers malt or pale ale
• 2# of 6 row,  which one?  no big deal... 6 row brewers, or pilsner
• 2# of Flaked Maise
• .5 of Hallertauer at 60                    Really you can use any hop
• .5 of Hallertauer at 0                      But the German nobles work!
• .5 of Hallertauer 4 day dry hop
• 11 g US-05 Yeast
• 1 TSP of Amylase Enzyme in 2ndary.

1. Protein Rest at 125 for 15 minutes.  So dough in a little above that.
2. Mash low 148-150 for 60 minutes
3. Mash out at 168 for 10 minutes
4. Sparge to get to volume.
5. Boil hard for 60 (you are using some 6 row after all)
6. Chill (in my case I never chill 5 gallon batches that are low IBU)
7. Aerate the wort
8. Pitch the US05  Your gravity should be about 1.044
9. Let it ferment for 14 days.  Then ADD the 1 tsp of Amylase Enzyme right to the fermenter.   
10. An active secondary fermentation will start up with in 24 hours.   And drop your gravity to 1.00-1.005.   That is what makes it like an american lager.
11. When secondary slows,   Dry Hop it with another .5 oz to 1 oz of Hallertauer.   
12. Wait 4 days, then bottle.  

I actually love this beer.   It tastes like an american lager, but somehow, better... Can't explain it, you'll have to try it.   

You can also use Amylase Enzyme with Wyeast 2112 to make a real lager if you'd rather.  Just follow the same procedure.  There really isn't any taste difference, but it sure is fun to try other yeasts.   The only drawback to 2112 is that it doesn't attenuate out all the way.  Routinely the beers I make with it stall at 1.01-1.02.   So a little Amylase and boom... lager.   (Warning.  don't use Amylase in your oktoberfests you want the residual sugars in those...)

On another note,  I am taking a break from big batches for a while.   I'm going to really focus on 1 and 2 gallon all grain batches, with occasional partial mash 5 gallon batches.   Tune in tomorrow to see why...