Making a delicious light beer at home... part 2 Merican Pilsner

So, in our last installment we learned about de-branching enzymes and how they can be used to create a crisp low-calorie, low-carbohydrate beer.   In today's episode we will be using a different approach.  In today's episode, we will be making a lager that anyone can make.  If you can control fermentation temperatures for an ale, you can make this lager.

The research brewery at Weihensttephan Institute

Fermentis Saflager 34/70 is an excellent yeast.  It is actually the most popular yeast strain in the world.   And considerable development has gone into this yeast over the last fifty or so years.   It is a lager yeast, Saccharomyces Pastoranus.  It is clean and malty.   However, did you know it will ferment just fine at low ale temperatures? I have used it over and over a 65 F (18 c) with undetectable ill effects. The yeast was developed at the world's premier lager research institute,  The Weihenstephan Institute at The Technical University of Munich (TUMs), a university where learning about beer is taken very seriously.

Now you may have heard it said that this yeast is a "hybrid yeast".  And you may be thinking it is a "hybrid" in the slang sense of the word, like a San Francisco lager yeast.   Or like a "cream ale yeast."  I want to assure you this is a strain of Saccharomyces Pastoranus, one of the two most prevalent strains of lager yeast.  It is a hybrid only in the fact that it is hybridized from Saccharomyces carlsbergenis.  We have to be careful with the word hybrid when we are talking about genetics.   Genetically if something is a hybrid, it doesn't exist in nature. Of course if you want to get truly technical, all lager yeasts are hybrids.... but that is a topic for another blog entry.  It was developed at the Weihenstephan Institue. But it isn't just a combination of S. Carlsbergenis and S. Cerevisiae; it is an actual lager strain, most commonly classified as a S. Pastoranus. 

Genome map of 34/70 and
Saccchoromyces Pastoranus vs. S. Carlsbergenis

Understanding yeast genetics and yeast genomes is not necessary to brew great beer.  But it can be interesting.  If you ever want to really geek out go to the TUMs website. There is so much information there, I think even the geekiest of home brewers would learn something new.  The 34/70 strain does exceptionally well from 48.5 F to 71 F.  Average attenuation is about 83%, in an 18 plato (1.064) wort.  Marshal, over at Brulosophy reports great results up to 70 F with this yeast.  I am not that brave.  But I have used it for years at 62 to 65 F (16 to 18 C) with excellent results.  I know this is just a blog on the internet.  I know I am not a brewing scientist (wish I'd known that was a choice on junior high career day).  I am just a guy sharing practical experience with you.  So please do your own research and remember my 45% 45% 10% rule. Great brewing is 45% cleaning, 45% learning, 10 % brewing.   But I will tell you this,  I have done the research. I have read the articles and even struggled through the research studies.   The knowledge I have gleaned is that this yeast will work fine at ale temperatures.  

Knowledge is power!

So, how do we apply this knowledge?  Well, we brew of course.   We use this knowledge to realize that you can make any lager with this yeast at cool ale temperatures without the need for advanced temperature control.   And we understand that when we make a low original gravity beer the primary fermentation will only last a couple of days.  So the critical time to hold the temperature down is during these first days of fermentation.   Anyone can hold the temperature down early with a swamp cooler set up.   It isn't hard and you probably already have the equipment.   If you have temperature control, you can literally treat this yeast like an ale yeast.   Start at 62 F for a couple of days then ramp up to 66 F,  then cold crash.   No big deal.   This practice is for low and medium OG lagers; when we make higher OG lagers, we tend to follow the Lager method explained here.   

So here is the recipe.  Good ol' Merican Pilsner... 5.5 gallons of good "merican" beer.  72.5% efficiency. So adjust yours for your system.  Remember we tend to not sparge this beer.  I have never decocted this recipe, but I am considering it.   To do that I'll dough in for a 132 initial rest / enzyme wash.  When I dough in it will only be the barley.  Then I'll pull a 2/3rds decoction.   After I add back the decoction, I'll add the corn and rice for the remainder of the mash.  But as you all know I enjoy decoction.  It is not necessary, I just want to see what it would do to this recipe. 

Good ol' Merican Pilsner 145 calories
1.047 OG
1.007 FG
12.00 IBUs
3.00   SRM
4.8%  ABV

Grain Bill  - Mash at 148 for 60 minutes, rinse or sparge to volume.  
7 lbs of Pilsner
1 lbs of flaked corn
1 lbs of flaked rice

Hops
.2 oz of Magnum 13% AA - 2.6 AAUs - at 60 minutes
.2 oz of Liberty 4% AA - .8 AAUs at 30 minutes
.5 oz of Liberty 4% AA - 2 AAUs at 0 minutes

Yeast

17 grams of Fermentis Saflager 34/70 - (that is 1 & 2/3 packs) Ferment at 62 for 5-7 days, then let rise to 70 for 2-3 days, then cold crash.    Or make a starter, if you start with 1 pack of 34/70 then you only have to do a single step to get to 345 B Cells.  Make sure you oxygenate well. 

Extras
1 Whirlflock tablet 
1 tsp of Wyeast yeast nutrient. 


What's that?  you say you don't like 12 IBU beers... fine... turn it into a Pivo Pilsner Clone... If you have never had Pivo Pilsner it is a 59 IBU pilsner beer made by Firestone Walker brewing.  It is made to honor the classic Czech Pivo.  But really it is more like an India Pale Lager to me.  Either way it is delicious.  This grain bill stands strong as a great back ground for many of your lager experiments.  

A laundry tub and some frozen bottles of  ice are all you need
to make this fantastic lager.   Anyone can do it. 

You want to make a true tasting Czech Pilsner? Ok, go with all Saaz hops.   You want to make a German Pilsner,  Go with all German Noble Hops... Hallertauer family.  You could even use this beer as the base for a truly American India Pale Lager,  just load it up with west coast hops, Centennial, Cascade, Columbus...etc...   

Pivo Pilsner Clone 145 calories
1.047 OG
1.007 FG
53.00 IBUs
3.00   SRM
4.8%  ABV

Grain Bill  - Mash at 148 for 60 minutes, rinse or sparge to volume.  
7 lbs of Pilsner
1 lbs of flaked corn
1 lbs of flaked rice

Hops
1 oz of Magnum 13% AA - 13 AAUs - at First Wort Hop
1 oz of Spalt Select 5% AA - 5 AAUs at 10 minutes
1 oz of Spalt Select 5% AA - 5 AAUs at 5 minutes
2 oz of Saphir  3.4% AA - 6.8 AAUs  5 day dry hop

Yeast
17 grams of Fermentis Saflager 34/70 (that is 1 & 2/3 packs)- Ferment at 62 for 5-7 days, then let rise to 70 for 2-3 days, then cold crash.    Or make a starter, if you start with 1 pack of 34/70 then you only have to do a single step to get to 345 B Cells.  Make sure you oxygenate well. 

Extras
1 Whirlflock tablet 
1 tsp of Wyeast yeast nutrient. 

Making a delicious light beer at home... yes a light beer...

Ok, so many of you are new, or newer, or newish to the blog.   In the past couple of months you have discovered our common sense approach to brewing beer at home.  We pride ourselves on making things easy to understand, affordable to purchase, and easy to brew.  One thing that almost never gets talked about in home brewing is light beer.  That's right light beer.  Low calorie, low abv, clear, golden light beer.   Wait! before you click over to another blog, read the next paragraph. 

What if I told you; you can make a delicious, crushable, low calorie beer at home that has decent malt and hop character.  And unlike the macro lite lagers... this one is delicious.  The only thing it has in common with American Light lager is the word light, and the calories.   It is amazingly affordable to brew, and you can use this beer to use up old hops you have hanging around...  Sounds better now right?  Let me sweeten the pot even more, you can customize this beer to have your own house light beer that your Muggle (non craft beer drinking friends) will enjoy and that you will love.  You might add a little, biscuit, or make it with Vienna... what ever you want.

Well, you can.  You can do it with basic home brewing techniques, and with a little applied science.

Charlie Papazian originally created this idea in one of his books, and the first time I tried it was after a 2001 article in BYO about Beano Brau by Ashton Lewis.  The basic idea is that you can use de-branching enzymes during fermentation to un-bundle sugars and create an even more fermentable wort.  The yeast will then eat those sugars and the FG will drop correspondingly.  The two main enzymes that brewers use to de-branch carbohydrates are amyloglucosidade, and amylase.  One is readily available at your local supermaket  (amyloglucosade is the main ingredient in Beano), the other (amylase powder) should be available at your local home brew store.  If not you can order it here.  And let me tell you, if you have a SWMBO, this will be one of the beers that she and her friends like.  I have actually made a whole series of fruit flavored beers with this technique.

The most common styles that brewers make with additional enzymes are light ales, and light lagers.  And the enzymes certainly help drop the gravity of those light ales to a very low final gravity, but you can use the enzymes to help out any beer that needs to finish lower, crisper, and dryer. Doesn't matter if it is an ale or a lager. Our tried and true recipe is called Miller the Muggle, inspired by a guy on Home Brew Talk who goes by the handle Schlenkerla. So it works really well with light ales, but you can also use this to make a fantastic session IPA. Imagine a beer so crisp that 47 IBUs tastes like a world class IPA.   Anything you make with this method will have a lager like character.  The de-branching of additional sugars during fermentation will make the beer finish dry and crisp. Obviously if you use an ale yeast you will have some ale esters in your beer.  But it is so crisp and dry, it is extremely refreshing.  By the way this is a good way to cheat and make an extract ferment out all the way.  Works great with extra light, light, golden, and pilsner extracts.  Doesn't work as well with the darker extracts.

yes, it is this light in color!

It may concern some of you that amylase or amyloglucosidase will not work at fermentation temperatures.  I assure you that is not the case.  enzymes will still work they will just work more slowly.  Ideal temperatures for breaking down starches in a mash are not necessary.  Remember the starches you are trying to break down in a mash are far more complicated than the long chain sugars that you are trying to de-branch in a fermentation with enzymes in fermentation. You already did a bunch of the work.

Miller the Muggle - A light american ale... that doesn't suck
138 Calories and only 8 Carbs per 12 ounce serving.  Use what ever hops you have on hand.  Play with this one.  I have actually made a great session IPA with this recipe, 47 IBUs tasted like 100.  All I did was add 1 ounce of chocolate malt, and the Pliny the toddler hop schedule.  That recipe is also below.

So mash this one at 148 F for 60 minutes.  If you, like us, BIAB then sparge rinse with 168 F water to volume.  If not follow your standard brewing practice.  We're becoming huge fans of the minimal sparge technique promoted by Michael Tonsmeier (the mad fermentationist)  Just divide your total water bill 75% / 25% or 80% / 20 %  This technique is a lot like BIAB with a sparge rinse. Now a lot of people say the temperature of your sparge water doesn't matter, but I for one still use treated 168 F water.   We can literally make 20 gallons of this at a time in our 100 quart mash tun, the grain bill is that light.  Add your hops at the designated times.  What hops? you ask... well we literally use what ever we have hanging around for bittering.  We generally use Hallertauer or Saaz for the flavor and aroma hops.   But you can use what ever you want.  Sorachi Ace has become very popular in this style, as has Citra, Amarillo, and Nelson Sauvin. Pitch rehydrated US05, no need for a starter. Ferment as normal for the first couple of days, when the krausen falls, you add 1 tspn of Amylase Enzyme powder.  The beer will begin bubbling again, and will drop very low in OG.  I have taken a 1.045 beer to 1.000 before.  But generally this beer drops to about 1.002-1.003.   The second fermentation triggered by the Amylase will take a while, but it will clean up all of the yeast flavors. The amylase it self has an unpleasant bitter taste that will fade over a couple of weeks.  When the beer reaches terminal gravity.  Package or bottle as normal, and age for a couple of weeks.   Then chill, drink, repeat.  See it isn't really that hard.

What's that?  you say you don't like low IBU beers?  Well here you go.  Here is a way to make a high IBU beer with the same method.  Because of the low FG, 47 IBUs tastes like a whole lot more IBUs.

Now, I will be honest and let you all know that I generally dry hop this beer after the amylase fermentation.   I do .25 ounces of Simcoe, Cascade, and Centennial.  But you can do your own thing. What ever you do, make sure you use fresh hops.   Hops that are not stored properly are really a waste of your time and money.  We like the 1 ounce packages from BSG and YCH Hops.  OK, that is all for now sports fans, have a great brew this weekend.

The Ultra Light American Ale... Amylase Enzyme not just for breakfast anymore.

So we all have friends who don't like craft beer.   I am lucky, my best friend is my SWMBO.  She is amazing.  5'4" of italian sass and frass.   She supports my brewing obsession.  She even tries the beer she knows she will not like.   But she is a beer Muggle.   In other words... she is a non craft beer person.   (although she does like stella... and it is almost a craft beer).  I was determined over the past year to create a beer she would like.   And I did it.   The ultra light american ale.   This is basically a light american lager clone but... and here is the shocker... I actually make it with US05.

You may have seen my earlier post about miller the muggle.   Well that beer is a hit.   It is disappearing from the fridge at record pace.  I can't take credit for the idea.  It is from the godfather of homebrewing Charlie Papazian.  But I will take credit for making a great homebrew with an unusual special ingredient.   Amylase Enzyme.

If you are an all grain brewer, you know what amylase enzyme is,  the enzyme that breaks the starch in your grain into sugars that the yeast can eat. When we think of Amylase we tend to think of alpha and beta.   One makes super simple sugars, the other longer strands (yes Tommy Knowitall, I know that is an oversimplification). Charlie Papazian, in one of his books, had the crazy idea to add amylase enzyme to secondary fermentation.  His goal, was to make an ale that tasted like (dried out) an american lager. And, I have to tell you, as a man who brews lots, of lagers (well really lots of everything)  IT WORKS.

So this weekend, I am brewing Miller the Muggle again.   5.5 gallon, all grain. Damned near a SMASH beer.

The basics
5.5 gallons
4.5 # of Pilsner (2 row)
.3 # of Carapils
Hallertauer 1 oz at 60
Hallertauer .5 oz at 5
Hallertauer Hersbrucker 1 oz 4 days dry hop

Ferment for 10 to 14 days
Transfer to secondary.
Add 1 teaspoon of Amylase Enzyme
A new fermentation will start up.
Let it ferment for another 14 days.
at 4 days to go, dry hop. (trust me it needs the aroma)
Bottle or Keg and enjoy.

Prost.

Ideas for the future... at some point i will try skipping the amylase and mashing low... like 146 F low (63 - 64 C) for 2 hours.  Others have claimed this has the same effect.

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...