Rob's Light

[rwh]

Hi All,

Well, I haven't yet seen any recipes for a light beer on here, and my Dad's very much into light beer, so I thought I'd make one up. I'm talking "light" in the Australian sense, i.e. low alcohol.

What I'm aiming for is something like a cross between a Cascade Premium Light and a Corona.

1.5 kg light dried malt extract
250 g Crystal Malt, cracked, steeped
10g Golden Cluster hop pellets @ 45 minutes
15g Hersbrucker hop pellets plus 10g cracked corriander seeds @ 15 minutes
15g Hersbrucker hop pellets plus 10g cracked corriander seeds @ flameout
Saflager yeast

To 10L water, add the crystal, keep at 70° for 15 minutes, strain, squeeze.
Bring to light boil, add hops and corriander as directed.
Ferment @ 10-14c, rack and cold condition.

Target alcohol/vol: 2.5%
Target IBU: 10

What do you guys think?

[lethaldog]

Whats your final volume, at 22 litres its about 3.2% which sounds pretty good, was wondering if the corriander might be a bit to much as well but im not a big fan of it so i could be biast with my calculations you would have to make it up to about 31 litres to hit your target %

[rwh]

Hmm... that's strange, I get 2.5% with 23L final volume. I'm using qbrew on linux. I'd been thinking that its numbers for bitterness were a bit low when I was working out my IPA. You're right, the brewcraft calculator gives 3.2%. I might have to reduce the LDME to 1kg.

I'm beginning to suspect that this'll have no body at all...

qbrew output:

Rob's Light
-----------
Brewer: Rob
Style: Scottish Light 60/-
Batch: 23.00 L

Characteristics
---------------
Recipe Gravity: 1.026 OG
Recipe Bitterness: 10 IBU
Recipe Color: 10° SRM
Estimated FG: 1.006
Alcohol by Volume: 2.5%
Alcohol by Weight: 2.0%

Ingredients
-----------
Light D.M.E. 1.50 kg, extract
Crystal 60L 0.25 kg, steeped

Cluster 10.00 g, pellet, 45 minutes
Hersbrucker 15.00 g, pellet, 5 minutes
Hersbrucker 15.00 g, pellet, 0 minutes

Corriander Seeds 25.00 unit, grams, cracked, 15 grams at 10 mins, 10 grams at flameout

[lethaldog]

I suppose it depends on which calc u trust, although saying that, at 3.2% its still a light beer so maybe just go with your original unless you deffinately need 2.5%, if it turns out to be pretty good im sure you could adjust it next time, after all it is just an experiment right, also maybe think bout using liquid malt insted, 1.5kg liquid malt and 250gm crystal will sit you at about 2.6-2.8% depending on final volume, 2.8% being at 23 litres

[rwh]

OK, here's my revised recipe:

1.1 kg light dried malt extract
150g maltodextrin
250 g Crystal Malt, cracked, steeped
10g Golden Cluster hop pellets @ 45 minutes
15g Hersbrucker hop pellets plus 10g cracked corriander seeds @ 15 minutes
15g Hersbrucker hop pellets plus 10g cracked corriander seeds @ flameout
Saflager yeast

To 10L water, add the crystal, keep at 70° for 15 minutes, strain, squeeze.
Bring to light boil, add malt and maltodextrin, then the hops and corriander as directed.
Add to fermenter, top up to 23L, ferment @ 10-14c, rack and cold condition.

Target alcohol/vol: 2.5%
Target IBU: 10

[ACTbrewer]

My uncle makes only Cooper's Bitter with 750gm of sugar. It tastes mighty fine too I might add, and the way he drinks it, it is lucky it's only about 3.5%.

[NTRabbit]

I ran your original recipe through the Brewcraft calculator and it came to 3.1% (which includes the ~0.2% from priming)

Switching from DME to LME makes it 2.8%

[rwh]

Hmm, tasted this one out of the hydrometer jar yesterday, and the word that springs to my mind is "watery" I'm thinking making a tasty light beer is a challenge worthy of even the best brewer... I'm not sure what made me think I could do it on my first shot!

On the other hand, the corriander taste is quite something. Definitely worth trying if you like a citrus tang!

The reason I tested it was I've had no bubbling out of the airlock, so I wanted to make sure it was on the way. I'm past the point of stressing when stuff like this happens, and I saw condensation on the lid, so I was even less worried. Turns out it's dropped from 1.032 to 1.014 in 2 days, so the good old Saflager S-23 isn't mucking about Must just have a gas leak.

I've got another beer in secondary right now, a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, and I can safely say that this one is the best thing I have ever tasted out of a hydrometer jar. Couldn't resist drinking it all, something I rarely do... I can't wait for this one!

[WSC]

I have been experimenting with mid strength and probably wouldn't try getting to anything less than 3%.

For me 4% is a good compromise.

I've done a Morgans wheat with liquid wheat tin which I estimate is 4% and tastes fantastic.
Also tried a coronaish Morgans Canadian light with 600 dex and 400 corn which was approx 4% too.
Did a Morgans Blue Mountains lager with Hersbrucker Hops and 250 malt and 250 corn which came out alright too.

So in my opinion mid strength is OK but give me full anyday.

Anyone else nailed a mid strength quaffer for a hot day?