Cerveza/light Pilsner: Guidance?

[BrewerDave]

Hi. I'm planning on doing a cerveza or light pilsner styled recipe soon for my girlfriend (trying to get her into homebrew )

A very vague recipe I have is

- Light Liquid Malt Malt Extract
- Crystal malt and/or Mild Cara-pils grain
- Saaz hops
- Peats Ridge Spring Water (cheapish at Coles)
- Wyeast German pilsner / White Labs Mexican Lager Yeast or similar

I'm not currently sure on the quantities other than i want to make about 20L

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers :beer:

 

[AlcoSparkles]

Hi BrewerDave,

What makes you think she wants to get into homebrew?
And don't use Peats Ridge, it tastes like plastic. Icky. Splash out the extra $1.45 and get the fancier water.

h34r:

 

[Zwickel]

BrewerDave, I could recommend you my CoronaClone, is very much loved by the women.

All you need is:
Pilsener malt
Corn (Mais)
Rice

just very little Hops (it doesnt really matters which one)

for 20l of beer Id take

3kg Pilsener malt
1kg Corn (Polenta)
500g Rice

mash in the pilsener malt at around 35C, take 12l of water
meanwhile boil the Corn and Rice with ~6l of water for about 15min.
add the boiling pulp into the mash, so youll achieve around 65 to 68C
keep it at this temp for around 2 hours, yeah it will need that long time to convert all the starch.
Stir well all the time.

After 2 hours heat it up to 78C and mashout

after lautering, sparge with around 10 to 12l of water.

in the end, you should have around 22 to 24l of wort (sparge as long as you need to reach the desired volume).

boil the wort for 60min with a little hops, say 20g of any hops with around 5% alpha acid.

Finally cool down and pitch the yeast.

The woman will certainly love you for this beer, it runs down like limonade (not so bitter).

Cheers mate :beer:

 

[BrewerDave]

Thanks. I'll definitely give this a go

 

[seemax]

It's hard to make a true pils with malt extract it tends to be too dark and after boiling for an hour or so it can caramalise a bit.

A partial would be better, something like 2-3kg pilsner malt

I did a 95% pils malt 5% carafoam, 30IBU of hallertau (can use perle,saaz,tettnang, etc) + S-189 yeast few months ago. 3 weeks in primary @ 9C and then bottled and it turned out good, not super clear but very simple and tasty.

 

[drsmurto]

Brewed an extract pilsner for a mate on Sunday - recipe is here

Used rainwater altho in hindsight, its not necessary as there is no mashing involved.

You could easily replace the tettnang with saaz and the caramunich with any other crystal malt.

If you did want to do a mini mash/partial i would recommend getting some munich in there. But then i love munich in all beers!

 

[buttersd70]

whilst agree that AG or partial would be better, if going with an extract recipe, forget about the colour, make it very much a secondary consideration. Looking good is no good if it doesn't taste right or have any mourhfeel or heading properties. So you need to have some grain in there, carapils, crystal (or caramunich :lol: ) to give it that freshness and some positive body.

If I was looking at doing an extract, I would probably go with Smurtos, or something very similar....you could use leave the cara as is, or sub another light crystal. leave the carapils as is, but maybe knock the cara/crystal down to equal weight. That would be about the only change (if any) that I would make. (but then again, I probably would leave it...I, too, like munich. :lol: )

And for those that know how much I hate sugaz...I would even leave the dex. Its not in there for it's health, it serves an actual purpose.

 

[Screwtop]

BrewerDave, I could recommend you my CoronaClone, is very much loved by the women.

All you need is:
Pilsener malt
Corn (Mais)
Rice

just very little Hops (it doesnt really matters which one)

for 20l of beer Id take

3kg Pilsener malt
1kg Corn (Polenta)
500g Rice

mash in the pilsener malt at around 35C, take 12l of water
meanwhile boil the Corn and Rice with ~6l of water for about 15min.
add the boiling pulp into the mash, so youll achieve around 65 to 68C
keep it at this temp for around 2 hours, yeah it will need that long time to convert all the starch.
Stir well all the time.

After 2 hours heat it up to 78C and mashout

after lautering, sparge with around 10 to 12l of water.

in the end, you should have around 22 to 24l of wort (sparge as long as you need to reach the desired volume).

boil the wort for 60min with a little hops, say 20g of any hops with around 5% alpha acid.

Finally cool down and pitch the yeast.

The woman will certainly love you for this beer, it runs down like limonade (not so bitter).

Cheers mate :beer:

Zwickel, I take it your are fermenting cold - Lager, do you drink it young or lager for a while.

Cheers,

Screwy

 

[Zwickel]

Zwickel, I take it your are fermenting cold - Lager, do you drink it young or lager for a while.

Cheers,

Screwy

Yes Screwy, thats right, fermenting cold with lager yeast.

That beer clears pretty fast, so after two weeks the beer will be quite clear and already drinkable.

Prost :beer:

 

[Fourstar]

I agree Zwickel!

I made a CAP and a Cream ale recently, both with great sucess with the ladies. Beers that incorporate a fair amount of adjunct and just base malt usually keeps the punters pleased.

If anyones interested, BJCP Style for Corona Extra : 1C. Premium American Lager

I woudl dish out something like:

OG 1.050
IBU's 20-25

50% Ale Malt
30% Pils
10% Corn
10% Rice

Same mash schedule as zwickel although i have suceeded with a 70 min mash and perfect attenuation. (may be the aussie malts).

Aroma addition of 2g:L at whirlpool, chill and ferment

As a lager, Boh Lager (10deg)
As an Ale, US56 (18deg)

Perfect!

 

[Zwickel]

.... although i have suceeded with a 70 min mash and perfect attenuation. (may be the aussie malts).

thats clear, you have used 80% grain that contains enzymes and only 20% raw material.
I have used 66% malt and 33% raw material.

So your mash doesnt need that long time to convert the starch.

Prost :icon_chickcheers:

 

[Bribie G]

Brewerdave, you don't say what equipment you have or whether you are experienced with mashing or not.

However if you are looking for a light corona or pils beer you can certainly get that with a partial mash using a light coloured pale malt and a tin of Coopers Lager:



This is the latest incarnation of my famous fake lager I am always banging on about, made with a 1kg minimash of Galaxy Malt, dextrose and Coopers lager with some BSaaz hop additions and fermented with Nottingham yeast. If you are looking for a pale beer don't even think about crystal malt, but if you are prepared to do a mini mash then that will give you very nice body and grain flavour and the colour you are looking for.

 

[BrewerDave]

Brewerdave, you don't say what equipment you have or whether you are experienced with mashing or not.

I've only ever brewed with Coopers kits and I only have a Coopers fermenter, but I am prepared to buy any equipment necessary for upgrading my brewing skills.

 

[caleb]

Hi. I'm planning on doing a cerveza or light pilsner styled recipe soon for my girlfriend (trying to get her into homebrew )

Light and tasteless beers are NOT the way to get women into homebrew, or beer for that matter. They may drink it, but get "into it"... no.

Or, to put it another way "less offensive" is not the same as "endearing" or "attractive"...

To really convert the girls, try one of these sure fire hits:

Raspberry Wit: Put a low bitterness wheat-beer in seondary fermentation with 1kg raspberries for 1-2 weeks. Bottle with slightly more than usual sugar for extra fizz!

Passion Ale: Like an APA, but without the bitterness. Make a pale ale with moderate to low bitterness but keep the big citrus/passionfruit hit of american hops - cascade, simcoe, amarillo, chinook, summer saaz, even nelson sauvin for a white wine lovers beer.

I GUARANTEE either of these will be a bigger hit than a bland, light cervesa. Havn't you noticed women tend to gravitate to FRUITY drinks where alcohol is involved?