Brewing Light American Lagers
These beers are lower on flavor and complexity than many craft brews, but that doesn’t mean they are easy to brew. Two award-winning brewers share advice for the perfect summer thirst-quenching beer.
Sam Tomaszczuk is the Brewhouse Manger at Wiseacre Brewing in Memphis, Tennessee
I think the reason you hear a lot of brewers say light lagers are so difficult to brew is due to the fragile nature of these styles of beer. Delicate flavors and aromas are typically the goal when we set out to brew them, and so the slightest imperfections tend to be magnified to a much greater degree than perhaps they would in other styles. We’re not trying, as brewers of American light-style lagers, to impress you with a boatload of boutique hops, a cornucopia of malty flavors, or even some dominating yeast character. The goal, instead, is to wow you with a harmony of subtlety and modesty, which sounds like a preposterous idea.
We use yellow corn grits at close to 30% in Sky Dog (winner of the gold medal in the American-Style Light Lager category at the 2024 Great American Beer Festival). The rest of the grain bill is North American 2-row, with a modest amount of acidulated malt for pH adjustment. Due to the corn grits addition, we do utilize a cereal mash as part of our mashing regimen with this beer, mashing the initial cereal mash in at 158 °F (70 °C) before boiling. For hop additions we use Saaz for flavor and aroma additions towards the end of the boil as well as in the whirlpool. We also bitter with the concentrated hop product, FLEX®. In brewing these styles, just keep in mind to use all things in moderation.
Doing this style well comes down to zeroing in on the process to make sure we aren’t getting any unintended flavor pickup during production. We’ve done a great deal of work on the hot-side to make sure we’re performing our mash regimen and our lautering steps to the highest standard our equipment can achieve. On the cold-side, we’re regularly monitoring throughout fermentation to make sure we’re hitting our desired specs. Outside of that, we’re using good malt, quality hops, healthy yeast (we use an Augustiner strain, similar to White Labs WLP860 or Imperial Yeast L17), and really damn good water — Memphis, Tennessee, has some incredibly soft water, similar in profile to Pilsen. Sulfate and chloride are both naturally below 10 ppm and calcium is usually between 10–15 ppm. We add a very modest amount of calcium chloride for flavor and mouthfeel, and adjust pH with acidulated malt.
Does all of this sound overly simplified and obvious? That’s because this style of brewing really tests your knowledge of the basics.
I think what macro beer does, it does incredibly well. They reliably make a consistent product day after day that appeals to a very large consumer base. With that said, on the craft side we are targeting a slightly different audience that affords us the ability to make a more noticeably flavorful beer, while simultaneously maintaining a relatively fine-drawn flavor profile. Mass-produced lagers are just driven by a different ethos altogether, one that sacrifices certain process and ingredient choices in favor of production efficiencies. At the end of the day, I think we invest more in the quality of the liquid we make more than anything else, which enables us to be more discerning with our ingredients and more meticulous with our production processes. As a homebrewer looking to make your own, you have the same flexibility and these same decisions to make when crafting light lagers.
Matt Westfall is the Owner of Connecticut’s Counter Weight Brewing Co.
Pale lager recipes, flavor, and aroma are very subtle and nuanced, leaving little to no room for even small mistakes. That narrow window is a fun challenge.
Like all good beer, pale lager starts with high-quality ingredients and healthy yeast coupled with sound fundamental brewing practices. Since American lagers are direct descendants of European continental lager beers, we essentially start with a rough German helles concept, lighten it with corn, lower the terminal gravity, and aim for less bitterness units. I don’t necessarily think of softer, more integrated flavors as less interesting. In fact, when simple beers are very harmonious in their characteristics and have well-defined flavor, they tend to be some very interesting beers. The main difference is they end up being a part of the conversation instead of the conversation itself.
Like most craft American lager producers, the dials on the malt character and hops are nudged up ever so slightly to make for a more flavorful beer while still falling within style guidelines.
For Modern Classic (2024 GABF silver medalist), our grist consists of 20% flaked corn and very pale German Pilsner malt. The Pilsner malt has a very soft, subdued honey note that is further softened by the addition of the corn. When supported by a delicate hopping and a super clean fermentation, the malt and corn are relatively neutral but add just enough malt flavor to make the beer flavorful and interesting to drink.
We mash at 146 °F (63 °C) for one hour and step up to 168 °F (76 °C) before transferring to lauter for vorlauf and run off. We use Hallertauer Mittelfrüh hops and aim to achieve a calculated 13 IBU beer with one early boil bittering charge and one 10-minute addition. We’re looking to add just a touch of that classic noble floral and spice to help with overall balance.
We lager this beer for four weeks. Temperature control is always the most difficult thing when making lagers at home. As a homebrewer, look for the best ways to control fermentation temperature in your setup. It will make a big difference in the finished beer.
