Father Knows Best: 5 American Lager Recipes

Where would homebrewers be today if their Dads (or Moms) had drunk good beer? Most of them grew up in households in which the standard beer was just that, a standard beer: an American light or premium lager such as Bud, Miller, Coors, or Schlitz. Depending on how old you are, you may remember your father drinking a more local or regional brew, such as Olympia, Blatz, Narragansett, or Rheingold.

Stories abound about home­brewers’ first tastes of Dad’s beer. In almost all those stories, the beer in question is a standard American lager. Many were mass produced, adjunct laden, over-processed, and over-marketed. Still, something about them must have been truly memorable, or the homebrewer would not be searching to re-create such a nostalgic moment.

Here are five recipes in honor of our beer-drinking fathers. All are five-gallon partial-mash recipes that can be easily converted to all-grain or all-extract versions. As with any historical research, we can only guess at some things, such as hops that may have been used back then, yeast strains, and processes that now seem antiquated and unsafe. These are best guesses and should not to be taken as gospel.

Dad’s Lager

(5 gallons, partial mash)

Take your pick. This could be any of several standard American lagers.

Ingredients:

• 3 lbs. lager malt
• 0.5 lb. carapils malt
• 1.5 lbs. flaked maize or flaked rice
• 2 lbs. unhopped extra light dry malt extract
• 2 oz. Hallertauer hops (3% alpha acid, 6 AAUs) for 60 min.
• 0.5 oz. Tettnanger hops (4% alpha acid, 2 AAUs) for 15 min.
• American lager yeast slurry (Wyeast 2035 or White Labs WLP810, for example)
• 0.5 lb. beechwood chips (optional)
• 7/8 cup corn sugar for priming

Step by Step:

Heat 1.75 gal. water to 164° F. Mash in grains and hold at 150° F for 90 min. Sparge with 2.5 gal. 169° F water.

Add malt extract to kettle, bring to a boil. Total boil is 60 min. Add Hallertauer hops, boil 45 min. Add Tettnanger hops, boil 15 min. more. Remove from heat and cool. Top up to 5.25 gal. with chilled, pre-boiled water. When wort cools to 65° F or so, pitch yeast.

Ferment at 50° to 55° F for two weeks, then transfer to secondary and lager (on beechwood chips, if desired) at 38° to 40° F for six weeks. Prime with corn sugar and bottle condition cold (40° F) for three weeks.

OG = 1.045
FG = 1.010
Bitterness = 28 IBUs

Genesee Cream Ale clone

(5 gallons, partial mash)

Ingredients:

• 3 lbs. lager malt
• 1 lb. flaked maize
• 0.5 lb. carapils malt
• 0.5 lb. corn sugar
• 2 lbs. unhopped extra light dry malt extract
• 0.5 oz. Cluster hops (8% alpha acid, 4 AAUs) for 65 min.
• 0.5 oz. whole Cascade hops for
5 min.
• 7 to 10 g. dry ale yeast
• 7 to 10 g. dry lager yeast
• 3/4 cup corn sugar for
priming

Step by Step:

Heat 2 gal. water to 165° F. Mash in grains and hold at 152° F for 90 min. Sparge with 2 gal. 170° F water.

Add corn sugar and malt extract to kettle. Bring to a boil. Total boil is 65 min. Add Cluster hops, boil 60 min. Add Cascades, boil 5 min. more and remove from heat (remove Cascade hops immediately). Cool, top up to 5.25 gal. with chilled pre-boiled water. When wort has cooled to 65° F, pitch both yeast strains.

Ferment at 65° to 68° F for 10 days, transfer to secondary, and age cooler (50° to 55° F) for three to four weeks. Prime with corn sugar and bottle condition at 50° F for two weeks.

OG = 1.048
FG = 1.012
Bitterness = 18 IBUs

Ballantine XXX IPA clone

(5 gallons, partial mash)

The beer made famous by Jasper Johns.

Ingredients:

• 3 lbs. pale malt
• 0.5 lb. medium crystal malt, 50° to 60° Lovibond
• 2.5 lbs. unhopped amber dry malt extract
• 2 lbs. unhopped light dry malt extract
• 1.5 oz. Cascade hops (5.5% alpha acid, 8 AAUs): 0.5 oz. for 90 min., 1 oz. for 30 min.
• 0.5 oz. Nugget hops (12% alpha acid, 6 AAUs) for 90 min.
• 0.5 oz. whole Cascade hops for dry hop
• American ale yeast (Wyeast 1056 or White Labs WLP001, for
example)
• 7/8 cup unhopped light dry malt extract for priming

Step by Step:

Heat 2 gal. water to 165° F. Mash in grains and hold at 152° F for 90 min. Sparge with 2.5 gal. 168° F water.

Add dry malt to kettle and bring to a boil. Total boil is 90 min. Add the Nugget hops and 0.5 oz. of the Cascades, boil 60 min. Add 1 oz. more Cascades, boil 30 min. more. Remove from heat, cool, and top up to 5.25 gal. with chilled, pre-boiled water. When wort has cooled to 68° to 70° F, pitch yeast.

Ferment warm (65° to 68° F) for two weeks, transfer to secondary and add the whole Cascade hops. Condition at 58° to 60° F for three weeks. Prime with dry malt extract and bottle condition at 50° to 55° F for three to four weeks.

OG = 1.058
FG = 1.014
Bitterness = 55 IBUs

“Old” (Imported) Lowenbrau clone

(5 gallons, partial mash)

Munich helles, before it was made in the United States by Miller Brewing.

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs. lager malt
• 1 lb. light Munich malt, 8° to
10° Lovibond
• 0.5 lb. carapils malt
• 4 lbs. unhopped extra light (German, if possible) malt syrup
• 1 oz. Hallertauer Hersbrucker hops (4% alpha acid, 4 AAUs) for 60 min.
• 1 oz. Tettnanger hops (4% alpha acid, 4 AAUs) for 15 min.
• Munich lager yeast (Wyeast 2308 or White Labs WLP830, for example)
• 1 cup light unhopped dry malt extract for priming

Step by Step:

Heat 1.5 gal. water to 140° F. Mash in grains, hold at 130° F for 30 min. Add 1.5 gal. water at 170° F (to raise mash to 150° F), hold for 60 min. Sparge with 2.5 gal. 168° F water.

Add malt syrup to kettle, bring to a boil. Total boil is 60 min. Add Hersbrucker hops, boil 45 min. Add Tettnanger hops, boil 15 min. more. Remove from heat and cool. Top up to 5.25 gal. with chilled, pre-boiled water. When wort has cooled to 65° F, pitch yeast.

Ferment cool (50° to 55° F) for three weeks. Transfer to secondary and lager at 40° F for six weeks. Prime with dry malt extract and bottle condition at 40° to 45° F for four weeks.

OG = 1.048
FG = 1.012
Bitterness = 22 IBUs

Narragansett Porter clone

(5 gallons, partial mash)

Before the homebrewing revolution, this was the style standard in the New World.

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs. pale malt
• 0.5 lb. chocolate malt
• 0.25 lb. black malt
• 0.5 lb. crystal malt, 90° Lovibond
• 3 lbs. unhopped amber dry malt extract
• 1 oz. Willamette hops (5% alpha acid, 5 AAUs) for 60 min.
• 0.5 oz. Mt. Hood hops (8% alpha acid, 4 AAUs) for 15 min.
• English ale yeast (Wyeast 1098, for example)
• 2/3 cup corn sugar for priming

Step by Step:

Heat 2.5 gal. water to 165° F. Mash in grains, hold at 152° F for 75 min. Sparge with 2 gal. 168° F water.

Add dry malt extract to kettle and bring to a boil. Total boil is 60 min. Add Willamette hops, boil 45 min. Add Mt. Hood hops, boil 15 min. more, and remove from heat. Cool, top up to 5.25 gal. with chilled pre-boiled water. When wort has cooled to 68° F, pitch yeast.

Ferment at 64° to 68° F for two weeks. Transfer to secondary, condition cool (50° to 55° F) for three to four weeks. Prime with corn sugar and bottle condition at 50° to 55° F for four weeks.

OG = 1.045
FG = 1.008
Bitterness = 26 IBUs

 

Written by Scott Russell