Recipes
Beer-style: Pale Lager Family
Gordon Strong’s German Helles Exportbier
This beer is bolder than your typical lawnmower beer, but it is meant to reward a hard day’s work. So go cross something off your to-do list, then grab a cold one, like life was meant to be.
Confluence Brewing Co.’s Blue Corn Lager clone
“Blue Corn Lager is made like a classic American Pilsner with a twist. Blue corn makes a sweet wort, with a little bit of that corn chip flavor.” — John Martin
Mow the Damn Lawn
When a summer thirst quencher is what you are looking for . . . look no further. This is the recipe that made Annie Johnson the 2013 Homebrewer of the Year.
Gordon Strong’s Leichtbier
When I first thought about giving a recipe for this style, I was going to say, “just take your favorite Pilsner or helles recipe, but use more water” – and I wouldn’t be too far from the mark. But there is a little more to it than that.
American-Style Lager
American-Style Lager (5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)OG = 1.046 FG = 1.008IBU = 15 SRM = 2–4 ABV = 4.9% Ingredients7 lbs. (3.2 kg) 2-row pale malt2.5 lbs. (1.1 kg) raw rice or
Kellerbier
This recipe is based on the gold-medal winner kellerbier Mut Lager from Cervecería Mut out of Quito, Ecuador. Special thanks to the Brewer Dora Durán for her help pulling this recipe together for the homebrew scale.
Western Hills Pre-Prohibition Lager
Western Hills Pre-Prohibition Lager (5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)OG = 1.060 FG = 1.014IBU = 42 SRM = 7 ABV = 6.2% Ingredients6 lbs. (2.7 kg) German Pilsner malt3 lbs. (1.4 kg) US 6-row
Jack’s Original Lager
Jack’s Original Lager (5 gallons/19 L, all-grain) OG = 1.047 FG = 1.011IBU = 40 SRM = 3 ABV = 4.8% This is my attempt to brew a historic Michelob. I have
Gordon Strong’s California Common
California Common (5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)OG = 1.050 FG = 1.013IBU = 35 SRM = 11 ABV = 5% Ingredients7.7 lbs. (3.5 kg) North American pale ale malt1.25 lbs. (567 g) Vienna
Bell’s Brewery’s Quinannan Falls clone
Quinannan Falls is a dry-hopped India pale lager that possesses a crisp, dry bitterness you would expect from a German Pilsner, but the use of highly aromatic Simcoe® hops from the Pacific Northwest evoke the fragrant pine forests that inspired this summer seasonal beer from Bell’s.
Sommerbier
This beer that lands somewhere between a German Pilsner and a pale Kellerbier.
Dixie Brewing Co.’s Dixie clone
Dixie is an American Pilsner style beer, with adjunct levels a bit lower than most of “Grandpa’s beers.” This extra maltiness gives a bit more robust flavor to it, and a slightly darker color. Its yeast flavor leans more toward the Pilsner style, but uses American hops so that their characteristic citrus flavor comes through.
