Light Ale Critique

I like to drink a few glasses a night, most nights, nothing crazy, but I also dont like to get hammered or drink 500 calories of beer either. So i have been trying to brew beers a little bit on the lighter side. here is one I am trying to piece together, losely based off Bee Cave Brewery Haus Pale Ale:

6 lbs 2 row
2 lbs vienna
8 oz C10
8 oz Carapils

Mash around 158 for 45 to 60 min

60 min boil
1 oz centennial at 25 min
1 oz Centennial & Cascade at 0 min, or prolly hop rocket them and do a whirlpool.

With my system the gravity should be around 1.040, as I do mostly no sparge for lighter beers.
IBUs should be around 27ish

Do any of you guys brew lighter beers that actually have flavor, if so please give me some input.

Thanks

Take a look at Biermuncher's Centennial Blonde recipe. It is quite close to what you are proposing here, and Centennial is a very popular recipe. It is a nice light beer but very flavorful.

Thanks Thunder, I have tried that, and it did not turn out for me. I used my tap water and it ended up tasting like tonic water. I have since learned my water sucks. I am looking for essentially a light IPA, which is why i have late additions and a whirlpool.

dixosx said:

Thanks Thunder, I have tried that, and it did not turn out for me. I used my tap water and it ended up tasting like tonic water. I have since learned my water sucks. I am looking for essentially a light IPA, which is why i have late additions and a whirlpool.

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Do you know what is bad about your water? If it has chlorine or chloramines I think either pre-boiling or using campden tablets (cheap) will fix that.

Chlorine probably, but the bicarbonate seems to be sorta high, kinda. I have used camden tablets with success. Lighter beers and IPAs just dont work. I use distilled water and added salts using Bru'n water, it works well, and my beers are better. Thanks though.

I've been playing around with a simple light beer recipe and decided to do extract instead of all grain. For this kind of beer, it's just easier for me. No mash, little concern for water profile, and I get to boil on the stove without having to take out my all grain equipment. I bring tap water to a boil, add the extract and hops, cool a bit in the sink then top off with store bought filtered water that is near freezing. This is the recipe I used last. I enjoy it. It has a mild and balanced malt and hop flavor.

Batch Size: 5.25G
OG 1.047
FG 1.008
ABV 5.1%
(I would like to go lower OG/ABV next time I try this.)

5 lbs Light Dry Extract
8 oz Corn Sugar
.33 oz Cascade 60 mins
.33 oz Cascade 30 mins
.33 oz Cascade 15 mins
Fermented at 50-52F with W-34/70
cold crashed/lagered @2-3 weeks
bottle carbonated

Doing this has turned out a better light beer with a much simpler process than the all grain light beers I have tried to make. Next time I make this I will shoot for a lower OG and/or use a less attenuating yeast. Maybe an ale with WLP005 or WLP002.