Easy drinker

[rwyant]

Hey folks. I have a recipe for an easy drinking American style lager/ ale. I say lager/ ale because it's made like an ale but drinks like a lager. I wanted to know if anybody had any real ideas for how I could make it better, without making it drastically harder. So thanks for any legitimate feedback, and no thanks for trolls in advance.

Ingredients:
6# Sparkling amber LME
.5oz. U.S. Magnum pellet hops
.5oz. Czech Saaz pellet hops
1 packet Nottingham Ale yeast

Boil 2 gal. water for 60 minutes, adding LME ate beginning, U.S. Magnus hops 5 minutes in, and Czech SaaS 42 minutes in. I leave the hops in for the rest of the boil.

I then cool it in a sink full of ice water until it reaches ~110 F. Then I pour it into my carbon and add 2 gal. Water at ~35 F to bring it down to ~ 73 F to pitch my yeast into. Then after 2 weeks primary I treat with bentonite and move to a secondary. And when I bottle, I cut with 1 gal. water, and use 1 c. corn sugar to carbonate.

Two quick notes, I use the volumes I do because I only have a 3gal. stock pot for boils, and a 5 gal. carboy for the time being. My friends enjoy the beer, saying it tastes similar to Yuengling, and I like it, I'm just curious of things that much more experienced brewers might have for advice. So again, thanks for any advice out there.

 

[timrox1212]

Swap out the amber LME for light LME and add some steeping grains. Maybe +/-1 lb crystal 60. Just my opinion.


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[rwyant]

Okay, so the Light LME vs. Amber should give it a lighter color, correct? What exactly will the steeping grains add, and/or contribute? I have read about them, but I am unsure of how to use/what they do exactly.

 

[timrox1212]

Yea I use light LME for every beer then I get my color from the steeping grains, even stouts. You can better control your flavor and color this way. To use steeping grains simply get your grains and put them in a grain bag, sorta like cheese cloth, then fill your boiling pot with as much cold water as you plan to boil with then put our grain bag in. And turn up the heat. Let this get to 150-160 and turn the heat off. Let the grains soak for 10-15 minutes and pull the bag out. Now boil like usual.


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[rwyant]

Thanks Timrox, I have been wanting to try stepping grains, but I wasn't really sure what to do with them, or how much it would actually affect the final product. I am going to try to brew a mocha stout here soon, and I think I'll try using some chocolate malt.