American Light Lager

These beers are extremely light colored, light in body, and high in carbonation. Corn, rice or other grains or sugar adjuncts are often used. Flavor is mild and hop bitterness and aroma are negligible to very low. Light fruity esters are acceptable. Chill haze and diacetyl should be absent. American Light Lagers as brewed by the macrobreweries are almost completely devoid of any appreciable quality beer characteristics, but that doesn't need to be the case with homebrewed versions.

Ingredients:

• 4 pounds light malt extract syrup

• 1 pound dry rice extract

• 2 ounces Hallertau hops

• 1 teaspoon Irish moss

• American lager yeast

• 3/4 cup corn sugar

Instructions:

1. Place the crushed specialty grains in a nylon hop bag and steep them in 1 gallon of preheated 150º water for 30 minutes.

2. Drain and discard the spent grains.

3. Bring at least 3 gallons of liquor to a boil, remove the brew kettle from the heat source then stir in the extract and 1 ounce of the hops.

4. Boil for 45 minutes, then add the rest of the hops and the Irish moss.

5. Boil for an additional 15 minutes, then remove the brew kettle from the heat source, cover it and drop the temperature of the wort as quickly as possible to 77º F.

6. Once the wort has cooled to below 77º F, take an original gravity reading, pour the wort into a primary fermenter through a funnel with a strainer and add enough cool water to create 5 gallons.

7. Once the wort has been transferred to the primary fermenter, pitch the yeast, stir the wort vigorously and seal the fermenter with an airlock and ferment at 68º-75º F for 7 days or until fermentation slows.

8. Rack the beer to a secondary fermenter and allow the beer to finish fermentation.

9. Once fermentation is complete, rack the beer to a bottling bucket, prime with the corn sugar and bottle as usual.