When people think of an average American lager, brands like Budweiser or Coors likely come to mind. These beers may not be fancy or daring but they do hit a certain spot and are enjoyed by many non-craft beer lovers. There are loads of clone recipes out there and Northern Brewer’s This Beer’s For You is one such recipe.
Northern Brewer This Beer’s For You American Lager
Beer Style:
Lager
Recipe Type:
All Grain
Pre-Boil Volume:
6. gallons / 22.71 litres
Batch Size:
5 gallons / 18.93 litres
Estimated SRM:
3.4°
Estimated IBU:
11
Estimated OG:
1.051
Estimated FG:
1.013
Estimated ABV:
5%
Grain Bill/Fermentables
LBS
Fermentables
7.5
6-Row
2
Flaked Rice
0.5
Carapils
Hops
Oz
Time
Hops
0.75
60 min
Hallertauer
0.25
2 min
Hallertauer
Yeast
#
Yeast
1
Saflager S-23
Fermentation Schedule
14 days
Primary
28 days
Lager
14 days
Bottle Conditioning
Directions
Mash Temperature:
152°F / 66.7°C
Mash Time:
60 min
Boil Duration:
60 min
I took the base recipe above and made a couple of minor tweaks to it based on what I had handy. I swapped out the Hallertauer hops for Tettnang and the Saflager S-23 yeast for Omega Yeast OYL-107 Oktoberfest Liquid Yeast I had harvested from a prior brew day.
I also adjusted my water chemistry to hit a target profile of:
Ca2 13ppm
Mg2 6ppm
Na 8ppm
Cl 13ppm
SO4 37ppm
HCO 20ppm
My Original Gravity (OG) was measured at 1.033 and after fermenting/lagering for a month I measured my Final Gravity (FG) at 1.002 for an ABV of 4.07%. After that I simply bottle conditioned it at 2.4 volumes of CO2.
Tasting Notes
Smell
Very subtle sweetness on the nose. Overall the smell largely fades away into the background.
Appearance
Great colour and very clear looking. I think it definitely nails that expected macro brew look.
Taste
Slight sweet taste backed by a crisp finish which I think comes from the rice. This is a very easy to drink beer that you could find yourself downing a bunch of on a hot day.
Yield
This brew cost $21.48 in ingredients to make and yielded 43x355ml bottles ($0.50/bottle)
I was really not expecting to enjoy this beer as much as I do. It turns out that sometimes turning away from the ‘everything and the kitchen sink’ approach that many craft beer recipes have and instead taking a less is more approach can work in your favour. This is one that I will be brewing again!
