Description
This recipe was shared on our site by The Oysterboys
A super simple recipe which I’d refer to as low effort, high reward.
Having seen lots of people (myself included!) firing out pseudo lagers using Lutra, I wanted to know if you can make a great lager without months of conditioning times, that uses an actual lager yeast so you can enter it into a competition, and it turns out that yes you can! This recipe won first place in the International Pale Lager category at the 2023 Lager Than Life competition, and also got an honorable mention in Best In Show.
This is somewhere between a german pilsner and an international pale lager (the bitterness is higher than you’d expect from an international pale lager) but it is absolutely crushable on a hot day.
Be sure to check out the Oyster Boys YouTube channel for all of their great content. And our all grain recipe kit section to find more of their recipes.
Ingredients Included
Weyermann Extra Pale Premiere Pilsner Malt (4200 grams)
Weyermann Carapils (200 grams)
Oat Husks (200 grams)
Hallertauer Magnum – BarthHaas® Pure Hop Pellet (15 grams)
Saazer – BarthHaas® Pure Hop Pellet (40 grams)
WLP925 High Pressure Lager yeast BB: (1 packs)
Method
Beer Style (main): European Lagers
Beer Style (sub): German-Style Pilsener
Batch Size: 23
Original Gravity: 1.047
Final Gravity: 1.009
ABV %: 5
IBU: 31.5
THE MASH
Temperature °C: 66
Length (mins): 60
Out temp °C: 75
Out time (mins): 10
THE BOIL
Boil time (mins): 60
Additions and timing:
60 minutes – 13g Hallertau Magnum
15 minutes – 20g Saaz
15 minutes – Protafloc
15 minutes – Yeast Nutrient
0 minutes – 20g Saaz
Secondary additions and timing:
I added NBS Clarity and ALDC at the same time as pitching the yeast.
Yeast: WLP925
Fermentation temperature/steps: 7 days at 18 degrees & 15psi then hook up to gas for 7 days at 2 degrees at 15psi.
Comments:
A super simple recipe which I’d refer to as low effort, high reward.
Having seen lots of people (myself included!) firing out pseudo lagers using Lutra, I wanted to know if you can make a great lager without months of conditioning times, that uses an actual lager yeast so you can enter it into a competition, and it turns out that yes you can! This recipe won first place in the International Pale Lager category at the 2023 Lager Than Life competition, and also got an honorable mention in Best In Show.
This is somewhere between a german pilsner and an international pale lager (the bitterness is higher than you’d expect from an international pale lager) but it is absolutely crushable on a hot day.
Here’s the water profile I used for this beer
Ca2+ – 62.5
Mg2+ – 5
CaCO3 – 19.8
SO42 – 78.6
Cl – 66.7
Na+ – 9.2
Res Alk – -27.7
ALDC was added to eliminate the risk of Diacetyl, and NBS Clarity to aid in the final look of the beer. Adding gelatine prior to packaging will also help this look fantastic in the glass.
Making a yeast starter will give your beer the best chance for success (or alternatively pitch two packets!)
Martin Spicer (verified owner) –
Just racked the beer after 14 days and took a little sample and tastes great, the clarity is very good. Struggled to hit the OG of 1.047 and ended OG 1.043, could be my brewing efficiency at only 75%, but maybe next time I will up the grain bill to get the required number, its still a 4.33% beer and will make a great addition to my usual bitters and IPA’s.
If you want a quick lager, its a strong contender
Theophile Morris (verified owner) –
Brewed this one using tap water dechlorinated with 1/2 Camden tablet. Single infusion mash 30 Litres. No sparge.
23 Litre to Fermentation Vessel.
Fermented under 12psi of pressure at room temperature for 7 days, Cold crashed 48 hours, gelatine fined 48 hours.
Racked to keg and began serving immediately. Carbonation was perfect.
Beer was sublime. Can only imagine the improvement had I paid attention to water profile. But was damned good as is. Taste comparison with the Peroni Red Lager clone brewed at the the same time. Peroni was good. But this one miles better.
Very easy. No fuss. Highly recommended.