American Light Beer

Mash the Grains (60 minutes)

• Heat 12 liters of mash water to 70°C (158°F) in your mash tun or kettle.
• Slowly stir in the milled 2-Row Pale Malt and Flaked Rice to avoid clumps. The water and grain mixture (mash) should stabilize at a temperature of 65°C (149°F).
• Hold this temperature for 60 minutes. This allows enzymes to convert grain starches into fermentable sugars.

Lauter and Sparge (45 minutes)

• After the mash, raise the grain bed temperature to 76°C (168°F) for a 'mash-out'. This stops enzymatic activity and makes the wort less viscous.
• Slowly drain the sweet liquid (wort) from the mash tun into your boil kettle. This is called lautering.
• Gently rinse the grains with the 13 liters of sparge water, also heated to 76°C (168°F), to extract remaining sugars. Collect the runoff until you have approximately 23 liters (6 gallons) of wort in your kettle.

Boil the Wort (60 minutes)

• Bring the wort to a vigorous, rolling boil. Watch carefully for a 'hot break' foam-up at the beginning to prevent a boil-over.
• Once boiling, add all 28g of Saaz hops. Start a 60-minute timer.
• If using, add 1 tsp of yeast nutrient in the last 10 minutes of the boil.

Chill the Wort (20-30 minutes)

• After the 60-minute boil, turn off the heat.
• Immediately begin chilling the wort as quickly as possible to your yeast pitching temperature of 10-13°C (50-55°F). An immersion chiller or counter-flow chiller is highly recommended.
• Rapid chilling creates a 'cold break' which helps with beer clarity and reduces the risk of contamination.

Pitch Yeast and Ferment (2 weeks)

• Carefully transfer the chilled wort into your sanitized fermenter, leaving the sediment (trub) behind.
• Aerate the wort thoroughly by shaking the fermenter or using an aeration stone with pure oxygen. Yeast needs oxygen for a healthy start.
• Pitch the American Lager Yeast. If using a liquid yeast starter, decant the liquid off the top before pitching the yeast slurry.
• Seal the fermenter, attach a sanitized airlock, and place it in a temperature-controlled environment at 10-13°C (50-55°F) for 10-14 days.

Diacetyl Rest and Lagering (4-6 weeks)

• After about 7-10 days of active fermentation, allow the temperature to rise to 18°C (65°F) for 2-3 days. This 'diacetyl rest' allows the yeast to clean up fermentation byproducts.
• After the rest, slowly lower the temperature by 2-3°C per day until you reach 1-4°C (34-40°F).
• Hold the beer at this cold temperature (lagering) for at least 4 weeks. This step is essential for developing the clean, crisp flavor and clarity of a true lager.

Carbonate and Package (2-3 weeks)

• Create a priming solution by boiling the 120g of corn sugar in 2 cups of water for 5 minutes, then let it cool completely.
• Carefully transfer (rack) the beer to a sanitized bottling bucket, leaving the yeast sediment behind. Gently stir in the cooled priming solution without splashing.
• Fill sanitized bottles, cap them securely, and store them at room temperature (around 21°C or 70°F) for 2-3 weeks to carbonate.
• Once carbonated, chill the bottles thoroughly in the refrigerator for at least 48 hours before serving.