Pre Pro Lager

[HighVoltageMan!]

Thinking about doing one of these in the near future…Anyone have any thoughts or tips on making one? And most importantly was it worth the effort? Distinctly different? 6 row seems to be a mainstay but what yeast and hops have you used, etc…?

The pre-prohibition lager is a bit of an enigma. You will get a wide range of opinions as to what a pre-prohibition lager really is. The way I look at it, you can brew an American lager with a little more leeway. The bitterness is going to be much higher than a modern American lager. The modern version is 12-15 IBU's. The guidelines suggest 25-40 IBU's for a pre-prohibition lager. The preferred hop is a continental Noble hop. Saaz, Tettnang, Perle, Hallertau, etc., many early American breweries imported their hops from Europe

The base malt doesn't have to be 6 row. Modern American 2 row is very similar to 6 row and has a better flavor. Adjuncts are used to lighten the body, but in many cases could be optional with modern 2 row. The starting gravity can go as high as 1.060. So do what you want with this beer, it's mostly interpretation.

The yeast is the easy part, a lot of people swear by WLP833, but I love dry yeast 34/70 for any American Lager. 34/70 is so easy to work, it's clean and dry. It's a great yeast for this style.

The fermentation temperature is up to you. 34/70 works really well from 48F to 64F. The ester it produces most is a lemon character. If you want to reduce or eliminate it, pressure ferment at 5 PSI @ 50F. Or just let it go in the low 60's and it can produce a very clean beer.

Basically the beer is a German Pilsner with some adjuncts in it. Personally, I like to push the lagers a bit higher in original gravity and attenuate them as low as I can. SO a 1.060 beer lands around 1.010 to 1.012. 34/70 is a great yeast for this effect. A decent recipe would be something like this:

80-85% 2 row American Pilsner malt; Rahr Premium Pils is perfect for this.
15-20% flaked corn or rice, I like Minute Rice as an adjunct. Just toss it into the mash.
SG 1.058 FG 1.011 ABV @ 6%
Perle, German Tradition or Magnum at 60 minutes for bittering
Saaz or Hallertau for a finishing hop. @ 10 minutes
IBU's 25-30
Mash @145F for 60-90 minutes to get the attenuation up to +80%
Water is 100% R/O or distilled.
3 grams of calcium chloride and 3 grams of calcium sulfate as a salt addition
Pitch a lot of yeast when cold, you can back off when warm. 3-4 packs cold, 2 packs warm.
Lager 4-6 weeks

Good Luck!

 

[Sandy Feet]

I wanted to do it as an experiment. Taste wise, I LOVE it. I did not do a protein rest, and the beer foams like hell. 6 row has a lot of protein. I have to let it settle for a minute and I am doing 1/2 pours.
My recipe was very simple.. 6 row, flaked corn, Carapils. I used Crystal Hops at 60 and 10. Crystal Hops, at least the ones I had, are very low alpha. I used about what I would use for a Pale Ale because of that. 34/70 worked great. I overpitched the living hell out of it, and it took off like an Ale. It was quite drinkable in 4 weeks. It was REALLY damn good yesterday.
6 Row does not ferment down as well. Mine was OG 1.060, FG 1.018. It has a slight sweetness to it.
Make sure you have a lot of room in your kettle with 6 row. I had the hot break from hell and damn near overflowed a kettle that had 7 gallons of space left in it.

 

[GFHomebrew]

I wanted to do it as an experiment. Taste wise, I LOVE it. I did not do a protein rest, and the beer foams like hell. 6 row has a lot of protein. I have to let it settle for a minute and I am doing 1/2 pours.
My recipe was very simple.. 6 row, flaked corn, Carapils. I used Crystal Hops at 60 and 10. Crystal Hops, at least the ones I had, are very low alpha. I used about what I would use for a Pale Ale because of that. 34/70 worked great. I overpitched the living hell out of it, and it took off like an Ale. It was quite drinkable in 4 weeks. It was REALLY damn good yesterday.
6 Row does not ferment down as well. Mine was OG 1.060, FG 1.018. It has a slight sweetness to it.
Make sure you have a lot of room in your kettle with 6 row. I had the hot break from hell and damn near overflowed a kettle that had 7 gallons of space left in it.

Sounds like you'll be brewing this again

 

[Sandy Feet]

Sounds like you'll be brewing this again

I think an IPL like this would also be very good. I did see something online where they were mixing the 6 row with Pils or 2 row. That might work too.

 

[Sandy Feet]

The pre-prohibition lager is a bit of an enigma. You will get a wide range of opinions as to what a pre-prohibition lager really is. The way I look at it, you can brew an American lager with a little more leeway. The bitterness is going to be much higher than a modern American lager. The modern version is 12-15 IBU's. The guidelines suggest 25-40 IBU's for a pre-prohibition lager. The preferred hop is a continental Noble hop. Saaz, Tettnang, Perle, Hallertau, etc., many early American breweries imported their hops from Europe

The base malt doesn't have to be 6 row. Modern American 2 row is very similar to 6 row and has a better flavor. Adjuncts are used to lighten the body, but in many cases could be optional with modern 2 row. The starting gravity can go as high as 1.060. So do what you want with this beer, it's mostly interpretation.

The yeast is the easy part, a lot of people swear by WLP833, but I love dry yeast 34/70 for any American Lager. 34/70 is so easy to work, it's clean and dry. It's a great yeast for this style.

The fermentation temperature is up to you. 34/70 works really well from 48F to 64F. The ester it produces most is a lemon character. If you want to reduce or eliminate it, pressure ferment at 5 PSI @ 50F. Or just let it go in the low 60's and it can produce a very clean beer.

Basically the beer is a German Pilsner with some adjuncts in it. Personally, I like to push the lagers a bit higher in original gravity and attenuate them as low as I can. SO a 1.060 beer lands around 1.010 to 1.012. 34/70 is a great yeast for this effect. A decent recipe would be something like this:

80-85% 2 row American Pilsner malt; Rahr Premium Pils is perfect for this.
15-20% flaked corn or rice, I like Minute Rice as an adjunct. Just toss it into the mash.
SG 1.058 FG 1.011 ABV @ 6%
Perle, German Tradition or Magnum at 60 minutes for bittering
Saaz or Hallertau for a finishing hop. @ 10 minutes
IBU's 25-30
Mash @145F for 60-90 minutes to get the attenuation up to +80%
Water is 100% R/O or distilled.
3 grams of calcium chloride and 3 grams of calcium sulfate as a salt addition
Pitch a lot of yeast when cold, you can back off when warm. 3-4 packs cold, 2 packs warm.
Lager 4-6 weeks

Good Luck!

My normal Spring Water worked quite well too.

 

[GFHomebrew]

I think an IPL like this would also be very good. I did see something online where they were mixing the 6 row with Pils or 2 row. That might work too.

You'll have to try it out.