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Bulin's Milker Bucket Brews

Bulin's Milker Bucket Brews

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Tried Yuengling Lager for the first time yesterday(I'd always been told how great it was).

Now in the 2+ years I've been brewing(not that long by any measure I guess), I've almost always had a American Lager/Cream Ale/International Lager type beer either working or ready to drink. None of them have even come close to the liquid goodness that was in that can. All I can say is wow, I believe that this is the only, non-craft beer, American Lager I've ever tasted as good as Budvar.

Just wish I could buy it in Wisconsin.

Oh yeah, I guess my pale lagers need work...
 
These ancient German brewers probably followed more closely to German purity law when they first started out. No idea how recipes might have changed to suit the P and L of the business. Another is Straub, but I have never seen it outside of PA.
 
Bulin's Milker Bucket Brews said:
Tried Yuengling Lager for the first time yesterday(I'd always been told how great it was).

Now in the 2+ years I've been brewing(not that long by any measure I guess), I've almost always had a American Lager/Cream Ale/International Lager type beer either working or ready to drink. None of them have even come close to the liquid goodness that was in that can. All I can say is wow, I believe that this is the only, non-craft beer, American Lager I've ever tasted as good as Budvar.

Just wish I could buy it in Wisconsin.

Oh yeah, I guess my pale lagers need work...
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Pre-pandemic, I used to travel to Pittsburgh 2-3 times a year for business. The hotel we stayed at gave you either a free glass of wine or a free glass of Yuengling. Guess which one I chose? Of course I always came back with a six-pack in my luggage.
 
soccerdad said:
These ancient German brewers probably followed more closely to German purity law when they first started out. No idea how recipes might have changed to suit the P and L of the business. Another is Straub, but I have never seen it outside of PA.
Click to expand...
I went to college in PA during the 80’s. At that time the Yuengling and Straub flowed like water but I never appreciated what I was drinking because the concentration was on the volume consumed. In the subsequent 35+ years that I’ve been going back to catch a football game and hang around the knuckleheads I graduated with, I’ve come to appreciate the quality a lot more and always make sure to have a Straub Amber during my stay.
 
Semper Sitientem said:
I went to college in PA during the 80’s. At that time the Yuengling and Straub flowed like water but I never appreciated what I was drinking because the concentration was on the volume consumed. In the subsequent 35+ years that I’ve been going back to catch a football game and hang around the knuckleheads I graduated with, I’ve come to appreciate the quality a lot more and always make sure to have a Straub Amber during my stay.
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I bet you don't even have a funnel anymore
 
I've put down more Yuengling Lager than I would care to admit. Living in NE PA, the beer was inescapable when it hit big in the late 80's. It seems strange to me now, but at the bar this beer was ordered just by asking for a "Lager", no need to specify the brand or especially the type of lager. And I was all-in, it became my go-to through the late 80's and early 90's, until finally I just couldn't drink it anymore. I either hit my quota or at some point I just lost the taste for that bit of caramelly sweetness (and really anything with a forward crystal malt flavor.) But I agree, it's a well put together beer and it just looks so cool in that green bottle with that classically designed label.
 
Megary said:
I've put down more Yuengling Lager than I would care to admit. Living in NE PA, the beer was inescapable when it hit big in the late 80's.
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Indeed. America's oldest brewery.

And for a reason.
 
HighVoltageMan! said:
That is the toughest beer to master, I'm still working on it after 8-9 years brewing the damn things. Let me know when you master them and tell me how you did it. I got to know,
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After drinking this, I'm starting to think I over complicate the recipe. Next one I try will be just a 1:1 mix of Rahr Pils and Viking Golden Ale, hop it at 60 and 15 with Cluster to about 25 ibu's. After a little thought, I'm thinking that should be something in the same ballpark as the beer my great, great, great grandfather produced(I'm simply guessing based on what was most likely available and the style of beer made the next town over).
 
Bulin's Milker Bucket Brews said:
After drinking this, I'm starting to think I over complicate the recipe. Next one I try will be just a 1:1 mix of Rahr Pils and Viking Golden Ale, hop it at 60 and 15 with Cluster to about 25 ibu's. After a little thought, I'm thinking that should be something in the same ballpark as the beer my great, great, great grandfather produced(I'm simply guessing based on what was most likely available and the style of beer made the next town over).
Click to expand...
American Lagers are really simple recipes. I like Rahr Pils, it's grainy and with a little rice has a sweet spot in the middle, then finishes dry. My recipes are 85% Rahr, 15% Minute Rice. 1.047 OG IBU 12-14. When I get them right, they are simple, enjoyable and quaffable.
 
HighVoltageMan! said:
American Lagers are really simple recipes. I like Rahr Pils, it's grainy and with a little rice has a sweet spot in the middle, then finishes dry. My recipes are 85% Rahr, 15% Minute Rice. 1.047 OG IBU 12-14. When I get them right, they are simple, enjoyable and quaffable.
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I really like it, although I'll be the first to admit, the Pilsner malt I use is largely dependent on where I'm working when I run low. Shipping on a sack of base malt kinda sucks. I mostly buy it from one of three shops depends on where I'm working.
 
Bulin's Milker Bucket Brews said:
After drinking this, I'm starting to think I over complicate the recipe. Next one I try will be just a 1:1 mix of Rahr Pils and Viking Golden Ale, hop it at 60 and 15 with Cluster to about 25 ibu's. After a little thought, I'm thinking that should be something in the same ballpark as the beer my great, great, great grandfather produced(I'm simply guessing based on what was most likely available and the style of beer made the next town over).
Click to expand...
If you're using much more than 2 ingredients in a non-adjunct lager, you probably are over-complicating it. Especially if any of the ingredients are Crystal malts. Ordinarily for an Amber Lager, I'd say stick to just Pilsner and Munich or maybe a small amount of CaraMunich but Yuengling has a fair amount of caramel sweetness that's different from the traditional German lagers. For a YL clone, I might try Pilsner and Vienna with a little Crystal 60. It's sort of the same beer as Sam Adams Boston Lager and I've used that combination for a pretty decent version of that.
 
Here's the Homebrew Supply clone recipe (@Yooper is this one yours?)

https://homebrewsupply.com/yuengling-traditional-lager-clone-all-grain-recipe/
Screenshot_20211013-184115_Chrome.jpg
 
Bulin's Milker Bucket Brews said:
I'm thinking that should be something in the same ballpark as the beer my great, great, great grandfather produced(I'm simply guessing based on what was most likely available and the style of beer made the next town over).
Click to expand...
If it was a commercial venture, think simple: finances were important, so minimal ingredients and effort.

I mean, if this was your way of making a living what would you do?
 
Donoroto said:
If it was a commercial venture, think simple: finances were important, so minimal ingredients and effort.

I mean, if this was your way of making a living what would you do?
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And not the finest ingredients either, those won't always be available. It will be made from inexpensive, readily available stuff.
 
So on my way home from work last night my wife asked me to pick up a few things and while at the store, I checked out the beer selection. They had a 12 of yuengling in bottles so I put it in the cart.
I'll have a couple today while doing some yard work.
I remember it as clean and malty, but I haven't had it in a while.
Even though it's made in our neighbor state, it wasn't distributed here until maybe 10 or 15 years ago, so I only had it when we were in PA.
Cheers!
Brian
 
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