2 replies to this topic

[Big Nake]

So I have this Mexican Vienna Lager recipe that I came up with...4 lbs Vienna3¼ lbs 2-row1 lb flaked corn4 oz Belgian CaraMunich¼ oz Black Malt4½ AAU Hallertau Hersbrucker for 60¼ oz Hallertau Hersbrucker for 20White Labs 940 Mexican Lager Yeast... and I've had a number of people ask how to make it as extract. Can you steep flaked corn? Can you steep an entire 4 lbs of Vienna? It seems that finding extract that has been made with Vienna is tricky. I know that they make brewer's corn syrup so that takes care of that part (if you can't steep flaked corn). I see that Williams has an extract with flaked corn and also an extract made with a large percentage of Munich. I can usually get recipes to and from AG/extract without issue, but I'm not sure on this one. Any ideas? Cheers guys.

[stellarbrew]

As far as I know, Vienna and flaked corn both need to be converted, and therefore must be mashed. Vienna has enough diastatic power to convert itself, but may not have enough to convert the flaked corn too. I don't think you could get the same flavors from that beer without the Vienna, and perhaps not without the flaked corn either. Thus, it seems like the best way without doing it AG is to do a partial mash, with the Vienna, the flaked corn, and an additional pound of 2-row to provide the diastatic power to convert the flaked corn. At that point you are not to too far from the AG version, but maybe replacing 2-1/2 pounds of 2-row with some extract could make a difference to someone with limited tun or kettle capacity.BTW, it looks pretty tasty. Is it very similar to Negra Modelo?

[Big Nake]

Stellar: Thanks for the reply. It's a little lighter & brighter than Negra Modelo would be. Here is a link to the recipe. The beer is supposed to get close to a beer that is made in Mexico and not sold in the US. I haven't had the beer in about 7 years so it's very tough to tell how close I got, but it's a very nice beer.I think I've had 3 or 4 people ask about an extract version and I just can't see the best way to do it. Apparently, Weyermann makes an extract called VIENNA RED that looks like it's hard to find. I believe it's 50% Vienna so that could work on that part and then maybe some brewer's corn syrup (I used to order this stuff from Austin Homebrew) to take care of the corn and bypass the mini-mash. The high percentage of Vienna plus the adjunct makes it a tough conversion. Cheers.