Spruce Rice Lager Homebrew Recipe

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Spruce Rice Lager Homebrew Recipe

This crispy beer comes to us by way of Paul Illa. He provided the recipe and introduction below. You can ask Paul questions and follow his brewing adventures on Twitter and Instagram. 

The recipe was born out of a couple of different ideas. First, was the jasmine rice. I had a Jasmine Rice Lager from Brau Brothers in Marshall, MN. They collaborated with a local Thai restaurant that used jasmine rice. It was really good. Clean with a really cool aromatic, herbal note. I was also looking to enter the Alaskan Brewing Company homebrew competition. They have a special ingredient category. It, shockingly, was spruce tips. So, I married the two together. 

Pre-Prohibition style base (IBU and gravity, loosely). Something a bit fuller versus a typical American Light Lager. Used a German Pilsner water profile and bam! I procured the spruce tips, like I mentioned, from Alaskan. They mailed them to me for like $10. I had hoped to get it done fast and send beer back to Alaska. I ran into my daughter’s birthday and travel time for the bottles to Alaska. Brewday time was tight. Nonetheless, I did get it brewed. I was hoping the OSLO (Bootleg Biology) strain would ferment fast, which it did. I believe it was like 4 days @ 85F. Once kegged it still needed conditioning time. It just wasn’t as clear and ready. Not comp ready, for sure. 

All things being equal the beer turned out nice. I would’ve liked a little less pine. My own worst critic. I went with Viking 2-Row Xtra Pale Malt for the lower protein (no protein rest) and high modification. I could easily just whip up another batch without the pine and use a more robust Pilsner malt. Simple beer, good flavor and a fast turnaround. 

 

WATER + ADJUSTMENTS

  • 8.55 gallons distilled water
  • 4.01 grams Calcium Chloride
  • 2.28 gram Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate)
  • 1.71 grams Epsom Salt (MgSO4)

MALT

  • 10 lbs Viking Xtra Pale Malt (73.1%)
  • 3 lbs Jasmine Rice (21.9%
  • 6.0 oz Acid Malt (2.7%)
  • 5.0 oz Caravienne Malt (2.3%)

Mash at 150-151 for 60 minutes

HOPS

  • 0.65 oz Belma @ 60 min (25.7 IBU)
  • 1.00 oz Ultra @ 10 min (4.5 IBU)
  • 1.00 oz Ultra @ 0 min (0.0 IBU)

MISC

  • 4.0 Alaskan Spruce Tips @ Whirlpool

YEAST

  • 1 pkg Bootleg Biology OSLO
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