Name: Loco Mexicanos MODELO LIGHT Recipe
Cook time: 48 h
Total time: 48 h
Yield: 40 servings
Ingredients: 4.5 kg Pilsner malt (2-row pale malt can be used); 1 kg Flaked corn (maize) or corn grits; 50 g Rice hulls (optional, for lautering); 0 g Light dry malt extract (DME) or additional pilsner if needed; 18 g Magnum (bittering, 14% AA) or other high-alpha bittering hop; 10 g Hallertau/Hersbrucker/Perle (aroma, low AA); 1 pack American lager yeast (e.g., Wyeast 2001, White Labs WLP840, or Saflager W-34/70); 1 tsp Yeast nutrient (optional); 1 tsp Irish moss (fining) or Whirlfloc tablet; 140 g Priming sugar (dextrose) for bottling; 20 l Brew water (treated/RO or good municipal); 1 tsp Gypsum (calcium sulfate) - optional to accentuate dryness; 0.5 tsp Calcium chloride - optional for roundness

Virginia Light

Med Bag of Chips

Ham, cheddar cheese, fresh tomatoes, and arugula.

Ham and Cheese Sandwich

Sliced turkey, lettuce, tomato, and mustard in a whole wheat wrap.

Fit Turkey Wrap

Heat 13–14 L of water to about 72°C (162°F). Add crushed pilsner malt, flaked corn, and rice hulls if using. Target mash temperature 65°C (149°F). Hold mash for 60 minutes, stirring occasionally to maintain even temperature.

Mill and Mash

Raise mash temperature to 75°C (167°F) for 10 minutes to improve lauterability, then vorlauf until runnings are clear.

Mash Out

Sparge with 7–8 L of water heated to 75°C (167°F) to collect approximately 18–20 L of wort in the kettle (pre-boil volume). Aim for roughly 12°–13°P (1.048–1.053) pre-boil gravity depending on system losses.

Sparge

Bring wort to a vigorous boil. At the start of a 60-minute boil, add Magnum hops (18 g) for bittering. With 10 minutes left in the boil add Irish moss or Whirlfloc and the aroma hops (10 g). Boil remaining 10 minutes then chill wort quickly to yeast pitching temperature.

Boil and Hops Schedule

Chill the wort to 10–12°C (50–54°F) as this is a lager-style yeast. Transfer to a sanitized fermenter, topping up with clean water if necessary to reach 20 L final volume. Aerate or oxygenate wort thoroughly (1–2 minutes with a sanitized aeration stone or vigorous shaking for ales).

Chill and Transfer

Pitch the rehydrated or starter-grown lager yeast into wort at 10–12°C (50–54°F). If using dry yeast, rehydrate per manufacturer instructions. Maintain fermentation temperature at 12–14°C (54–57°F) for primary fermentation.

Pitch Yeast

Allow to ferment for 7–10 days, or until vigorous activity subsides and gravity approaches terminal. Target final gravity around 1.012–1.014 to achieve about 5.3% ABV with the given grain bill.

Primary Fermentation

After primary fermentation is mostly complete, raise temperature to 16–18°C (61–64°F) for 48 hours to allow diacetyl reduction. Then perform a cold crash: lower temperature gradually to 1–3°C (34–37°F) over 48–72 hours to clarify beer.

Diacetyl Rest and Cold Crash

Condition (lager) the beer at 0–3°C (32–37°F) for 2–4 weeks for improved clarity and flavor smoothing. Longer lagering (4–8 weeks) will yield a cleaner profile closer to commercial light lagers.

Lagering

If bottling, dissolve 140 g priming sugar in 250 ml boiling water, cool, and gently mix into the keg or bottling bucket with beer. Bottle and cap. Condition at 18–22°C for 10–14 days for carbonation, then cold condition.

Bottling

If kegging, transfer beer to a sanitized keg and carbonate to 2.5–2.8 volumes of CO2 (force carbonate in a keg or naturally condition). Chill and serve at 2–4°C.

Modelo Light Recipe

Descriptors

Tasting Notes

Food Pairings

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