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 4.5 gallons (17 L) of brewing water to about 164°F (73°C). Add 1 tsp gypsum and, if using tap water with chlorine, crush and dissolve 1 Campden tablet. This produces about 152–153°F (67–67.5°C) mash temperature after grist addition.

Heat strike water and adjust

Add the crushed pilsner malt, flaked rice, and light Munich malt to the strike water, stirring to avoid lumps. Hold the mash at 152°F (67°C) for 60 minutes. Rest and perform an iodine test near end of mash to confirm conversion.

Mash in

Raise temperature to 168°F (76°C) for 10 minutes to stop enzymatic activity, then vorlauf until wort runs clear and drain into kettle.

Mash out

Sparge with enough water to collect roughly 6.5 gallons (24.6 L) of wort in the boil kettle.

Sparge

Bring wort to a vigorous boil. At the start of a 60-minute boil, add 1 oz Magnum hops. With 10 minutes remaining, add 0.5 oz Saaz hops. During the last 5 minutes of boil, add 1 tablespoon table salt dissolved in a small volume of wort to ensure even distribution. Boil remainder of time, watch for boilovers.

Boil and hop additions

After 60-minute boil, chill wort quickly to 50–55°F (10–13°C) using a wort chiller or ice bath. Transfer chilled wort to sanitized fermenter, leaving trub behind.

Cool wort

Aerate the wort by shaking or oxygenating to ~8–10 ppm O2, then pitch the lager yeast (rehydrated or starter-prepared W-34/70). Target fermentation temperature: 50–52°F (10–11°C).

Pitch yeast

Allow fermentation at 50–52°F (10–11°C) for 10–14 days, monitoring gravity. Expect final gravity around 1.008–1.012 depending on attenuation.

Primary fermentation

Raise temperature to 62°F (17°C) for 2–3 days once active fermentation subsides to allow off-flavors to drop out.

Diacetyl rest

Slowly lower temperature by 1–2°F per day down to 34–36°F (1–2°C) and lager for 3–6 weeks for clarity and smoothness.

Lagering

At bottling/kegging, prepare fresh lime zest and juice: zest two limes finely and juice them. For a 5 gallon batch, add the zest to the fermenter during the last 2–3 days of lagering (sanitized by briefly steeping in 170°F water for 2 minutes and cooling) to impart subtle lime aroma. Add 2–4 fl oz (60–120 ml) fresh lime juice at bottling to give bright, fresh lime flavor; start with 2 fl oz and adjust in later batches. Note: adding juice can restart fermentation if sugars remain; use caution and monitor carbonation.

Add lime character

Taste a small sample before packaging. The 1 tablespoon added in the boil yields a light salty note; if more minerality is desired, dissolve additional food-grade salt in a small amount of sanitized water and add no more than 0.5–1 tsp to the full batch. Avoid over-salting — lager should have a delicate saline accent, not be salty.

Salt adjustment

If bottling, dissolve 3.25 oz corn sugar in 1 cup boiling water, cool and add to bottling bucket. Rack beer onto priming solution, gently mix, then bottle and cap. If kegging, purge keg with CO2 and force-carbonate to 2.5–2.7 vol CO2 at 38°F (3°C) or carbonate naturally with less added priming sugar.

Priming and bottling / kegging

After packaging, condition bottles at room temperature for 2 weeks, then chill. If kegged, carbonate and cold-condition for 2–3 days. Serve chilled (38–45°F / 3–7°C). For individual servings, optionally rim the glass with a pinch of coarse salt and garnish with a lime wedge; do not squeeze the lime into every glass unless desired.

Cold conditioning and serving

Pilsner malt (or light 2-row pale malt)

Flaked rice

Light Munich malt

Corn sugar (dextrose) — priming

Magnum hops (bittering, 60 min)

Saaz hops (aroma, 10 min)

Lager yeast (Saflager W-34/70 or similar)

Water (brewing/top-up)

Gypsum (calcium sulfate) — mash adjustment

Table salt (for flavoring, not preservative)

Fresh limes (zest and juice)

Campden tablet (optional, for dechlorinating tap water)

Lime wedge

Pinch of salt (coarse) for rim

Historic Salt River Lager

Make Historic Salt River Lager Recipe in just 240h . Lager with salt and lime

Historic Salt River Lager

Descriptors

Tasting Notes

Food Pairings

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