Mexican Lager - All Grain Recipe

For reasons we don't fully understand, Mexican Lagers seem to be going through a bit of a trending/hype phase right now, with most craft breweries now offering their own take on the classic cerveza.

Given this, and the success we had with our most recent lager, a Munich Helles, we figured we'd try our hand again at a slightly different lager style. It's a pretty basic and simple recipe, which we have based on The Homebrew Network's YouTube video - El Zombi Cervesa. We never would have thought to have used instant polenta, but we thought it might be an interesting alternative to flaked maize which is also derived from corn.

It's also another opportunity to use NovaLager yeast, which we've only used once before in a Japanese Lager Fresh Wort Kit (FWK) - with great results.

Vitals

Batch Volume: 23L 
Boil Time: 60 minutes
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75%

Original Gravity: 1.042
Final Gravity: 1.007
IBU (Tinseth): 14
BU/GU: 0.34
Colour: 5.9 EBC
Expected ABV: 4.6%

Mash

Temperature: 65°C - 60 minutes
Mash Out: 75°C - 10 minutes

Malts

3.5 kg - Gladfield German Pilsener Malt (83%)
0.5 kg - Instant Polenta (corn) (12%)
0.2 kg - Gladfield Chit Barley Malt (5%)

Hops

60 mins - Hallertau Tradition - 11 IBU
10 mins - Hallertau Tradition - 3 IBU

Yeast

Lallemand (Lalbrew) NovaLager - 1 packet

Fermentation

18°C - 12 days

Carbonation

2.4 CO2-vol

Water Profile (Brewfather's "American Lager" Water Profile)

Ca2+ (Calcium): 13
Mg2+ (Magnesium): 6
Na+ (Sodium): 35
Cl- (Chloride): 57
SO42- (Sulfate): 25
HCO3- (Bicarbonate): 35

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