Saikou!

By James Wilson

Recipe is part of Recipe Index

BJCP 2021 Style International Pale Lager

This is my version of a Japanese style lager that uses quite a lot of rice to dry out the body. It also accentuates the hops nicely too so you could sub out the late Magnum and Saaz for a small amount of something like Citra, Centennial or Nelson Sauvin. I cooked the rice myself, but it doesn't add much flavour so you might want to use flaked rice instead. If you do want to cook the rice yourself then stick to jasmine or basmati, and avoid 'easy cook' rice.

'Saikou' roughly means 'maximum/supreme/best' in Japanese, but can be exclaimed on it's own to mean 'this is awesome/great/the best!' as an expression of happiness and excitement. Saikou!

Awards

LAB Open 2024 (Hammerton Brewery, London, 19/5/2024)

2nd - Czech and International Lagers

Measures

• IBU 21
• ABV 5.5%
• OG 1.046
• FG 1.004
• EBC 6
• 26 litres at end of boil.
• 23 litres into fermenter.

Ingredients

Water

Mash

• 20.25 Litres reverse osmosis water
• 1g Calcium Chloride
• 3.2g Gypsum
• 3ml Lactic Acid 80%

Sparge

• 13 litres reverse osmosis water
• 0.6g Calcium Chloride
• 2g Gypsum

Malt

• 3600g Crisp Europils/Lager malt, 3.5 EBC
• 300g Oat Husks
• 1500g Jasmine Rice (see mashing steps below for instructions on cooking)

Hops

• 12g Hallertau Magnum 13% @ 60m
• 10g Hallertau Magnum 13% @ 5m
• 8g Saaz Lupomax 8.4% @ 5m

Yeast

• 2 packets of Lallemand Novalager

Process

Mash

• Take 6 litres of your strike water and use it to cook the rice. You want to over cook it so it's squishy - this might take 30 minutes or more. Don't let it dry out and burn. Once done don't drain the rice - there's lots of good starch in the water. Just leave it to cool to mash temperature (65C) or add a little more cold water to speed that up. Don't worry if it sucks up all the water and turns into a solid mass of starch.
• Use the rest of the strike water to start mashing the lager malt and oat husks and then add in the cooled rice with it's cooking water. If it's turned into a solid mass then just spoon it out and you'll find it dissolves quickly thanks to the enzymes in the malt.
• Mash for 60 minutes at 65C.

Boil

• 60 minute boil, 29 litres starting, 26 litres at end.

Ferment

• Pitched yeast at 14C
• After 3-4 days or around 50% attenuation raise to 16C
• After 2 more days or around 80% attenuation raise to 18C to finish.
• After gravity is stable for 3 days cool to 13C and dry hop.

Packaging and Serving

• Cool to 5C or as cold as you can
• Add 9ml of Brausol to keg
• Carbonate to around 3.0 volumes CO2