American craft beer started as a big middle finger to American lagers. Miller, Bud, and Coors. The microbrew crowd saw them as sellouts, pushing soulless, watered-down beer for maximum profit. Lagers like those were the face of everything wrong with American brewing: safe, dull, and mass-produced to death. Fast forward to now, and the craft scene has gotten real comfortable sucking up to the same corporations they once despised. So yeah, here I am too, brewing a corn lager—go figure. But I’ve got a soft spot for Coors Banquet, I won’t lie. Supposedly, Wyeast 2272-PC is a dead ringer for their yeast, and I want to see if it delivers that same smooth sweetness with a hint of banana on the finish. Among the macro beers, Banquet’s got character.

Grain

• 4lb Pilsner
• 4lb 6 Row
• 2lb Flaked Maize

Hops

• .5oz Mt Hood (5.7%)@ First Wort

Water (American Lager)

• 2ml Phosphoric Acid 85%
• .35g Gypsum (mash)
• .36g Calcium Chloride (mash)
• .39g Baking Soda (mash)
• .82g Epsom (mash)
• .73g Gypsum (sparge)
• .76g Calcium Chloride (sparge)
• .82g Baking Soda (sparge)
• 1.74g Epsom (sparge)

Yeast

•  2272-PC Wyeast North American Lager

Mash (light bodied)

• Mash in with 3.3 gallons
• Steep at 148f
• Sparge 8 gallons at 170f

Boil

• .5oz Mt Hood (5.7%)@ First Wort

Fermentation

• Ferment at 54f