Blonde Ale W/ Pilsner Malt?

Looking at the BJCP guidelines it appears as though using Pilsner malts wouldn’t be proper, but then it goes on to include Kolsch beers which would. What say you?

Were I to use a small portion of lager malt in my grain bill (say 20%) would I still need to do a longer boil of 90 mins vs my usual 70 min boil? Is there enough DMS to be concerned with?

Malt is malt, pilsner is just lightly kilned 2-row. Where are you reading that pilsner malt wouldn’t be appropriate? I say go for it, should be really tasty!

By lager malt, do you mean pilsner? Lager malt isn’t really a thing, it’s just malts that might get used in a lager, which could be any kind of malt you could imagine. 20% pilsner malt would be fine with a 60 minute boil as long as it’s well modified. With a good hard boil you shouldn’t get any DMS. If you’re going 70 minutes, you’re golden.

You don’t really need to do a 90 min, boil with most modern pils malts. That’s outdated info.

Awesome! Thanks fellas!

I’d probably go with 100% pilsner malt. That nutty grainy taste you get from a good pilsner malt probably wouldn’t come through at just 20%. A nice light blonde ale with some American hops and pilsner malt on a hot day? Yum!

Its actually my Smokin’ Hot Blonde jalapeño ale. Originally it was a bastard cream ale recipe that I took the Pilsner malt out of and added wheat. The three of us that had the original recipe vs the revised one all felt the previous one was much better. I liked the name though and wanted to keep it. Funny as I don’t name my beers.

I just kicked a keg on an. American blonde that was made with 90% Pilsner malt, American hops, and American yeast. It was delicious and simple!