Czech Pilsner

mrbrewdude · January 2, 2012, 11:21pm

Today we were asked to make a Czech Pilsner for a super bowl party. We are going to brew it tomorrow morning. The host of the party is a pilsner fan so we want to get it right. Here is our recipe so far. We expect about 80% efficiency so we should start at about 1.048. We are going to use US-05 just because we do not have time to do a lager.

14 Lbs German Pils
1.0 Lbs flaked corn
0.5 Lbs Carapils
0.5 Lbs Wheat

We have Hallertauer 5.0 AA and Czech SAAZ at 3.1 AA. Whole leaf. Our idea was

2oz - 60 min Hallertauer
1oz - 30 min SAAZ
1oz - 15 min SAAZ
1oz - WP SAAZ

ANy comments, suggestions?

scott_miller · January 3, 2012, 12:31am

Any chance you could get Wyeast German Ale by tomorrow?
Might taste more appropriate with a limited lagering.
That grain bill looks like a german cream ale to me.Czech malt has its own flavor.
If it was me I’d just do 100% pils.
FWH Saaz, bitter with Saaz, Saaz aroma. Saaz, Saaz, Saaz. Then more Saaz.

Hope it comes together for you in time.

mrbrewdude · January 3, 2012, 2:26am

No German ale yeast. We are stuck with US-05.

I am going to tak your word on the all Pilsner. That was my first thought. How does this look.

16 Lbs German Pilsner

2.25oz Czech SAAZ 60 min 17.6 IBUs
4.50oz Czech SAAZ 30 min 15.9 IBUs
3.00oz Czech SAAZ WP 3.5 IBUs

US-05 at 65 degrees

sonex · January 3, 2012, 2:29am

eeeek flaked corn in a czech pils, the previous poster is right just 100% pils malt.

edit oh sorry just saw you made the change.

nighthawk · January 3, 2012, 12:18pm

Be sure to do a 90 minute boil with that Pilsner malt.

scott_miller · January 3, 2012, 12:33pm

Looks good, I’d drink a ton of that.
I half thought about some carapils because 05 could take that FG down to the single digits with straight Pils.
But I dont think getting it that dry is a bad idea , probably come out right at 5%, plenty drinkable.
Might bump your mash temp up a few degrees, 53-54*, or just don’t worry about it.

ken_lenard · January 3, 2012, 1:16pm

Yep, I was going to suggest mashing a little higher because US05 attenuates like a MOFO and it could end up dry. I was under the impression that German pilsners were all pilsner malt but that a Czech Pils could employ the use of some Vienna and/or Munich as well. When I make a Bohemian style pilsner, I’ll go with mostly pilsner malt and small amounts (maybe a pound) of Vienna, Munich or both. Just a thought. I also agree on the Saaz. If you must use something else for bittering, I could see it, but make sure the later additions are Saaz. One last thought… I make a lot of lagers and part of the appeal is the character that the lager yeast gives to the beer. Ale yeasts and lager yeasts both have their distinct flavor contributions and using US05 here might be disappointing to your pilsner-loving friend because the beer just won’t have that flavor. As long as everyone knows this going in, it should all be good. Cheers and good luck. Oh, and hurry up!

central_wa_brewing · January 3, 2012, 9:42pm

I too was thinking along the lines of mostly German Pils malt. I am going to be making a Czech Pils soon and my grain bill is going to be German Pils with possibly some Dextrin. I have a Bohemian Pils fermenting right now and like mentioned above, it has German Pils with some Vienna.
You’re on the right course with using mostly Saaz. Either way, I’m sure you and everyone else will enjoy it.

mrbrewdude · January 4, 2012, 1:15am

Brewed this today. My friend was quoting Jamil’s recipe with a ton of corn in it so we ended up with 14 LBS of Pilsner and 2 Lbs of corn. We were going to mash at 148 but we accidentally left the mash burner on and ended up at 153. Gravity was a little low in the kettle so we ended up lowering the hops to 2oz for 60 4oz for 30 and 3oz for WP. We ended up at 1.046. We pitched us-05 at 65 degrees. I think it will be a nice beer.

sa_brew · January 4, 2012, 5:01am

Sounds like you made a good, hoppy blonde ale. Some ale yeasts with lager characteristics are:
White Labs WLP 515 Antwerp Ale–can finish with some sulfur like a lager. Low fruit. I compared this yeast to a Vienna lager once, and it was easy to tell which one was the ale, but it has more lager character than US 05.

WLP 029 Kolsch yeast. I used this yeast for the first time a few weeks ago for an alt, and it has a clean, crisp finish.

Wyeast 1007. It is not as crisp as the WLP 029, but it is very clean with low fruit if you ferment cool.

None of these will taste like a lager, but they will have some characteristics of a lager.

pawtucket_patriot · January 4, 2012, 1:16pm

Are you referencing Jamil’s recipe in Brewing Classic Styles? If so, it must be different than the BoPils recipe on Fred Bonjour’s site
http://beerdujour.com/Recipes/Jamil/JamilsBohemianPilsner.htm
, which is almost all pilsner malt with a little carapils for body. Even if Jamil uses corn in his BoPils, I wouldn’t use it in mine. I’ve got one fermenting right now that was almost all pils. The balance was just a little carapils and some acid malt to lower my mash pH. Sorry for the Monday morning quarterbacking. I’m sure your beer will taste great. And it will be ready for kickoff!

mrbrewdude · January 4, 2012, 3:00pm

We are rural and don’t have a local homebrew shop so we didn’t have time to order in some yeast then make a starter. I know it isn’t going to be a true pilsner but I think it will be acceptable for our purpose. We did make the water real soft and heavy on the cloride side to get the malt flavor. We are fermenting at 65 degrees so there should not be much yeast flavor. We are hopeing the pilsner malt and Czech SAAZ flavors come out.

ken_lenard · January 4, 2012, 8:31pm

It’s going to be nice. You did yourself a favor getting the water soft and higher on the chlorides too. I’m assuming that this is 10 gallons right? When I saw 16 lbs of grain but 1.046 OG, I think you broke my brain. :lol: Good luck with the beer & please let us know how it comes out for the SuperBowl party! Cheers.