Percolating my first lager now a maibock. I’m planning on repitching the cake for another lager before my basement warms up to ale temp. What are some of your favorites and why. Also I am using s34/70, you think it would make a nice pilsner?
I made a German Pils with 34/70 late last summer and it was very good. Nice clean profile.
I’m new to lagers but so far have brewed marzen/Ofest, Munich Dunkel (rebuiltcellars’ recipe), Vienna (Mattnaik’s recipe) and Czech Pils. All have been excellent with the exception of the pils which was good but needs more bittering hops next time around.
Aboslutely LOVE the Dunkel - all about the malt but really smooth and well balanced, the marzen turned out really good too - malty with just enough spice from hops to balance it out, and Matt’s Vienna is awesome - light enough for a really good spring/summer beer for malty beer lovers. All 3 of those recipes are posted in threads around here if you want to check them out.
I do like a bitter pils. :lol: Going to start designing a recipe, any advice?
Jamil’s recipe in BCS for German Pils is a good bitter pils. Comes in around 36 IBU
11lbs of Pilsner malt (or to 1.048 post boil based on your efficiency).
1oz Perle at 60
0.5oz hallertau at 15
0.5oz hallertau at 1
use WLP830 or 34/70.
Very simple and tasty recipe
I started my first true lagers this winter with 34/70, started with a german Pils, then a dunkel, and now have a marzen in primary. Won’t be bottling the Pils for a couple more weeks, but the color sure is purty! Can’t wait to try these.
I think a pils recipe should be simple. I will change the hops to german magnum and Saaz though since that’s what I have in the freezer
Should work out great. Let us know how it tastes if you decide to brew it.
Mine was a 3.5-gallon batch to build up the yeast cake for the dunkel. 6# german pils malt, 3 oz carahell, Perle for bittering and Saaz at 25 and 10 minutes for an OG of 1.054 and 40 IBUs. REALLY looking forward to this one, the flavor when I transferred it out of primary was great!
I was thinking along those lines. This was my first lager and I spent $15 dollars on yeast almost the cost of my grain. Next winter I was thinking to do what you did start with a small batch harvest the yeas and do a couple in series.
It seems to be working great so far, but I wish I could say I planned for it. The truth is that I screwed up and only bought half the yeast I should have for the dunkel, so a quick juggling of the brew schedule yielded the half batch of pilsner, instead of a really large starter. :oops:
Score!
Improvisation , I love it :cheers:
You should definitely reuse that yeast. Almost every year, I do the same thing. make a big starter for a first lower OG lager, then keep the strain going thoughout the winter. Wish I could help with some advice on a pils, but I’ve never brewed one that stood out enough.
Where do you think you went wrong
Helles is my thing. 34/70 makes a nice one too.
Where do you think you went wrong[/quote]
For a while I thought it was water, but I think I’ve eliminated that as a possibility. Don’t know, maybe it’s that I’m just not into highly hops beers so I’m less thrilled with my pils than my hels.
I just don’t want it to come out thin.
Mash high, it won’t come out thin.
You could do a nice G-pils, Dortmunder, or even a CAP with that yeast.
The last couple years I’ve purchased 2 bags of Pilsner malt - 100 pounds, and make up 5, 10-gallon batches in the garage over the winter. If the garage gets too cold and fermentation slows to the point where I can’t get all 5 batches done before it warms up, I take the last bag of grain and do something else with it. I generally use WLP 800 Czech lager yeast and roll it over from batch to batch. Occasionally, if one batch seems to go a little slow, I’ll throw another vial of fresh in with the yeast for the next batch. My recipe is really simple, generally 20 lbs of pilsner malt, and Pearle bittering hops and Saaz to finish it off. It comes out OK, a little on the malty side taste wise.
