German Pils recipe

[mysterio]

Planning a German Pils in the next few days, how does this recipe look? Looking for a nice hoppy kick in the nuts. Going with all German ingredients.

Never used this yeast, any experience?

German Pils
German Pilsner (Pils)

Type: All Grain
Date: 08/05/2010
Batch Size: 12.00 gal
Boil Size: 13.74 gal
Boil Time: 90 min
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00

Ingredients

Amount Item Type % or IBU
9.40 kg Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (2.0 SRM) Grain 100.00 %
60.00 gm Magnum [14.00 %] (60 min) Hops 55.3 IBU
250.00 gm Hallertauer Mittelfrueh [4.00 %] (0 min) Hops -
1 Pkgs Southern German Lager (White Labs #WLP838) Yeast-Lager

Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.048 SG
Bitterness: 55.3 IBU Calories: 43 cal/pint
Est Color: 3.5 SRM Color: Color

My Mash Step Time Name Description Step Temp
60 min Step Add 27.26 L of water at 69.5 C 64.0 C

[yogester]

No CaraPils?

Sorry not to be any help with the yeast....

[mysterio]

I have a kilo of Carapils which I was going to add... then I saw an IPA recipe I fancied with carapils so I might hold it back...

We'll see how it goes, I could always get more.

[Invalid Stout]

Nice and bitter. Should be excellent.

I want to make lager. Where's the best place to get old fridges? Or is a freezer better?

[weiht]

hey i just made myself a pilsner too... i used a mixture of pilsner vienna n munich malt, n hopped with perle and saaz.

[Swiller]

Do any of you lads have an extract recipe for a Pils?

Jules

[mysterio]

Nice and bitter. Should be excellent.

I want to make lager. Where's the best place to get old fridges? Or is a freezer better?

I literally found mine at the tip, and I got my second one from someone who was wanting rid of it. They are really easy to come across free or cheap. Try ebay (search by your postcode), gumtree, freecycle, places like that.

I don't like a chest freezer because lifting things in and out would be quite difficult, although it would be good for long term lagering of kegs. I suppose you wouldn't need to bypass the thermostat of a freezer either, just plug in an ATC-800 or TC-10 and away you go.

[Barley Water]

I am very interested in how that one will come out. In two weeks (God and the wife willing) I will be doing the first of three lagers in a row, the initial effort being a German pils. Your IBU/Gravity ratio is pretty high for the style, what type of water are you using? I have medium hard water here and I am really afraid that if I tried to push it up that high, I would end up with a pretty harsh beer. Most formulations I have seen for say a Bitburger clone have bitterness in the high 30's or so (of course being a Yankee and more importantly a Texan I really have to respect somebody who is planning to go over the top). I guess the other thing I was wondering about would be dry hopping, any inclination to go down that path a bit just for grins?

I have never used that particular strain of lager yeast, my go to strain is Wyeast 2206, let me know how that works out in your beer and good luck.

[mysterio]

The water is super soft here plus i'll add some gypsum. Yeah the IBUs look high but my beers never have enough bitterness so either my calculation underestimates or I'm losing IBUs to hops and trub. I also find lagering loses IBUs. My finishing hops are almost certainly over the top

I look forward to seeing your German pils recipe... get some pictures up Barley Water!

Dry hopping a pilsner... I think that's a step too far.

[Barley Water]

Actually, according to some stuff I read (and only God knows where I get my mitts on this stuff) some of the lads over in German actually do dry hop their pilsners. If I remember correctly, they were dry hopping with Saaz. Of course, if you can cool down your wort really quickly after flame out, you should get pretty big hop aroma anyhow so maybe the whole thing is moot. I really wish I had soft water, at least for beer making. I know a bunch of guys over here have RO filtering systems but I just don't want to go to that much trouble and expense. The only beer style that I can't really do with this water is a Bohemian pilsner but there are so many other choices it is really not that big a deal. I just have to be really careful with my hop additions, if I get too heavy handed, I will end up with some pretty harsh bittering. I also try to stick with noble hops to reduce my chances of problems since they generally give you pretty mellow bittering.

I made a Ballentine XXX clone a couple of weekends ago and used Clusters for bittering, I really hope I don't live to regret that decision. The reason I did it though was I was trying to recreate a classic American beer which probably had a little edge to it anyway so it will be interesting to see what happens. Normally, I would steer well clear of Clusters but sometimes I think it is fun to make a beer that was popular back in the day which is now extinct.

[Invalid Stout]

Actually, according to some stuff I read (and only God knows where I get my mitts on this stuff) some of the lads over in German actually do dry hop their pilsners. If I remember correctly, they were dry hopping with Saaz.

I don't think many do, for several reasons. Firstly, it's something of a grey area whether it's actually allowed under the Purity Law, and secondly many people say that noble hops are unpleasantly grassy when dry hopped. I have heard rumours that some Altbier brewers do it, though.

[weiht]

I'm getting too dark a colour for a pilsner, may be due to the vigorous boil or munich malt.

[Whorst]

I brewed a Helles with that yeast. Very fast. Finished in about 8 days. I then lagered for 5 weeks.
It was wonderful as I'm sure your pils will be as well.

[steve_flack]

Dry hopping a pilsner... I think that's a step too far.

I've done it. Works quite well. Just don't over do it. You're already using a lot of steep hops though so you mightn't need (or notice) it. I've usually dryhopped lagers with 0.5g/l of either mittelfruh or saaz hop pellets - depending on style.

[steve_flack]

I'm getting too dark a colour for a pilsner, may be due to the vigorous boil or munich malt.

Do you do any water treatment. Wort pH has an influence on colour.