Pale malt in a lager recipe?

[gobuchul]

Going through my stocks and I have a load of Saaz hop pellets I forgot all about.

I have lager yeast but no pilsner malt, only pale.

I know it will be slightly darker but will it make any significant difference to the flavour if just brew with the pale?

[alexlark]

Yep it will work, it works quite well. In my last lager I used 50% pills and 50% MO.

[HTH1975]

Could end up a bit darker (margainly) but also more bready/biscuity. Probably worth mashing a little lower and/or using a little bit sugar in the grist if you’re going for a Pilsner.

[IPA]

There are many types of lager. Colour ranges from 3 EBC for a pale Pilsner type right the way to 75 EBC for a German Dunkel. The connecting factor is that they are bottom fermented and lagered, that is stored in cool conditions, for varying lengths of time. It is a common misconception that they are pale coloured highly carbonated and served freezing cold to be consumed in large amounts before,during and after football matches. To muddy the water even further one such "Lager" very popular with football fans is actually top fermented at ale temperature.

[Robwalkeragain]

On the other side, noble hops are great in pale ales, I use a heavy dose of tettnang in one of ours. Speaking of misconceptions, it's a fairly common one that lager ingredients (extra pale malts, noble hops etc) are only really suitable for lagers.
My personal choice would be to colour it down a little or use something like Dark Munich on top and make a nice hearty malty lager.