Hoping to make an ale that is like a pilsner...?

Hi all,
I'm a relatively new brewer, and I'd like to make a pilsner for a friend, but I don't have a way to ferment at lager temperatures.

So, given that making a proper pilsner is not possible, I'm wondering if anyone has any recipe or other recommendations for an ale which is similar to a pilsner.

Also, if this is not really feasible, tell me...like I said, I'm pretty new to homebrewing, and as more of a stouts and porters kind of guy, my familiarity with pilsner style is somewhat limited.

Thanks!

If you use a kolsch yeast or even a really clean ale yeast (like WLP001, WY1056, or SafAle-05) and just ferment them as cool as you can you should be pretty happy

I believe Sweetwater just released this very beer. I think it's their Road Trip. Maybe see if you can dig up a little info on that.

Here is my Pilsner ale:

10lbs Pilsner Malt
1.0lbs Flaked Wheat

US-05 yeast

Saaz (or similar) Hops

Boil for 90 minutes, the large amount of Pilsner needs it for DMS reduction. Ferment as cool as possible. I try to keep it around 62*F.

I can't keep that brew available. It just FLIES out of the keg.

Brewers Best makes a Continental Pilsner extract kit (with grains for steeping) that is good. If you can't find one I can look up the ingredients if you wish.

Thanks all for the recommendations-sounds like brewing a pilsner recipe with ale yeast (like road trip ale) is my best bet for getting close to the pils style.

Kirks, one question: "DMS"? I'm missing the acronym.

I'll probably make your recipe, substituting WLP 001 (it's what the lhbs carries).

Thanks again, y'all!

threeeight said:

Thanks all for the recommendations-sounds like brewing a pilsner recipe with ale yeast (like road trip ale) is my best bet for getting close to the pils style.

Kirks, one question: "DMS"? I'm missing the acronym.

I'll probably make your recipe, substituting WLP 001 (it's what the lhbs carries).

Thanks again, y'all!

Click to expand...

Dimethyl Sulfide. Sometimes listed as "DMSO", I do believe. IIRC, it leads to the "cooked vegetable" bad taste.

As Cpt Kirks has ably pointy out, Pilsner malt requires a vigorous boil to get teh DMS out of the wort.

For a relatively new brewer the first step is to get your fermenter into a water bath.

A basic pale ale fermented at 60-65°F is going to knock a lot of socks.

You can get a planter type bucket for a five or six foot tall tree at KMArt or Home Depot for probably under twenty bucks. You want one with no holes in it so it will hold water, big enough around to hold your fermenter and provide a couple or four inches of water jacket all around.

Set it someplace you won't have to move it, get your primary fermenter in there, fill it with cool tap water most of the way up. Gonna want a floating thermometer, the stick-on type isn't going to be at home here.

Hang a T shirt over the fermenter and down into the water all the way around.

Keep three or four half gallon plastic jugs half full of water alternating between the freezer and the water bath, the ice chunks in the water bath will help keep it cool.

More yeast = more heat generated during fermentation = more cooling capacity required to maintain x° temperature.

The above system will work fine with a packet of dry yeast.

If you want to pitch 2 liters of healthy yeast into 5 gal of wort you will need a significantly more advanced (and more expensive) system. I have traded a few homebrewes around now, the folks fermenting ales under 70°F are making really good beer and the folks running primary ale ferments under 65°F are making amazing stuff.

Looking back at my brewlog I wish I had built a $20 fermentation chiller sooner. On a bang for buck basis it should be the first step up from the basic plastic bucket system for just about anyone.

M2c.

PS: It won't hurt your stouts and porters ;-)

Aha! Got it now, thanks!

Poindexter,
Thanks for the info. Fortunately, I live in a relatively moderate climate, so keeping fermentation temps around 65-68 is pretty easy, as long as the weather cooperates. I've got an oatmeal stout that went into the secondary last week, and the sample from my gravity reading was right on the money.

Sounds like the most important steps are a long boil, and keeping those fermentation temps down below 65.

threeight, if you live in moderate climate, it should be really easy to keep it an 62 or so and make it really clean. Any tub + frozen water bottles =it really is that easy.

Poindexter said:

More yeast = more heat generated during fermentation

Click to expand...

Actually, more fermentation means more heat, to the tune of 140 kcal per kg of extract.

</pedantic jerk>

+1 on watching ferm temp. Mucho importante.

here's the one i made:

1 lb. carapils
6 lb's plain extract
1 oz hallertauer 60 mins
1 oz hallertauer 20 mins
1 oz saaz 2 mins

tastes really good.

I haven't tried this all-grain yet. What grain would one use for that?

I'm actually polishing off the last liter of a batch made with the recipe I listed before.

And it is GOOOOD.

If my order comes in, I'm brewing another batch over the 4th, for sure!

I have a "Fauxhemian Pilsner" in the bucket right now -- 12 lbs. of Belgian Pils and .75 carapils, with Saf-05.

It is in the swamp chiller, going at about 62. A water bath and frozen bottles swapped out a couple of times a day will work wonders for keeping temps in line (though I wouldn't try to lager this way).

In my experience, Nottingham dry yeast comes a lot closer to a lager than US-05/WLP-001.

Bobby_M said:

In my experience, Nottingham dry yeast comes a lot closer to a lager than US-05/WLP-001.

Click to expand...

I have found Nottie to be VERY sensitive to higher fermentation temps. It has been much more likely to produce fusels in my experience.

If it is the light body and low IBUs that you find appealing, try brewing a Cream Ale. BM's Cream of 3 Crops FTW.

Cpt_Kirks said:

I'm actually polishing off the last liter of a batch made with the recipe I listed before.

And it is GOOOOD.

If my order comes in, I'm brewing another batch over the 4th, for sure!

Click to expand...

I'm gonna give that one a go... thanks!

Kirks,
What is your hop schedule for that brew?

dutch-brew said:

here's the one i made:



I haven't tried this all-grain yet. What grain would one use for that?

Click to expand...

100% pilsner malt from the country of the style you are trying to do. If you like the hops how they are, keep em.

Cpt_Kirks said:

I have found Nottie to be VERY sensitive to higher fermentation temps. It has been much more likely to produce fusels in my experience.

Click to expand...

I also find notty to be more temperature sensitive. And more estery given the same temp than US-05.