How good are your lagers?

Just sitting here drinking a Pilsner Urquell and I'm wondering, from those of you who brew lagers, how good are they compared with the "legendary" commercial varieties? I was reading the other day in Brew Your Own about the origin of the stuff and they're pretty reverent about how it is made.

To me, lagers often are more about what they're not than what they are. Good ones have no off tastes, are light, clear, crisp, etc. They don't usually have a lot of hop aroma, bitterness or flavor. The don't usually have a lot of body or color. I.e., they're pretty hard to hide any mistakes in.

How good are your homebrewed ones, and how long did it take you to get there?

I've made several lagers that I really enjoy, but nothing like PU. They are maltier like an Oktoberfest beer.

I've tried to get them light, but haven't been successful.

I've been to Plzen a couple of times, I also did a couple overnights in Ceske Budejovice (Budweis) too......$0.52 for a 1/2 liter of original Budvar...lots more in Cheb (Czech Rep) also...I have a couple Czech Budweiser table cloths from there...

I'm not a huge pilsner fan, although I'm trying to learn to appreciate them for what they are. So, when I make lagers, I make the kind I love. I generally make Oktoberfests and Maibocks- since those are my favorite lagers. I sound like I"m bragging, but my Maibock is better than Capital Brewery's. My husband and I tried them side by side and preferred mine. I've never tried it side by side with a true German Maibock, though. Still, it's exactly what I intended and so I consider that a sucess!

These are malty, higher OG lagers, and really aren't very difficult. My first ones were extract batches, and that's how I learned how to pitch lager yeasts, how to ferment them, etc. Now I find that making them is just another tool in my brewing. I'm hoping next year to do a bigger bock, like a blonde dopplebock, using the same techniques.

If I may brag alittle, mine are spot on.
I've spent years brewing pilsners and trying to get them right.
What I discovered was, keep it simple and use proven brewing methods.

Here's my house beer that I try to keep in stock. I call it Memory's, because it takes me back to my days in W. Germany with the U.S. Army.

9.5 lbs American 2-row
28.35 g N. Brewer (7.2%) 60 min
14 g Hallertau (3.2%) 60 min
5 g Saaz (3.4) 5 min
1 tsp Irish moss 15 min
Fermentis s-23 Saflager
O.G. 1.045
F.G. 1.012
Mash at 155
Primary 1 week @ 55
1 day rest at room temp
Secondary 2 weeks @ 55

Thats it and it an awesome brew.

Where and when were you stationed there?

83-86
Wurzburg 493rd S&S co.
We invaded the beer gardens and never retreated.

Like Yooper I brew alot of amber lagers - a Vienna Lager on deck for tomorrow. Czech pils like PU are some of the hardest beers to brew. They are very simple - like pilsner malt and Saaz hops (yes thats it) - so no place for flaws to hide.

GT

I make a bock every year around Christmastime (there's some in the kegerator right now-yum!), and I'd put it up against any commercial out there. Some may be better, some not, but I think mine is right up there.


The sound you just heard is me tooting my own horn.............

I brew them a lot, and though I enjoy most of them, I still feel that they don't live up to what I used to drink in Germany. There is just something about their process that makes them so great. Figuring this out is an ongoing quest that keeps me paying attention to the details.

I may be just paranoid, but when I'm back this summer, I'll have to pay close attention to details like aroma and bitterness (in particular how it lingers or doesn't).

But so far I have not tasted a home or mirco brewed lager that tastes just like the (good) beers over there.

And I don't think it is decoction that makes the difference. Most of the ligher beers aren't decocted anyway.

Kai

I don't have it nailed down yet, but I'm getting there. My current Freiheit lager is not bad, but it finished a bit too dry (1.007) so it is a little out of balance, but that has improved this past week. This one is just 3 months from brew date so it is still mellowing. The Orange Kitty Zoom has turned out very well. This was brewed for my wife and I have been instructed to take this beer off-line when we have company - it's her beer! She also wants me to brew it again very soon. I've got to get more of the pig roast beers going so this will have to be an extra brew session OKZ stats: OG was 1.046, FG 1.010 w/ 20 IBUs Sorachi Ace and EKG. I carbonate with sugar and it took maybe a dozen pints worth to finally get rid of the last of the yeast clumps (a litle longer than normal). Now it's crystal clear and very poundable.

WeHeavy said:

83-86
Wurzburg 493rd S&S co.
We invaded the beer gardens and never retreated.

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OK, 75-79 Augsburg and 99-2004 in Bamberg...

I remember drinking some old Germans homebrew in Bamberg. He was my buddy's landlord. It was in a small wooded keg the beer was dark ,no head and had floaties. The first 1/2 liter was rough but after that they went down smooth.

I don't think it was a pilsner.

Kaiser said:

I may be just paranoid, but when I'm back this summer, I'll have to pay close attention to details like aroma and bitterness (in particular how it lingers or doesn't).

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Looks like I’m my worst critic. Last night we went to P.F. Chang’s in Boston where I had a Pilsner Urquell (bottle) and later we went to Jacob Wirth where I had a Spaten Maibock (draft).

The quality of the bitterness and hop flavor/aroma in the Pilsner was very similar to what I have in my current Pilsner, even though I used only FWH and Pilsner Urquell doesn’t). My Pilsner is a little sweeter, but I know how to fix that. The same with the Maibock. Aroma, malt and bitterness are in line with my version. But again, mine is a little sweeter which I already knew about and will be fixing the next time around.

Looks like I’m on the right track here. Now I have to go to Germany and find “what” characteristics I like in the beers over there and start steering my beers into that direction.

Kai

Originally posted by Bernie Brewer
I make a bock every year around Christmastime (there's some in the kegerator right now-yum!), and I'd put it up against any commercial out there. Some may be better, some not, but I think mine is right up there.

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If Bernie will allow me to toot his horn as well. Bernie's Bock recipe was the first lager I've made and I'll tell you, it is outstanding. I brewed 10 gallons of it last July and I still have 5 gallons of it lagering in the chest freezer.

I'd love to tap this keg at Naked City's grand opening in August. With all recipe credit going to Bernie of course.

I pretty much have the process nailed down, I have a lager on tap that is really of my own design, mixture between american light and other varieties.

Mash: at 152 for 2 hours looses about 4degrees over time.
7 lbs of 2 row
3 lbs of flaked rice

60 minute boil
1 oz of pride of ringwood at 60
.5 oz of saaz at 30.

Very very simple recipe and ingredients, the key is in the lagering phase. I have 2 one gallon containers full of lager yeast (washed in suspention) in my fridge right now, and they work wonders and come right to life when pitched, I don't pitch the whole gallon, but it is very important to pitch a lot of yeast and keep the primary fermentation within the specifications for that particular yeast.

I know a lot of recipes say do primary fermentation at 50 or whatever, but don't follow the recipe, follow the instructions for the strain of yeast you are using.