Nelson Sauvin Imperial Pilsner

I'm brewing (just added flavor hops) a pils with Pac. Gem hops for bittering and Nelson Sauvin for flavor and aroma. Just added the first bit of Nelson Sauvin hops and wow.... what a smell. No way to describe it - a blast of piney hoppy resin and tropical fruit. I've had Mikeller single hop IPA with NS hops and decided that a hopped up imperial pils with these might be interesting. I've posted recipe below:

Batch Size: 3 gal
OG: 1.066

7 lbs pilsner malt
0.3 lbs Cara-Pils

41.2 IBU Pacific Gem at 60 min
19.1 IBU Nelson Sauvin at 20 min
2.7 IBU Nelson Sauvin at 2 min

Using S-23 dry lager yeast because I was too lazy to make a starter and this is really just a test batch. Figured some one here might be interested in a recipe like this. I will definitely post results!

PS: wow, I can smell the Sauvin hops from the kitchen and it really is incredible!

Well, put the hydro sample in the fridge and completely forgot about it. Remembered this morning and it looks like I came out very high on gravity (85% efficiency with BIAB and no sparge, a personal best!). 1.078 OG, this is gonna be interesting. The sample tasted bitter, no surprise, and a little harsher than I had hoped but I'm still learning how to taste wort, green beer, etc. 8 hours after pitching and its fermenting nice and slow in a 40 degree fridge. I used a whole pack of S-23 for just under 3 gallons of wort at 1.078 so despite the high gravity I think I probably pitched a decent amount. I also pitched on the warm side and let it chill down in the fridge. I know that's not ideal but hopefully won't throw off too much.

NYCBrewGuy said:

I'm brewing (just added flavor hops) a pils with Pac. Gem hops for bittering and Nelson Sauvin for flavor and aroma. Just added the first bit of Nelson Sauvin hops and wow.... what a smell. No way to describe it - a blast of piney hoppy resin and tropical fruit. I've had Mikeller single hop IPA with NS hops and decided that a hopped up imperial pils with these might be interesting. I've posted recipe below:

Batch Size: 3 gal
OG: 1.066

7 lbs pilsner malt
0.3 lbs Cara-Pils

41.2 IBU Pacific Gem at 60 min
19.1 IBU Nelson Sauvin at 20 min
2.7 IBU Nelson Sauvin at 2 min

Using S-23 dry lager yeast because I was too lazy to make a starter and this is really just a test batch. Figured some one here might be interested in a recipe like this. I will definitely post results!

PS: wow, I can smell the Sauvin hops from the kitchen and it really is incredible!

Click to expand...

Where did you find the Nelson Sauvin Hops? I love Widmer's Heavylift IIPA and would love to make it but I have never found the Nelson Sauvin hops to go in it.

Austin Homebrew sells em.

NYCBrewGuy said:

Austin Homebrew sells em.

Click to expand...

Thanks, I will check them out.

Well, after a nice long lagering, I'm finally bottling this imperial pils. OG was 1.078 and FG is 1.015 for a big 8.24% ABV. I used Pac Gem for bittering and NS for flavor and aroma. 63IBU in total. Just tasted the hydro sample and its incredible! One of the best tasting beers I've had, including commercial brews. I wish I had a full batch (only made a half size since its my first lager and was experimental recipe). I'm going to tear through the 2.5 gallons of this.

Color is classic pilsner yellow/gold. Flavor is sweet pilsner malt with a smooth bitter backbone and huge passion fruit/white wine flavor from the NS hops. If you've had Mikeller Single Hop NS IPA then you get the picture. But with the clean lager profile and less crystal in the grain bill, the hops really dominate. There's a little alcohol bite in the aftertaste which I don't mind at all (its dominated by the hop flavor). I figure the alcohol will fade a bit with conditioning and the hop aroma will really come out with carbonation. I'm excited!! Highly recommend this recipe.

NYCBrewGuy said:

I'm brewing (just added flavor hops) a pils with Pac. Gem hops for bittering and Nelson Sauvin for flavor and aroma. Just added the first bit of Nelson Sauvin hops and wow.... what a smell. No way to describe it - a blast of piney hoppy resin and tropical fruit. I've had Mikeller single hop IPA with NS hops and decided that a hopped up imperial pils with these might be interesting. I've posted recipe below:

Batch Size: 3 gal
OG: 1.066

7 lbs pilsner malt
0.3 lbs Cara-Pils

41.2 IBU Pacific Gem at 60 min
19.1 IBU Nelson Sauvin at 20 min
2.7 IBU Nelson Sauvin at 2 min

Using S-23 dry lager yeast because I was too lazy to make a starter and this is really just a test batch. Figured some one here might be interested in a recipe like this. I will definitely post results!

PS: wow, I can smell the Sauvin hops from the kitchen and it really is incredible!

Click to expand...

Hey Mate,

I'm going to give this recipe a go and I was wondering if you could give some more details if you remember them.

What temp did you mash at?
How long did you mash for?
Did you do a 90 minute boil with so much Pilsner Malt?

Any more info you could share would be much appreciated.

Cheers

Dave

Haven't been on here in a while but saw this question. I mashed at 150F for 75mins. I do BIAB in a big pot so this was a pretty simple single infusion. Did a sparge of sorts, letting the bag drain and rinsing with sparge water at 168F. I did do a 90 minute boil. This is definitely the best beer I've ever brewed but, for numerous reasons, I haven't had a chance to make a new batch.

The Nelson Sauvin hops give a HUGE passion fruit flavor and aroma when the beer is young. Over time the passion fruit fades into the background a bit and there is a bit more citrus/pine. I think any bittering hope you'd use in an IPA would work here. I used Pac Gem because I was also brewing a brown ale with it and had it around. Honestly, probably wasted because the Sauvin hops cover up any trace.

Enjoy and good luck with the brew.

Thanks mate. I'm actually thinking of dry hopping it with Nelson too