Anyone here have a Jever Pilsener clone?

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Soperbrew said:
I've been searching the net for a clone of Jever Pilsener. Anyone? anyone? Beuler?

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/737/2212/
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Without knowing the hops and having the yeast making a so-called "clone" of such a beer is a hit or miss propostion. Your best bet IMO is to brew a generic German/Euro pils. It should be better than a bottle of Jever. The homebrew will be fresh so you won't have to drink an oxidized and skunked brew.

Jever was from the old East Germany so adherance to the Reinheitsgebot is not a worry. I've added some corn and flaked barley to the recipe to lighten and dry the beer. It you are into or up to decoction mashing I would do this one at 128F for 15 minutes and then go to 148F for 60 minutes. If not then just do a 148F main mash.

Five Gallon/All Grain
Generic German Euro Pils

7 lbs German Pils Malt
1 lb Flaked Barley
1 lb Flaked Maize

1 oz Northern Brewer hops @ 60 minutes
1/2 oz Hersbrucker hops @ 30 minutes
1/2 oz Hersbrucker hops @ 10 minutes

Wyeast 2042 Danish Lager Yeast
Est OG 1.046; Est IBU 33
 
BigEd said:
Jever was from the old East Germany so adherance to the Reinheitsgebot is not a worry.
Click to expand...

No it's not. It has always been a West German beer.


Regardless of that, Jever has to be brewed to the RHG since it is brewed and sold in Germany.

Jever is a northern style German Pils. These beers are fairly dry and do accentuate the hops. They are also more bitter than your regular run-of-the-mill German pils.

I'd try 100% Pils malt and second the choice of yeast and hops that bigEd posted. I'm not at all sure about what type of hops is used though. I checked a German board, through they had a thread about Jever, they didn't know the hops either. Jever has about 38 - 42 IBU though.

Kai

Kai
 
I know of a vague recipe-ish thing from a Norwegian forum, taken from a German forum. It goes something like this:

- only pilsener malt, no caramel or wheat
- low mash temperature, 63°C (145.5 F), for a dry beer
- soft water
- OG 11,5% (1.046)
- 5% ABV, low FG
- Carlsberg yeast with high attenuation, not Bavarian Lager or Czech Pils, which lead to too much residual sweetness
- IBU 42

Hallertau Mittelfrüh hops.
 
I've had a few of these in my days in Germany back in the late 90's. A tasty brew, dry & crisp with a pilsner nose to it. Frischherb they called it.

I love their website. Notice that you have to state to be at least 16 years old to enter it? That's the legal drinking age in Germany.

jeversite.jpg
 
Ølbart said:
I know of a vague recipe-ish thing from a Norwegian forum, taken from a German forum. It goes something like this:
Click to expand...

I was looking at that German forum since the recipe looks familiar to me. :)

Kai
 
+1 on the all pilsner. I just kegged a beer last night that I think is headed in the Jever direction, not quite that bitter though. Jever has the highlest level of bittering I've had in a german pils. My brother-in-law (ex-pat living outside Dusseldorf) says I have to try Jever Dark - next visit.

Anyway this beer finished at 1.007, down from an OG of 1.046. I can't remember the IBUs, I think low 30's. At the last minute, as I was weighing out my pils malt, I saw a 1 lb bag of oat malt, so just to be different I tossed that in too. In my little sample last night I couldn't really detect the oat malt. We'll see how the head performs.

As a tangent, I recently tasted a bunch of Dortmunder Export style beers and really noticed the grainy background to all of the beers. This was pretty consistent, the variations we tasted were mostly in bitterness. So we were discussing how to get the grainy flavor. Unmalted barley seems like it might work well (I'll find out). We got to wondering if unmalted barley still conformed to the RHG, and if not, how little of the malting process could one do and have it conform to the RHG.
 
pjj2ba said:
We got to wondering if unmalted barley still conformed to the RHG, and if not, how little of the malting process could one do and have it conform to the RHG.
Click to expand...

Nope, only malted grains are allowed in German beers.

Kai
 
Kaiser said:
No it's not. It has always been a West German beer.


Regardless of that, Jever has to be brewed to the RHG since it is brewed and sold in Germany.

Jever is a northern style German Pils. These beers are fairly dry and do accentuate the hops. They are also more bitter than your regular run-of-the-mill German pils.

I'd try 100% Pils malt and second the choice of yeast and hops that bigEd posted. I'm not at all sure about what type of hops is used though. I checked a German board, through they had a thread about Jever, they didn't know the hops either. Jever has about 38 - 42 IBU though.

Kai

Kai
Click to expand...

My mistake then, I must be confusing that brew with one I had come across maybe 25 years ago in the old Iron Curtain days. I would be inclined to also go with the 100% pils grist although a little flaked barley might still help with drying the beer a touch. Another ounce of Hersbrucker hops spread through the bittering and middle additions should get the IBUs into the right range.
 
Well done Kaiser. I have been drinking Jever for the past 27 years and it remains one of my favorites.

The back of the bottle reads, "For 150 years, in the Friesland region of northern Germany, the Jever Brewery has used only pure Friesian spring water and fresh Hallertau hops in a beer that has become prized for its distinctive palate and crisp, dry finish - Jever, The Original Friesland Pilsner."

I've tried to clone a Jever and made a delicious Lager but it was no Jever.



Kaiser said:
No it's not. It has always been a West German beer.


Regardless of that, Jever has to be brewed to the RHG since it is brewed and sold in Germany.

Jever is a northern style German Pils. These beers are fairly dry and do accentuate the hops. They are also more bitter than your regular run-of-the-mill German pils.

I'd try 100% Pils malt and second the choice of yeast and hops that bigEd posted. I'm not at all sure about what type of hops is used though. I checked a German board, through they had a thread about Jever, they didn't know the hops either. Jever has about 38 - 42 IBU though.

Kai

Kai
Click to expand...
 
So, finally I had the opportunity to try to clone Jever Pilsner. It’s quite cheap in Sweden, but I really like the bitter lager taste.
Well, I’ve had a most horrible brew day, but it smells good so far.
I’ve read most posts on Jever that I could find on the internet and concluded that:
1. Only German Pilsner malt - quite obvious I’d say.
2. Only Hallertau hops - as stated in this thread before.
From drinking a fair few Jever over the years, I’d say that the lack of complexity in the malt taste is a proof that it’s mostly beta amylase at work in the mashing.
Secondly, it’s bitter, but not hoppy! (If that makes sense?!?) Hence I believe that there should be quite a lot of hops going in early and a lesser amount at the 30 minute mark. None at 15 min or flameout.
My target was 5.5 ABV and an IBU at around 43. (I’ve read that after Jever was bought by Oetker, the bitterness has been reduced)

Any thoughts? My clone is in the fermenter and I just pitched saflager w 34/70.
I will return after tasting the finished product. I will however use the “quick” lagering fermentation schedule, so in three weeks I’ll get the answers!
 
All pilsener, mashing low and long, mostly bittering hops and maybe something at 30 min, but actually maybe even no hops except bittering addition, noble hops, higher attenuative lager strain, 4.8 abv, 42ibus, that should do the job!
 
I see you are quite correct. I have older and newer bottles. I don’t know age or if I bought them here or in Germany. Swedes sometimes take trips over the border to buy cheap beer in Germany. That means I brewed with the wrong input, which I hate... Well, I used Hallertau mittelfrüh. It would probably be the original or one of the sturdier versions.
 
Father Dattan said:
I see you are quite correct. I have older and newer bottles. I don’t know age or if I bought them here or in Germany. Swedes sometimes take trips over the border to buy cheap beer in Germany. That means I brewed with the wrong input, which I hate... Well, I used Hallertau mittelfrüh. It would probably be the original or one of the sturdier versions.
Click to expand...
Mittelfrüh is a good choice. Pretty much one of the best noble hops I've encountered and also fitting to the Jever taste. A little bit of a bigger og doesn't matter too much imo. As long as you get the right yeast and mash schedule to get a low enough fg it will be Jever-ish. Probably even better due to freshness and no green bottle based uv damage :) .
 
No way a large brewery is using Mittelfrüh for bittering. Just looking at the harvest report for 2018 your best bets are:

Herkules
Perle
Tradition
Magnum

Also be sure to get some light-struck taste in there for maximum consistency with the original. ;)
 
I’ve been using magnum and Hallertau tradition before. From memory, I believe Magnum has quite good alpha. Might spare me some money :)
 
For some reason I didn't pick up a case of CANNED Jever the last time I was south of the border.
But I do like it.

And yes, it's definitely northern German Pilsner.
 

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