pilsner urquell ?

Hi everybody,

I'm a simple newbie extract brewer, planning my third batch. I wonder if anybody knows a good extract recipe out there that can mimic the famous Czech Pilsner Urquell. Or is it something that can only really be achieved by carefully selecting your own grains and hops?

Thanks,
John

you really have to go all grain to get something that light in color, we can approximate the taste, but getting the hops may be a little difficult right now with the shortage and all. If you do it making it with extract, you will have to do late extract addition to get the light color you are looking for.

Actually, there is an extract recipe for Pilsner Urquell in the BYO 150 Classic Clone Recipes edition. My LHBS had dozens of copies - you might check with yours. You can also order it at BYO.com.

Austin Homebrew has a clone kit available, haven't tried this one yet but I've been very happy with all the kits I have bought from them.

AHS Pilsner Urquell Clone

Good luck,
Chris

Note: Pilsner Urquell is a lager...you need a way to cold ferment and then cold-age (lager) afterwards.

in other words, a dedicated fridge or freezer for fermenting, and aging.

I just listened to an archived Basic Brewing Podcast with Chris Colby of BYO about brewing Pilnsers....He give tips for even an extract brewer to make a decent pilsner.

You'll pick up some tips there...

December 21, 2006 - Brewing American Pilsner
Chris Colby, editor of Brew Your Own magazine walks us through the hoops and hurdles home brewers have to go through to brew American Pilsner, the most maligned of all styles.

http://media.libsyn.com/media/basicbrewing/bbr12-21-06.mp3

Click to expand...

and here's the article referenced. http://byo.com/departments/1583.html

Good Luck!!!

Even if you fail, a) you'll still end up with beer, & b) you'll learn a helluva lot about brewing...

Well, depends on if you're trying to clone the "real" Urquell (draft, etc.) or the "arrives in the US in green bottles after spending what I'm guessing was the entire boatride over in the blistering sun" Urquell.

The former? Go with the clone recipes from BYO.

The latter? Get yourself a HavaHart small mammal trap, catch a skunk, suck on the ass end of it for awhile, then wash it down with some Heineken or Rolling Rock.

Evan! said:

The latter? Get yourself a HavaHart small mammal trap, catch a skunk, suck on the ass end of it for awhile, then wash it down with some Heineken or Rolling Rock.

Click to expand...

That is priceless. We really need a thread for memorable quotes.

breadbohn said:

Hi everybody,

I'm a simple newbie extract brewer, planning my third batch. I wonder if anybody knows a good extract recipe out there that can mimic the famous Czech Pilsner Urquell. Or is it something that can only really be achieved by carefully selecting your own grains and hops?

Thanks,
John

Click to expand...

Well, if you want a very easy way of making something in the neighborhood to an Urquell, try the Coopers Brewmaster Pilsner kit.
http://www.coopers.com.au/homebrew/hbrew.php?pid=1&id=122
It comes with a special dry yeast that can be fermented as low as 13C. I have a batch in my secondary now after 2 weeks in the fridge at 15C. So far it smells and tastes great. That nice saaz hop aroma is in there. Can't wait to try this batch.

Cheers.
Tony.