German Pils Gavin's Glorious German Pilsner

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Finally got around to brewing this, and it is my first lager. Hit all the efficiency numbers and my mash temp started a little high at 152°. Yeast is 24 hours in and not showing much activity, but I'm not sure what activity will look like so I'm staying ambivalent and trying not to worry too much. If it still looks flat by tomorrow morning I'll post a picture for more experienced eyes to diagnose.

The wort smelled divine, even before the hops, and I agree that the hallertau/saaz combo has great promise.

edit: Good news. Came home from work for lunch and I see that the head is forming in the fermenter. All is going to plan, now. Fermentation Chamber is right at 48° and the wort looks gorgeous.
 
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Sounds awesome. My understanding is that lager yeasts often do not look like they are doing much but are actually fermenting just fine. I'm drinking my latest one now. I replaced the Saaz with Tettnang this time.
 

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Gavin,

I just kegged this beer and pulled off a gravity/taste sample. I ended up using 830 (no 833 at the LHBS when I was initially buying ingredients) and it still came out spot on for gravity. The taste sample I pulled from the bottom of the fermenter had some floaties in it but the rest of the beer was super clear. Flavor profile is spot on (even warm and uncarbonated) from what you said and what I expect from a German Pilsner. If all goes well once it is kegged I will submit this to a local competition or two and let you know how it turns out. Also, pretty pictures to come this weekend once it's properly carbed up.

gavins pilsner.jpg
 
I have brewed this again both times I added 2-4oz of carapils and used only Cz Saaz as I had a pound of it.

First batch I used the OP water profile and got a Gold as a German Pils

Second batch I went with a little softer water with the idea that I would enter it both as a German Pils and Czech Pale that batch earned a Gold and Silver as a German pils as well as a Silver and a 39 2nd round push as a Czech.

Probably won't enter the beer anymore but sure will brew it again!

I have used the Hessian Pils yeast from the yeast bay and WLP 940 for this with great results.
 
I just brewed this over the weekend, was a little low on all my # as I usually am with all my brews, and finally figured out why. I have been making a little over 6 gallons instead of 5.5. I hate it when my measurements are off!

My first time at laggering also, so it's a learning brew :)
 
Konadog said:
Since you guys keep posting "after glow" porn, here's a little "forplay" porn :)
Click to expand...

Sure is purdy :mug:
I'm trying my hand at this pilsner this weekend. My temps have really cooled down and my basement is holding at a steady 52. I think I'll use the swamp cooler method and hope it will hold pretty steady at that temp. Will be using 34/70 for the yeast.
Gavin, I have brewed several of your recipes so I know they're rock solid. I'm curious if you've made this with and without the melanoid malt just for comparison.

Also, I've enjoyed your articles in Zymurgy. Any new works on the burner?
 
thunderwagn said:
Sure is purdy :mug:
I'm trying my hand at this pilsner this weekend. My temps have really cooled down and my basement is holding at a steady 52. I think I'll use the swamp cooler method and hope it will hold pretty steady at that temp. Will be using 34/70 for the yeast.
Gavin, I have brewed several of your recipes so I know they're rock solid. I'm curious if you've made this with and without the melanoid malt just for comparison.

Also, I've enjoyed your articles in Zymurgy. Any new works on the burner?
Click to expand...

Thanks for the kind words Thunder. I'm glad my recipe efforts haven't steered you into choppy seas

I've made Pilsners with and without Melanoiden. In the latter instances I have used a decoction with the same objective in mind. I'm not sure how successful I was.

I really think a bigger factor with a simple recipe like a Pils; the real secret that is really no secret, is in the quality of the Pils malt used. Get the best quality your budget can justify.

I've no brewing in the works at the moment. I relocated from TX some time back and have not been able to reestablish my homebrewing yet.

I can't wait to get back to it. Seems like there is so much new stuff going on to experiment with. I have some brewery plans that hopefully I will be able to share next yr if circumstances allow. I miss getting my regular brewing geekery fix.

Thanks again and cheers m8.
 
Brewed this Saturday Gavin. After making your Helles, that was so good I had to try this too! Where I used all Barke Pils malt for the Helles, this one I split 60/40 between Dingleman's and Barke for the heck of it. It my OG and pH spot on. Now the long anticipation while it ferments and lagers! :)
 
jdauria said:
Brewed this Saturday Gavin. After making your Helles, that was so good I had to try this too! Where I used all Barke Pils malt for the Helles, this one I split 60/40 between Dingleman's and Barke for the heck of it. It my OG and pH spot on. Now the long anticipation while it ferments and lagers! :)
Click to expand...
I'm sure it will be worth the wait. Thanks for sharing your results. Cheers
 
I'm about 6 batches into AG brewing and have been primarily brewing pale ales without modifying my water, besides a chlorine filter and Camden tab...with lagers being a much lighter crisper beer, is it a bad idea to brew one before I get into water chemistry? Ales have had no problems with water, but I really want to try this recipe.
 
ehk089 said:
I'm about 6 batches into AG brewing and have been primarily brewing pale ales without modifying my water, besides a chlorine filter and Camden tab...with lagers being a much lighter crisper beer, is it a bad idea to brew one before I get into water chemistry? Ales have had no problems with water, but I really want to try this recipe.
Click to expand...

I'll offer my opinion here. It depends on your water, you may be fine if you have very soft water. If you can get your hands on a water report or ask fellow brewers in your area if they've done one that will help. The other option is to do some basic water treatments without getting into the water chemistry - buy reverse osmosis water and follow the recommendations here - https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/a-brewing-water-chemistry-primer.198460/, using a half tsp of calcium chloride (you can get this wherever you buy ingredients) plus the acid malt. I buy water from an outside vending machine called Watermill Express for 1.75 per 5 gallons, so I spend 3.50 per batch and use the leftover water for starsan. Here in Houston we have really hard water with chloramines, and I am much happier with my beers made with this water rather than filtered tap. The machines in most grocery stores are typically the same quality, and cheaper than buying bottled water.
 
IMG_3219.JPG
Finally tapped my batch of this. Crystal clear before kegging, so assume it's just sediment at bottom of keg with the first pour. Tastes great! Would like a tad more hop bite, like Troeg's Sunshine Pils, but it's definitely a tasty, easy drinking Pils that will go very fast!
 
So I brewed this a little over a month ago. My mash did not go well and finished at 1.036, and I thought i was going to pour it out but I thought hell ill give it a try. I measured gravity last night before I kegged and it finished at 1.002. I hope to try it soon. I think the grains just were not crushed enough and have since invested in a cereal killer mill. It is awesome by the way. Mine too was crystal clear before kegging. I did let it come up to room temp for a week to make room in my small fermentation fridge. It seemed to be done fermenting a week before I took it out. Probably to many variables to reproduce if it turns out well but I have never seen a FG that low in a beer I have brewed.
 
nyer said:
Can so one post the full recipe? All I'm seeing in the original post is a red x where the grainbill should be.
Click to expand...

Same for me. BTW, congrats to the O.P. Those are some mighty impressive scores!

I tried to view a few of your recipes and got the same "Red X" as Nyer. I've been gradually drifting back to Continental Lagers, and I'd like to compare some of your recipes to my archived ones from a few years back, if you don't mind sharing. After all, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery!

Brooo Brother
 
Not 100% sure this was the original, or if I modified it a bit, but it is what I did the last time I brewed it.

8 lbs 8.0 oz Pilsner (2 Row) Bel (2.0 SRM)
5.0 oz Acid Malt (3.0 SRM)
2.0 oz Melanoiden Malt (20.0 SRM)
2.00 oz Hallertauer [2.70 %] - Boil 60.0 min
1.00 oz Hallertauer [2.70 %] - Boil 30.0 min
1.00 oz Saaz [2.00 %] - Boil 15.0 min
1.00 oz Saaz [2.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min
 
Konadog said:
Not 100% sure this was the original, or if I modified it a bit, but it is what I did the last time I brewed it.

8 lbs 8.0 oz Pilsner (2 Row) Bel (2.0 SRM)
5.0 oz Acid Malt (3.0 SRM)
2.0 oz Melanoiden Malt (20.0 SRM)
2.00 oz Hallertauer [2.70 %] - Boil 60.0 min
1.00 oz Hallertauer [2.70 %] - Boil 30.0 min
1.00 oz Saaz [2.00 %] - Boil 15.0 min
1.00 oz Saaz [2.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min
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Great! Thanks.

It's odd that I could view the hops schedule and water profile images but not the grist bill. Looks pretty standard. Now I can tweak it to conform with style guidelines and my equipment profiles.

Now if I can clone the O.P.'a scores.

Brooo Brother
 
My two cents:
German Pils recipes are easy (I make a lot of them). Use good, German malts, mostly Pilsner, and you'll be good to go.
The difference between a great award-winning Pils and a mediocre one is not in the recipe - a blind monkey can come up with a good Pils recipe - it's in the brewer's process.
Pils is unforgiving with regards to process, but brewed right, any Pils recipe will be great.
 
Konadog said:
The grain bill is correct, I may have rounded the weight up a few 10ths if anything on the Pilsner.

Looks like all Gavin's recipes links are broken. :(
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Yeah. I wonder if he's still active on the forum. It looks like he had pretty awesome results. I wouldn't mind 'plagiarizing' some of them, and applying/adjusting his ingredients to my setup, processes and procedures.

Brooo Brother
 
Brooothru said:
Yeah. I wonder if he's still active on the forum. It looks like he had pretty awesome results. I wouldn't mind 'plagiarizing' some of them, and applying/adjusting his ingredients to my setup, processes and procedures.

Brooo Brother
Click to expand...

His profile says he was here in early September.
 
Konadog said:
The grain bill is correct, I may have rounded the weight up a few 10ths if anything on the Pilsner.

Looks like all Gavin's recipes links are broken. :(
Click to expand...

I asked because it seemed from your post with the recipe that you weren’t sure “not 100% sure if...”

If you are positive now, that’s a bit different-thanks for the info.
 
LokiM4 said:
I asked because it seemed from your post with the recipe that you weren’t sure “not 100% sure if...”

If you are positive now, that’s a bit different-thanks for the info.
Click to expand...

Yep. All good.

The grain bill and hops schedule looks pretty standard and straightforward. Just need to adjust the % and AA utilization to match my equipment with his results.

Cheers,

Brooo Brother
 
Hello

Thank you for all the posters. I have no clue why so many of the images are gone from this and many of my other threads. Quite frustrating as I had hoped it would be a useful resource for others. Not sure what has happened HBtalk of late. Once the debate forum wharbargarble became visible in the post stream I moved on. Hard pass on all of that nonsense.

If anyone is interested here is the recipe's grain bill and mash profile
grain-bill-png.314492

9-pilsnermash-2747.jpg


The reason I don't use 100% Pils is primarily for an acid malt addition. I like the simplicity and pseudo-traditionalist method to this approach in controlling mash pH. The melanoiden malt is there to mimic a decoction. ~1-2% of grain bill. Arguably irrelevant.

I little bit more about that here
 
Gavin C said:
Hello

Thank you for all the posters. I have no clue why so many of the images are gone from this and many of my other threads. Quite frustrating as I had hoped it would be a useful resource for others. Not sure what has happened HBtalk of late. Once the debate forum wharbargarble became visible in the post stream I moved on. Hard pass on all of that nonsense.

If anyone is interested here is the recipe's grain bill and mash profile
grain-bill-png.314492

9-pilsnermash-2747.jpg


The reason I don't use 100% Pils is primarily for an acid malt addition. I like the simplicity and pseudo-traditionalist method to this approach in controlling mash pH. The melanoiden malt is there to mimic a decoction. ~1-2% of grain bill. Arguably irrelevant.

I little bit more about that here
Click to expand...

Hey Gav, haven't seen you around these parts in a while. Good to see you back!
 

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