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German Pils The Lazy German (raw, warm fermented pilsener)

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Miraculix

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Hi!

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I am Miraculix, I am German and I am lazy.

This led me to the development of the following recipe, which will result in a hoppy and dry German Pilsener with a nice grainy flavour. In addition to being one of the best pilsener I ever had (and I had many), this brew is incredibly quickly done, you can finish it in 1 to 1.5 hours, including cleaning. To accomplish this, I will break some of the “rules” of home brewing. Turns out that those rules are basically just unnecessary complications of the brewing process. So here we go, the raw, warm fermented German Pilsener:

General information:

The wort will not be boiled in this recipe, this means we have to do a “hop tea” on the side to isomerize the alpha acids. It can be done in water, no dissolved sugars necessary. The absence of sugar actually increases the isomerization efficiency. You can use the IBU calculator from the brewersfriend homepage to calculate the amount of hops necessary to reach your desired ibus. Just make sure that you type in a wort gravity of 1.00 and the correct volume of your hop tea as “boil size”.

The Lager Yeast safale 34 70 is capable of clean fermentation at room temperature. I use this fact in this recipe and ferment the beer at room temperature…. Turns out, it actually works well. If you want to use a different lager yeast, you might need to be able to control the fermentation temperature and keep it low.

*40Ibus
OG: 1.05
FG: ca. 1.01

The grain bill:

95% Bohemian Pilsener

5% Melanoidin Malt

The melanoidin malt is in the bill to mimic a decoction mash. We cannot do a real decoction mash in this recipe, as this would create DMS which wouldn’t be boiled off afterwards, as the wort is not boiled in this recipe, therefore the melanoidin instead. It is not a must, I just went for it and I like it.

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The Hops:

@30min Hallertauer Mittelfrueh (40 IBUs)

After fermentation nearly finished, dry hop with Hallertauer Mittelfrueh to taste (I used 20g on 15 liters). You can skip the dry hopping if you want to, I actually like the noble dry hop addition a lot.

I used Hallertauer for Bittering as well, because I did not have anything else open at that time. You will end up with a big amount of hops to reach the 40 IBUs because of the relatively low alpha levels of the Hallertau veriety. I think it might be a good idea to replace a big part of the 30 min addition with Magnum, Admiral or other clean bittering hops and to throw in some Hallertau at 15, 5 and flame out instead.

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The Mash:

I will describe my BIAB procedure, if you do not use BIAB, you will need to adapt it according to your system.

Take the desired final volume of beer and divide it by three. Two of those thirds will be used for the mash, the remaining third will be used for the hop tea.

Dough in with one third of the final volume and mash at around 65C. Stir well and let it mash for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, collect the wort and squeeze the ish out of the bag till you cannot get anything out of it anymore. Put the bag back into the mash ton and pour in the other third of the final volume which was designated to the mash. This water has to be cold. Stir well and let it sit for another five to ten minutes. This step will dissolve the remaining sugar into the water. Again, collect the wort, squeeze the ish out of the bag again till nothing gets out anymore.

Following this procedure, I get about 80% efficiency. If I mash 30 minutes longer, I will get around 85%, not worth the wait imo, but if you have the time, mash longer.

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The hop tea:

The wort won’t be boiled, so the hops need to be isomerized on the side. For this, we take on third of the final beer volume in form of water and boil the hops in it as described in the hop schedule above. After boiling, squeeze the hops out, you want all that bitter goodness coming out of them!

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Finally, combine the wort and the Hop tea and chill it down to room temperature (I do no chill over night, but you can chill if you want to). Rehydrate the yeast in table water according to your favourite method and… pitch it!

After ten days, it should be done. I was under time pressure and did bottle after ten days, but tbh I think this beer (as almost every other beer as well) would improve if you would give it more time on the yeast cake, speaking of probably one to three additional weeks.

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It also has to be noted that the 34 70 does not flocculate well. I ended up with quite a bit of yeast in my bottles, still in suspension when botteling, this might also be better after additional time in the fermenter. Otherwise, some gelatine and a cold crash should also do the trick.

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FAQ:

As this brew is a bit unusual, here are some answers to the most common questions (which I had myself as well).

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What about DMS?!

DMS starts to build up in the wort when the wort is heated above 80C. As this wort never exceeds mashing temperature, there won’t be any DMS present.

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What about sanitation? Doesn’t the wort need to be boiled to be free of bugs?

No. If something is held at 60C or above for more than a few minutes, it gets pasteurised. That is, in the homebrew context, as good as being boiled.

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Boiling the hops in pure water results in grassy flavour! I know that… because…. I read it somewhere!

No it does not. The pilsener in this recipe has a nice noble hop flavour, no grass, nothing bad, just nice.

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OK guys, would be fun to see somebody else sharing his/her experience with this type of quick lager, maybe even tweak some of the mentioned parameters. I for myself learned a lot during this experimental brew and I hope you can get something out of it as well. The next no boil ale is already in the fermenter J

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Ahh and btw. It does not only taste very nice, it also looks quite nice:

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rk9tHF.jpg


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Cheers!
 
Thanks for the post!
I'm going to try it, I'm also a lazy brewer and have a whole sack of Pilsener, some lager yeast to re-pitch and some older hops I want to use up, so why not? Going to ferment at basement ambient temp, about 60F. Might even let it lager all winter down there. The winter basement temp is about 40F, maybe I'll break even more rules and not even rack it out of primary and see what happens. :mug:
 
Thanks for the post!
I'm going to try it, I'm also a lazy brewer and have a whole sack of Pilsener, some lager yeast to re-pitch and some older hops I want to use up, so why not? Going to ferment at basement ambient temp, about 60F. Might even let it lager all winter down there. The winter basement temp is about 40F, maybe I'll break even more rules and not even rack it out of primary and see what happens. :mug:

Naaaa, don't do a secondary. I never do a secondary :)

Rest sounds solid to me! Although "old hops" does not sound too good to me tbh...

Anyway, let us know how it turns out!
 
It also has to be noted that the 34 70 does not flocculate well. I ended up with quite a bit of yeast in my bottles, still in suspension when botteling, this might also be better after additional time in the fermenter. Otherwise, some gelatine and a cold crash should also do the trick.

It might be worth replacing the 34/70 with Mangrove Jack's M54 California which is also meant to make lager at room temperature, but is supposedly a better floccer.

I've never used it, but people might want to compare it with 34/70.

Fermentis S-189 is also meant to be high-temperature and good-floccing, again I've not used it.
 
It might be worth replacing the 34/70 with Mangrove Jack's M54 California which is also meant to make lager at room temperature, but is supposedly a better floccer.

I've never used it, but people might want to compare it with 34/70.

Fermentis S-189 is also meant to be high-temperature and good-floccing, again I've not used it.

Brilliant, thanks for the suggestions! I always read about the 34 70 only, when it came to Lager at room temperature. Will certainly try those other two options out next time I do a Lager. Will probably be a Schwarzbier and probably also raw. Will post about it!
 
You've got to use two packs of yeast for lager anyhow, right? And with 34/70 prices, you can buy 34/70, S-189 AND M54 for almost the same price as two 34/70's. (well, 65p more at Brew UK by my reckoning). Be interested to see how you get on, I'd vaguely planned to trial the three side by side next year, once we're back into more lager-drinking weather.

I take it that the whole point of this brew is to troll your inlaws? :D

In which case, I wonder about making lager with one of the Norwegian kveiks that are becoming available - see how clean they really are at high temperatures. Lager fermented at a steady 28C would be just mad.
 

I take it that the whole point of this brew is to troll your inlaws?
:D

In which case, I wonder about making lager with one of the Norwegian kveiks that are becoming available - see how clean they really are at high temperatures. Lager fermented at a steady 28C would be just mad.

Hahaha, got me :D

Afaik he doesn't do Lagers but all type of crazy interesting stuff instead. Like red wine barrel aged Brett, ice Bock, ice ipa, dipa etc. Maybe I can inspire him to something else with trolling a bit :D

But tbh. I think Lagers are a bit boring, at least the pale ones. I did this one mainly to see if it works and... To troll a bit :D

You are right regarding the prices. There is an article on brulosophy comparing the two saflager ones, at true Lager temperatures though.

Based on the information I could find today on the net, I think the mangrove jack yeast looks most promising. For some people even a bit too clean and too dry, but the cleanliness at true Lager temperature might be gone at room temperature and turn into a pleasant light Lager Esther profile. Flocculation should be excellent according to the net.

And as I like my beer dry, I do not mind it being a bit dryer.

Btw. Where about do you live?
 
I am Miraculix, I am German

tbh. I think Lagers are a bit boring

Careful, your disguise is slipping!!! :)

Must admit I'm not the biggest fan of lagers, but like NEIPA I appreciate the technical challenge that they present. And they're useful for when non-beer drinkers come round.

Trouble with the internet reports is that you never know the expectations of the people making them. Someone used to 34/70 might try S-189 in a helles and think it's incredibly estery in comparison to what they expect in a helles, whereas someone might come to M54 looking for Anchor Steam, and think it's clean compared to the West Coast IPAs they normally drink. For the sake of £2.60, I'd rather find out for myself.

However that is the line of thinking that sees me spending more on yeast than hops and grain put together, and I'm still mostly working through the dry yeasts!
 
Seeing as you are in the UK, you could also try CML yeast - it's very good value. Their kolsch yeast is good, I've used it a few times now.

With something like that, I'd assume it's a white label version of one of the big boys - 10g packs, packed in the UK and the range suggest a link to Mangrove Jacks?
 
There was talk of them being made in germany on another forum, but then others have suggested they are made by SPL international who make the mangroves jack ones in the uk. I've not used the MJ ones bar their saison yeast in a cider, so can't really compare.

eitherway for 90p a pack if you order ten at a time they are great value :)
 
@Northern_Brewer

I agree, I also partially brewed it to finally have something I can offer to my Lager drinking house mates as they have to share the kitchen with me. I made great Stouts and ipas.... Not appreciated. I brewed a Lager, all eyes on me :D

@Hanglow
Wow, that is a killer price. Can you mix the different kind of yeasts when buying ten packs at once?
 
Wow. Here I am having been schooled in the proper German brewing ways, long brew days, lagering, etc. I can only produce what I call authentic lagers like this
View attachment IMG_3957.jpg


Now I have a new way, to accomplish the same thing maybe better, breaking every single brewing rule! Awesome. Prost.
 
There was talk of them being made in germany on another forum, but then others have suggested they are made by SPL international who make the mangroves jack ones in the uk. I've not used the MJ ones bar their saison yeast in a cider, so can't really compare.

eitherway for 90p a pack if you order ten at a time they are great value :)

Indeed, can't argue with the price. The Ebay photos show labels that say packed in the UK, but it was more the range that made me think Mangrove Jacks - and they also have the wine range (formerly Vintner's Choice).

OTOH, I've just set myself up for yeast banking, so marginal cost of a "second pack" of any one strain is just a bit of DME and some washing up.
 
Wow. Here I am having been schooled in the proper German brewing ways, long brew days, lagering, etc. I can only produce what I call authentic lagers like this
View attachment 419453


Now I have a new way, to accomplish the same thing maybe better, breaking every single brewing rule! Awesome. Prost.

Thanks!

I cannot say that it will be the same result, it will slightly differ in taste. The Maillard reactions during boiling won't happen, this obviously results in a different taste. To my palet it tastes like the original grain/malt flavour is stronger than in the boiled version.

I also have no idea how the beer will behave during longer storage periods. There should be, theoretically more protein in solution, so this might impact the long term stability. But who knows what that means. Maybe the beer will get better quicker? Or maybe it won't change a thing?

Time will tell!

I have a raw Indian red in the fermenter u will bottle in 9 days and afterwards I will brew a raw English mild then probably a raw Stout or Schwarzbier. I will post about them and hopefully everybody else who uses the same approach will contribute!
 
@Hanglow
Wow, that is a killer price. Can you mix the different kind of yeasts when buying ten packs at once?


yeah you say in the comments box when you pay I think. I've tried their US pale too but I've only co-pitched that with another yeast ( London ESB) so can't really comment on it either, but those beers turned out well too.
 
Do you have this in a beersmith or .xml file?

want to try it!!

Sorry mate, don't have any of those. But the recipe is really simple, I always just use the online beersmith calculators and they solve everything I need to be solved.

Please share your final beer results with us!
 
yeah you say in the comments box when you pay I think. I've tried their US pale too but I've only co-pitched that with another yeast ( London ESB) so can't really comment on it either, but those beers turned out well too.

Awesome. I think I will give it a try as well. Thanks for the tip.
 
I love this, I forgot about this. Of course 30 minutes at 65c sanitizes the wort. With cold water batch sparge, quick chilling too! If I boil the Hops during the mash that means I think I can Brew 10 gallons in less than an hour.
 
I love this, I forgot about this. Of course 30 minutes at 65c sanitizes the wort. With cold water batch sparge, quick chilling too! If I boil the Hops during the mash that means I think I can Brew 10 gallons in less than an hour.

Yes! Go for it! And post about your results!

Everybody please keep an eye on the head retention... Have the feeling that it could be better, but there is also a high chance that my glass was a bit soapy.
 
So I brewed the above tonight with a few changes:

2.5 Gallon Batch
Water total 4 gallons, 2 gallons Distilled from the store, 2 gallons tap water

5 Lbs Best Maltz Pilsner
.25 lb Weyermann Melanoidin

Step mash 131 F in round cooler w/BIAB bag for 30 minutes, pulled 6 cups of grain and did a 15 minute decoction boil (added some boiling water to keep from scorching).
Used the rest calculator on the Green Bay Rackers website and added the decoction plus 6 more cups boiling water to bring the mash temp to 151F.
Meanwhile, had the rest of the water boiling and added 6g Warrior and boiled for 30 min, adding 14g
Hallertau at 20 minutes and the same at 10 minutes. Calculated IBU's is about 35, but is probably higher since the hops were boiled in plain water.
After 30 minutes of mashing at 151, I dumped the hop tea in the mash tun and that brought the mash up to 164F I manually recirculated 3 times and then ran off to the kettle. The volume looks about right but I didn't measure it. I then put the lid on and set it outside (ambient about 32F) will pitch Wyeast Bavarian lager yeast slurry from an earlier brew in the morning and ferment at about 53F in the chilly basement.
I've wanted to try a no boil brew for a while, figuring it would save some time. The above brew session took about 3 hours. I didn't have the grain ready and had to spend some time doing the math to figure strike water and volume. The quick decoction was kind of a PITA, had to watch it and stir the whole time and not sure if it was worthwhile. The project could have gone smoother if I had gotten my ducks in a row beforehand. Next time I'm going to use the method the OP used with the same grain and hops and compare with my version.
Update: In the morning the wort was at 61F, had cleared considerably and gravity was 1.052. Wort sample had faint bitterness and mild hop flavor.
 
Last edited:
So I brewed the above tonight with a few changes:

2.5 Gallon Batch
Water total 4 gallons, 2 gallons Distilled from the store, 2 gallons tap water

5 Lbs Best Maltz Pilsner
.25 lb Weyermann Melanoidin

Step mash 131 F in round cooler w/BIAB bag for 30 minutes, pulled 6 cups of grain and did a 15 minute decoction boil (added some boiling water to keep from scorching).
Used the rest calculator on the Green Bay Rackers website and added the decoction plus 6 more cups boiling water to bring the mash temp to 151F.
Meanwhile, had the rest of the water boiling and added 6g Warrior and boiled for 30 min, adding 14g
Hallertau at 20 minutes and the same at 10 minutes. Calculated IBU's is about 35, but is probably higher since the hops were boiled in plain water.
After 30 minutes of mashing at 151, I dumped the hop tea in the mash tun and that brought the mash up to 164F I manually recirculated 3 times and then ran off to the kettle. The volume looks about right but I didn't measure it. I then put the lid on and set it outside (ambient about 32F) will pitch Wyeast Bavarian lager yeast slurry from an earlier brew in the morning and ferment at about 53F in the chilly basement.
I've wanted to try a no boil brew for a while, figuring it would save some time. The above brew session took about 3 hours. I didn't have the grain ready and had to spend some time doing the math to figure strike water and volume. The quick decoction was kind of a PITA, had to watch it and stir the whole time and not sure if it was worthwhile. The project could have gone smoother if I had gotten my ducks in a row beforehand. Next time I'm going to use the method the OP used with the same grain and hops and compare with my version.
Update: In the morning the wort was at 61F, had cleared considerably and gravity was 1.052. Wort sample had faint bitterness and mild hop flavor.

Thanks for trying my recipe and giving it a little twist!

On the one hand, I am glad that you did do the decoction mash because we will be able to see if my idea about decoction and raw ale is true or not, but on the other hand, I see the risk of it ruining your batch.

When wort is heated above 80C, DMS is created which then needs to be boiles off... as we do not boil our wort, it might stay in the wort when doing the decoction. But this is pure theory, maybe it will have no effect at all.

So please share with us your results! And let it rest a bit on the yeastcake. My Pils has a bit of an off flavour because I was really rushing it (mash to glas in under 2 weeks). That is just not necessary....

Cheers!

Edit: also, the melanoidin malt was in there to mimic the missing decoction mash, so you could have left this one out in your recipe.
 
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I really like the idea of a no boil brew day. Sounds like a fun experiment for not only the process, but also for a taste comparison as well.

Process wise, I came up with the following steps. Whether they are right or wrong or save any time at all are subject to trial and debate.

2.5 gallon batch
3 gallons water total.
4# 2 oz Pils, 6 oz Melanoiden

Steps:

---Mash w/ 1.5 gallons water for 30-45 min.

---Boil 2 quarts water and add to mash to bring to 165 for pasteurization/mash out.
Maybe this step is a non necessary step. I need to read some more on it.

---Boil 1 gallon water for hop tea for 20-30 min with hop additions for appropriate IBU.

---After hop tea boil is complete, pour wort into BK and cool w/ wort chiller as normal.

---Pour wort into fermenter and cool to pitching temps.

Thoughts on this? See any glaring flaws?
 
I really like the idea of a no boil brew day. Sounds like a fun experiment for not only the process, but also for a taste comparison as well.

Process wise, I came up with the following steps. Whether they are right or wrong or save any time at all are subject to trial and debate.

2.5 gallon batch
3 gallons water total.
4# 2 oz Pils, 6 oz Melanoiden

Steps:

---Mash w/ 1.5 gallons water for 30-45 min.

---Boil 2 quarts water and add to mash to bring to 165 for pasteurization/mash out.
Maybe this step is a non necessary step. I need to read some more on it.

---Boil 1 gallon water for hop tea for 20-30 min with hop additions for appropriate IBU.

---After hop tea boil is complete, pour wort into BK and cool w/ wort chiller as normal.

---Pour wort into fermenter and cool to pitching temps.

Thoughts on this? See any glaring flaws?

Sounds good to me! Alternatively you could also just heat up the combined wort and hop tea at the end of the whole process to 70 degrees and hold it at that temperature for 15 minutes pasteurisation.

And take extra care of sanitation, this is even more important with the raw beer than with the boiled beer.
Let us know how it turns out!
 
The last minute or two of boil should be enough, even after flame out, the hot steam is enough to sanitize it.
 
This is going a bit left-field, but Borneman et al. 2016 left WLP800 Pilsner Lager out of their list of hybrid yeasts - which kinda implies that it's a regular ale yeast. Maybe it's a contaminant, maybe it's just adapted to Urquell's open fermenters (it has a reputation for top-cropping), but it might be an interesting one to play around with. Most Czech lager yeasts are Saaz group and hence less good for warm ferments, but WLP800 could be the exception.
 
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