Help Me Build My Czech Pilsner

[osagedr]

Gonna try to brew a Czech pilsner this weekend. So far I have three "for sures": (1) I am gonna try Saflager S-23 despite being wary of its reputed fruitiness (2) the majority of the grain bill, obviously, will be Pilsner (3) I will use mostly (or all) Saaz hops. That leads me to my questions:

(a) has anyone worked with S-23 before? I read on another forum that people have the best luck with it fermenting in the high 50s. That seems counterintuitive but I'll give it a try.

(b) are there other grains I should add to the grain bill? If so, how much? I was thinking about some Carapils for head retention.

(c) do I need to think about other hops than Saaz? I like the idea of brewing with them alone so I can get a better understanding of their flavour influence.

(d) should I attempt a decoction? Keep it simpler at multistep? Or single infusion? How much of a difference does it actually make?

Appreciate whatever advice people can give.

 

[osagedr]

Good overview of decoction here: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Decoction#Enhanced_Double_Decoction

Wonder if it's worth the trouble. Maybe a single decoction?

 

[Hammy71]

I did a single decoction with my Czech pilsner and loved it. Not sure if it made a difference...but, came out fine. Saaz for sure. I've used s-23 on some of my other lagers with no ill effects at 50 degrees fermentation. Was unaware of others thinking it should be warmer. For me, lager = low and slow....

 

[Buna_Bere]

I've been thinking of something like a Bohemian Pils for my next batch too. It seems like the perfect summer beer. I wish Sam Adams would have kept the Noble Pils right through the summer. Here's a link to the Sam Adams Noble Pils clone talk goin on here at HBT

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/sam-adams-noble-pils-clone-163003/

I found this other article at BYO, its some interesting info about the style

http://www.byo.com/stories/beer-styles/article/indices/11-beer-styles/531-czech-pilsner-and-belgian-dubbel-style-calendar

I tried some of the commercial examples with all saaz I believe, and I wasn't all that impressed, Slaapmutske was my favorite by far. Unless you really wanna stick to the style guidlines, I'd suggest playing with some other hops.

Here's another link, pope JZ's Bohemian Pils recipe,

http://www.beerdujour.com/Recipes/Jamil/JamilsBohemianPilsner.htm

Bob

 

[osagedr]

I did a single decoction with my Czech pilsner and loved it. Not sure if it made a difference...but, came out fine. Saaz for sure. I've used s-23 on some of my other lagers with no ill effects at 50 degrees fermentation. Was unaware of others thinking it should be warmer. For me, lager = low and slow....

Thanks Hammy. My general philosophy is to go as slow as possible on the fermentation, but in this case I'm worried about fruitiness. I'll keep reading and see if I can convince myself otherwise.

 

[osagedr]

I've been thinking of something like a Bohemian Pils for my next batch too. It seems like the perfect summer beer. I wish Sam Adams would have kept the Noble Pils right through the summer. Here's a link to the Sam Adams Noble Pils clone talk goin on here at HBT

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/sam-adams-noble-pils-clone-163003/

I found this other article at BYO, its some interesting info about the style

http://www.byo.com/stories/beer-styles/article/indices/11-beer-styles/531-czech-pilsner-and-belgian-dubbel-style-calendar

I tried some of the commercial examples with all saaz I believe, and I wasn't all that impressed, Slaapmutske was my favorite by far. Unless you really wanna stick to the style guidlines, I'd suggest playing with some other hops.

Here's another link, pope JZ's Bohemian Pils recipe,

http://www.beerdujour.com/Recipes/Jamil/JamilsBohemianPilsner.htm

Bob

Very helpful...thanks Bob!

 

[gwcr]

I was just putting together a recipe for a pilsner today and came across this thread. Very similar to what I am thinking and trying to keep it simple with a single infusion.

Grain:
Pilsner - 90%
Crystal 10L - 10%
Estimated OG 1.058

Hops:
Saaz at 60, 22 and 7 minutes for 32.7 IBU

Yeast:
SafLager S-23

Good to see others thinking along the same lines. Makes it seem like I might have half a clue as to what I'm doing!

 

[ffmedic]

To answer (C): I was reading up on Pilsners the other day, and the author recommended the use of a single hop, and did specifically recommend Saaz FWIW. Have you put any thought to water quality?? The last recipe I saw called for distilled water.

 

[osagedr]

I was just putting together a recipe for a pilsner today and came across this thread. Very similar to what I am thinking and trying to keep it simple with a single infusion.

Grain:
Pilsner - 90%
Crystal 10L - 10%
Estimated OG 1.058

Hops:
Saaz at 60, 22 and 7 minutes for 32.7 IBU

Yeast:
SafLager S-23

Good to see others thinking along the same lines. Makes it seem like I might have half a clue as to what I'm doing!

Brewed this batch last Sat and started the d-rest today with SG at 1.020. Plan to rack it to a secondary this weekend and start the lagering process. Brewday was very smooth; did a decoction to get from my sacch rest at 154 to mashout at 170.

IIRC you are a bit high on the OG for the style at 1.058--not that it will affect things much!

Your plan for a single infusion should work fine or if you want to add a protein rest it doesn't add that much complexity. What are you thinking for a rest temp? Given your target OG you can plan to rest a bit on the high side and get some nice maltiness.

 

[gwcr]

Using Beer Smith for this recipe. I know the OG is a bit high for the German and Bohemian styles, but it is within the range for a classic American Pils. This also assumes that I can hit that OG (working on getting my efficiency #s up).

Beer Smith has the mash temp at 154 for 60min, then mash out at 168 for 10min, so pretty close to yours.

 

[osagedr]

Using Beer Smith for this recipe. I know the OG is a bit high for the German and Bohemian styles, but it is within the range for a classic American Pils. This also assumes that I can hit that OG (working on getting my efficiency #s up).

Beer Smith has the mash temp at 154 for 60min, then mash out at 168 for 10min, so pretty close to yours.

Should turn out great...good luck!