Imperial Czech Pils Recco?

[Johnny5]

Hey,

I'm thinking of doing an all-grain batch of an imperial czech pils recipe and I want to give it my own twist -- maybe up the saaz hops a bit, to start. Any yeast or other recommendations? This is my first time really trying to tweak a recipe quite a bit.

Thanks!

 

[Nateo]

What recipe are you starting with?
That style isn't something I would personally try. I'm assuming your ABV is gonna be around 8-9%. That along with the low hop aroma and subtle hop flavor, I would count on a long (3-6 months) ageing period before it gets good.

You'll also be pushing the limits of what lager yeast can deal with, ABV-wise. I would make a massive, massive starter if you plan on using lager yeast.

An imperial pils sounds a lot like a lagered IIPA to me, minus the hop flavor/aroma, just going by the numbers.

Bohemian pils:
Vital Statistics: OG: 1.044 – 1.056
IBUs: 35 – 45 FG: 1.013 – 1.017
SRM: 3.5 – 6 ABV: 4.2 – 5.4%

So the BU:GU range is 0.625 - 1.02. The average of the two is .82, and typical range is .75-.8

Imperial IPA:
Vital Statistics: OG: 1.070 – 1.090
IBUs: 60 – 120 FG: 1.010 – 1.020
SRM: 8 – 15 ABV: 7.5 – 10%

BU:GU is 0.66 - 1.7. Typical range is .7-.9.

If I were going to try that, I would use a neutral ale yeast, ferment on the lower end of the ale range, and shoot for a hop flavor/aroma a bit between an IPA and a pils.

 

[Beernip]

The only imperial pils that I am familiar with is Rogue's Morimoto Imperial Pilsner. From their site it looks like a SmaSh so should too hard to replicate.

4 Ingredients:
Malts: 100% French Pilsner.
Hops: 100% Sterling.
Yeast & Water: Czech Pils Yeast

Specs:
18º PLATO
74 IBU
80 AA
16º Lovibond

 

[Johnny5]

Thanks for the info. I'll probably steer away from that style. Just looking for something different.

 

[Nateo]

Don't let me discourage you. Maybe you'll make the best you've ever had.

In my experience, the beers most suited to "imperializing" were more flavorful beers to begin with. With a lot of alcohol you need other flavors to take the edge off. A stout has a lot of roasted grain character, a belgian trippel has a strong yeast flavor, an IPA has a lot of hop flavor, just as examples.

I had a Double Belgian Wit from Great Divide a few weeks ago. It was about 8%. I never would have thought to do a wit that strong, but it was pretty good. Wits have a lot of yeast character to begin with, so I'm sure that helped the flavor.

If you're looking for something stronger with a similar light body, I'd say go for a Belgian Golden Strong. I made a good one with 80% pilsner malt and 20% table sugar. It had the same sort of "pils" flavor, and a pretty light body, but the yeast character made it something special.

 

[Pivovar_Koucky]

I've been thinking of doing the same thing. My plan was 10 lbs Pils malt, 3 lbs munich, 5-6 oz of saaz. I think that if you pitched enough yeast on that it would turn out well. Think Czech maibock.

 

[Pivovar_Koucky]

Also, I would definately not cut the flavor or aroma, I think BJCP guidelines for maibock say low hop flavor and aroma. It would be a shame to waste all of that yummy saaz on bittering.