Kitty litter brewing company pilsner thread

[claphamsa]

I am going to (maybe monday) brew a pilsner.....

I have a can of (coopers?) pilser, thats been sitting around for a while, so im gonna make it!


I have 2OZ of hops pellets. I have 2LBS of light DME and 7lbs of light brown sugar. (dont plan on using it al) and california ale yeast.......

my plan
1. clean, sanizize (did I ever learn my lesson!)

2. boil water (2-3 gallons)

3. add can of coopers (?)

4. stir well.... add 2 LBS of light DME and 1 LB of brown sugar stir even better

5. Add 2oz of hop pellets in hop bag

6. boil for 30 min

7. cool real fast (or try)

8. poor agressivly into carboy

9. wait




So what does everyone think of this plan? long enough boiling with the hops? too much brown sugar? not enough?


Thanks for all the wonderful advice!

 

[mew]

what do you expect to gain from the brown sugar?

 

[old_townie]

DC in the house.
By your post it looks like you are only going to boil for 30 minutes?

This is not a long time. When we boil our wort, we are not just doing it to sterilize; we are trying to achieve something called a hot break. We want the protein to settle out (becoming trub).

Secondly you may want to try 2 hop additions.
When you put hops in early, much of the oils boils out and evaporates- contributing bitterness, but not much aroma. An Early Hop adition and a late hop adition give you bitterness and aroma.

Have you used a hop bag before?
Try it without.
When you are cooling your wort, get a BIG BIG wirlpool going in your pot, put the lid on, then go watch a tv show.
come back and you will have a nice cone of trub and hop in the bottom of your pot, making siphoning a breeze.

Peace out, from alexandria'

 

[claphamsa]

what do you expect to gain from the brown sugar?

flavor, and sugar

 

[Soulive]

California ale yeast and brown sugar?!? I don't know how Pilsner that would be...

 

[claphamsa]

DC in the house.
By your post it looks like you are only going to boil for 30 minutes?

This is not a long time. When we boil our wort, we are not just doing it to sterilize; we are trying to achieve something called a hot break. We want the protein to settle out (becoming trub).

Secondly you may want to try 2 hop additions.
When you put hops in early, much of the oils boils out and evaporates- contributing bitterness, but not much aroma. An Early Hop adition and a late hop adition give you bitterness and aroma.

Have you used a hop bag before?
Try it without.
When you are cooling your wort, get a BIG BIG wirlpool going in your pot, put the lid on, then go watch a tv show.
come back and you will have a nice cone of trub and hop in the bottom of your pot, making siphoning a breeze.

Peace out, from alexandria'

right boil till the hot break then about 5 min longer... this has never taken longer than 30 min....

so you think i should get to a boil.. poor in my can (its muntons pilsner not coopers) then add sugar, and the first hops? how long should i wait for the second one? how long should I leave it bailing aftet I put in the second one? would this be the same with fresh hops? (I have never added my own hops before...)

Thanks for all the help!

 

[claphamsa]

California ale yeast and brown sugar?!? I don't know how Pilsner that would be...

Ok Im daft... I just went and looked at my yeast, its sanfransico lager yeast. dunno where i got the ale part from........

 

[old_townie]

I would boil for between 45 and 50 minutes, then add the finishing hops and boil for a further 10 or so minutes.

I agree that the molases used to make suger into brown suga' will make your beer colored, and almost cidery in taste.

Tough luck on the lager yeast. I keep a few packets of dry cheapie ale yeast in the fridge. Its nothing special, but it ensures no yeast mix ups.

Good luck from alexandria

 

[claphamsa]

I would boil for between 45 and 50 minutes, then add the finishing hops and boil for a further 10 or so minutes.

I agree that the molases used to make suger into brown suga' will make your beer colored, and almost cidery in taste.

Tough luck on the lager yeast. I keep a few packets of dry cheapie ale yeast in the fridge. Its nothing special, but it ensures no yeast mix ups.

Good luck from alexandria

well i dfidnt mix up the yeast, just forgot what I had

 

[theoriginalryan]

from what i understand, if you use a lager yeast at ale temp (65ish) you are going to get some funk. Taste and i think some pretty unwanted alchohols. Is that your plan?

 

[claphamsa]

from what i understand, if you use a lager yeast at ale temp (65ish) you are going to get some funk. Taste and i think some pretty unwanted alchohols. Is that your plan?

my understanding is that I picked the only lager yeast that that is not an issue for.....

please correct me if im wrong.

 

[EvilTOJ]

California lager yeast is a lager strain that's fermented at ale temps. It's also known as a steam beer, but that's been trademarked by the Steam Beer Co. It's in the wiki! clicky

Quite honestly, I think you should not add the brown sugar at all and use LME or DME instead. It will most likely make it taste rather.... special. And not in a 'beautiful and unique snowflake' kind of special, either.

 

[theoriginalryan]

from what Whitelabs says you CAN use that yeast up to 65F. Being that it is a lager yeast, i dont think i would push much beyond that. You are right tho, one of the few lager yeast that goes that high.

 

[claphamsa]

California lager yeast is a lager strain that's fermented at ale temps. It's also known as a steam beer, but that's been trademarked by the Steam Beer Co. It's in the wiki! clicky

Quite honestly, I think you should not add the brown sugar at all and use LME or DME instead. It will most likely make it taste rather.... special. And not in a 'beautiful and unique snowflake' kind of special, either.

Ok, well that is one less worry.

I guess I should just stick with the light DME... Ive gotten lots of advice agasint eh brown sugar.

 

[TexLaw]

Ive gotten lots of advice agasint eh brown sugar.

Good. Brown sugar has no place in a Pilsner.

Really, you aren't making a Pilsner. Pilsners use German or Czech malts and, respectively, German or Czech hops. They are fermented at lower temperatures and lagered at even lower temperatures so that they are particularly clean and crisp. You might make a mighty tasty, lighter lager, but it's not a Pilsner.

I'm not trying to be ridiculously anal about styles, but I also don't want you to be disappointed when you find your beer is not so similar to Pilsners you may have had.

Have fun with it!


TL

 

[claphamsa]

Good. Brown sugar has no place in a Pilsner.

Really, you aren't making a Pilsner. Pilsners use German or Czech malts and, respectively, German or Czech hops. They are fermented at lower temperatures and lagered at even lower temperatures so that they are particularly clean and crisp. You might make a mighty tasty, lighter lager, but it's not a Pilsner.

I'm not trying to be ridiculously anal about styles, but I also don't want you to be disappointed when you find your beer is not so similar to Pilsners you may have had.

Have fun with it!


TL

Yeah I realize that since im using an extract... and am still a beginer, that it will be different, I would be perfectly happy is a very hopy lagerish kinda thing!

 

[TexLaw]

Good deal, then! It's not so much that you're using extract, as you can actually get Pilsner malt extract. I used to even see Moravian extract on the market, but not in a while. It's more about the particular extract you're using, i.e., it ain't German or Czech malt.

Actually, now that you've said it, I could go for a "hoppy lagerish kinda thing," myself.


TL

 

[CBBaron]

With an all extract recipe and using prehopped extract (the can) there is no need to do an extended boil. If you are using a significant amount of grains or need a significant amount of bitterness from the hops a 60 min boil is recommended. Because you are adding extra extract in the form of DME you probably will want a little more hops bitterness to balance. You will not get the most efficient hops extraction from 30min but it should be pretty good. I still would save half the hops to add in the last 5min to get more hops flavor and aroma.
The brown sugar will add a slight molasses flavor, and increase the alcohol content resulting in a dryer beer. I don't think its appropriate in this light of a beer. Save it for some brown ales, porters or stouts.
The Cal lager is the California Steam Beer yeast. It prefers cooler ale temps and so is a good yeast for this time of year. It won't be a completely clean lager but will be close. Good choice to produce a lager like beer at ale temps.
This beer should be better than just following the directions on the can but I would not expect too much out of it. Its not a style I desire but if you want a light easy drinking beer your recipe should suffice.
Craig

 

[claphamsa]

OK, brewing complete! I boiled in my can of mortons pilsner.... 2 Lbs of extra light DME. boiled for 5-10 min, added in 1OZ hop pellets. boiled 20 min... added another OZ of hope pellets... boiled 20 min, added in 3OZ fresh cascades.... cooled.

I then pored this fun into the fermenter with 1 more OZ fresh cascades and some yeast! yay go me!

Smelled absoulutly fabulous (everyone I lived with commented on how bad it smelled.)

 

[Winesburg Ale]

Just to check on a couple of things mentioned above:

1. It was mentioned that you boil for a certain time to get the "hot break" to settle out. I've been told, and it makes some sense, that when you're making an extract recipe, there is no hot break, because the extract has already gone through the whole boiling process. The hot break would have separated in the process of making the extract.
2. I've heard Chris Colby, with BYO magazine, say that using lager yeast at ale temperatures will result in a beer that, while not being as "clean" as one brewed with lager yeast at lager temps, will still result in a beer that is more towards a lager than something brewed with ale yeast, and will not suffer from any more off flavors than using an ale yeast.

My personal experience agrees with these notions, but I wanted to see what some of the more experienced brewers around here think.

 

[claphamsa]

i agree with 1. but need to boil the hops....

as for 2 I have no idea

 

[claphamsa]

OK, no action in the airlock for a couple of days.... Hydrometer, check!

Today my plan is... wash bottles... do taxes ....bottle pilsneresque beer... wash carboy... rack apfelwine into smaller carboy (one holding pilsner) and research my next beer..... PUMPKIN STOUT. WOOO. To be brewed tonight or tomorrow.