Trying to improve my north German pils and was hoping for some insight. I'm homing in on what I'm looking for in my house pils, and my latest iteration was close but not exactly what I'm looking for. It seemed to have too round and full flavor that I'd like cleaned up to get more of a sharper, crisper flavor and hop bitterness.
Grainbill/Recipe
I'm not worried here. Pils is what I consider a process beer, so I'm not suspecting an issue here. 98% german pils malt and 2% melanoidin. Just finished with 34/70 fermented cold, but will be moving back to Augustiner (OYL-114 Bayern) as I like the flavor and clarity better. This went from 1.055 down to 1.008, so the roundness is kind of surprising with this in mind.
Process
Mash was a typical Hochkurz schedule (144F, 160F) via infusion. Nothing groundbreaking regarding fermentation - pitched cool (48F) then held at 50F until D-rest before kegging and lagering (3 months).
Hopping
I'm suspecting the more flavorful (not quite fruity) and round flavor/feel is stemming from this. I FWHed (60min to 7 IBU) with Crystal, then followed up with Magnum (60min to 33 IBU) and 14g Saphir at flameout. Did the FWH make this too full/round? Did the use of "new world" hops swing this away from what would normally result from Hallertau or the like?
Water
Despite doing a lot of research here, I'm not 100% sold I'm where I should be at with water. I did a 50% dilution of tap with RO to shoot for a 2:1 SO4:Cl ratio. Final results were:
Ca = 77ppm, Na = 30ppm, Bicarb = -29
SO4 = 100ppm, Cl = 52 ppm
Thoughts? Avenues for crisping this up?
Grainbill/Recipe
I'm not worried here. Pils is what I consider a process beer, so I'm not suspecting an issue here. 98% german pils malt and 2% melanoidin. Just finished with 34/70 fermented cold, but will be moving back to Augustiner (OYL-114 Bayern) as I like the flavor and clarity better. This went from 1.055 down to 1.008, so the roundness is kind of surprising with this in mind.
Process
Mash was a typical Hochkurz schedule (144F, 160F) via infusion. Nothing groundbreaking regarding fermentation - pitched cool (48F) then held at 50F until D-rest before kegging and lagering (3 months).
Hopping
I'm suspecting the more flavorful (not quite fruity) and round flavor/feel is stemming from this. I FWHed (60min to 7 IBU) with Crystal, then followed up with Magnum (60min to 33 IBU) and 14g Saphir at flameout. Did the FWH make this too full/round? Did the use of "new world" hops swing this away from what would normally result from Hallertau or the like?
Water
Despite doing a lot of research here, I'm not 100% sold I'm where I should be at with water. I did a 50% dilution of tap with RO to shoot for a 2:1 SO4:Cl ratio. Final results were:
Ca = 77ppm, Na = 30ppm, Bicarb = -29
SO4 = 100ppm, Cl = 52 ppm
Thoughts? Avenues for crisping this up?
Last edited: