Skunky Pilsners?

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jimmarshall

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I may be asking a stupid question here, but I don't know a whole lot about the style, or the ingredients used. Is a certain amount of skunkiness allowed or acceptable? Is it a requirement?

I ask this because all of them I've ever tasted (European and Czech styles, never had a German Pilsner) has been skunky. Not horrible, but just a slight aftertaste. What's the deal? Is this a characteristic of a certain ingredient? You can't tell me that every one of dozens of different beers were mishandled?
 
This can be from the hop variety but more than likely you have had them in clear/green bottles and they were light struck.

A tiny amount of hop skunkiness is ok but light struck is a fault. You may want to try to find a sealed 12 pack to try as that will help reduce the odds of light striking.

To really demonstrate how important/easy it is to have light struck beer try a corona in a bottle from the mixed 6ers area and then grab a can. do I side by side and you will clearly be able to understand.

FWIW I would never intentionally skunk a beer.
 
This has even been with one out of a brown bottle. I honestly don't know if it is there enough to be from light. At least one of these came out of a sealed case as well.
 
Diacetyl would be a butter like taste in a pils. Low levels of diacetyl are ok in a bohemian/Czech pils. Skunkiness is a reaction between light and hop compounds that is very common in import beers, particularly in green bottles that offer little protection against light. Skunkiness is not acceptable in any style per BJCP guidelines but many people unfortunately associate it and expect it from import lagers. Have a fresh pils in Germany or Czech Republic and you'll see the light.
 
I may be asking a stupid question here, but I don't know a whole lot about the style, or the ingredients used. Is a certain amount of skunkiness allowed or acceptable? Is it a requirement?

I ask this because all of them I've ever tasted (European and Czech styles, never had a German Pilsner) has been skunky. Not horrible, but just a slight aftertaste. What's the deal? Is this a characteristic of a certain ingredient? You can't tell me that every one of dozens of different beers were mishandled?

Skunkiness is not supposed to be there. If you have only tasted skunked pils then you have been buying bottled product that has not been handled well. This can be a problem with the importer, distributor, retailer or some combination thereof. Find a bar in your area that has a decent and fresh German or Czech pils on tap and try that instead of those miserable green bottles so you will know what the beer should taste like. :mug:
 
BigEd said:
. This can be a problem with the importer, distributor, retailer or some combination thereof.

I can also be caused at the brewery, although I suspect that's uncommon in established German brew houses.
 
If it is not light-struck skunking, two other things come to mind:
1) DMS - a sulfur compound that is produced more readily when using pilsner malt (which contains more of the DMS-precursor). This can be dealt with by making sure there's a good rolling boil for 90 minutes - the DMS-precursor will boil off.

2) Sulfur compounds produced by the lager yeast - something of a rotten egg smell. This is natural for some yeast strains and will generally offgas during fermentation and conditioning if given enough time, but can be retained in lagers that are rushed.
 
...FWIW I would never intentionally skunk a beer.

I have intentionally skunked a beer... but it was only a pint and for scientific reasons... to taste what "skunk" taste like. Basically got a pint of a nice hoppy APA and left it in direct sunlight (middle of the day no cloads summer sun) for a couple of minutes. i was surprised by the difference! And straight away ID'd the flavour in the St Peters Pale Ale (green bottle) that I thought might of been skunking!
 
If it is not light-struck skunking, two other things come to mind:

2) Sulfur compounds produced by the lager yeast - something of a rotten egg smell. This is natural for some yeast strains and will generally offgas during fermentation and conditioning if given enough time, but can be retained in lagers that are rushed.

Some lager yeast and hop combinations are notorious for this, but I can't recall which they were. Some of the yeast descriptions do mention sulfur production, and combine this with certain hops, and you'll get plenty of sulfur, and your wife will ban you from brewing them. So, yes it is possible to have a sulfury tasting beer that is not light struck, even when not rushed
 
Many of the Euro-pils are now in cans or mini-kegs. Get your hands on some to taste the style as it should be. You may still not like it but at least you'll know what the flavor is suppose to be
 
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