Thoughts and helpful hints first time Pilsner Brewer

[Lmanning507]

I am familiar home brewing and have made some great IPAs; that being said, I have a friend from Sweden graduating college and I'd like to brew up something special to celebrate. I'm thinking of brewing a German style Pilsner with some Swedish fruit. I have two main issues: 1. I live in souther California and have hot weather 2. I've never brewed this beer style before. Any hints, tips, and any comments appreciated. This is the recipe I have made:

82.1% Pilsen malt
7.7% golden promise
5.2% Maris otter
5.2% Vienna
German lager yeast WLP 830

Hops I plan to use are saaz hallerauter and tettnanger

Again, I'm looking for advice how to keep my wort cool during winter months, and ways to improve this recipe

 

[Curtis2010]

Ooh, tough choice. A really good Pils is a homebrewing challenge and temp control is crucial.

It has such a small number of ingredients, and such a clean flavor profile that the slighest flaw is glaringly obvious. I use the analogy of wearing a trench coat (stout) versus a thong (Pils)...a lot of flaws can be hidden by the robust flavors of a stout.

Its your call of course, but personally, I love a really well done Pils and the challenge of brewing it, so I would not muck up its elegant flavor profile with fruit. If I wanted to use fruit then I would choose a Wheat beer, something Belgian like a Lambic, or a Melomel (fruit flavored mead). These are all also much more forgiving to brew.

There are several threads here on this same subject already, give those a read.

 

[Weezy]

Temperature control is everything for lagers. If you cant maintain lager temps, I'd consider a new plan.

As far as recipe, yours seems a bit mottled. You'll get too much bread/dough with the British malts. As was said, a pils should be clean and simple. I'd brew almost all pils, maybe combine 2-3 brands of pilsner malt. Add 1-2% acid malt. Use all RO jug water. Use a noble hop, even US is ok (Mt. Hood, Liberty, Crystal...maybe crystal if adding fruit).

Good luck.

 

[Curtis2010]

There is a "quick lager" method, discussed here, that will shorten the duration (at least 45 days using traditional ferm profiles), but temp control is still very much necessary.

And, I agree with the recipe suggestions above, keep it clean and simple...that is the essence of a Pils. " Designing Great Beers" (Daniels), has a very good section on Pils. In it, he analyzes the grain bills for NHC top finishing Pils...all are very simple.

 

[Lmanning507]

Hmm all very good inputs, thanks for the replies very helpful. Cheers!

 

[Morrey]

You are getting spot on advice above. I make LOTS of Helles which is a German styled Lager with a slightly lower IBU range than a standard German or Bohemian Pils.

First and foremost, you simply have got to have a stable temp control in the low 50F's to high 40F's to make a Pils that is any good at all. No way around that. I use chest freezers with temp controllers.

Fruit? I dare say not. Try a Belgian Wit as your base. Or even 50/50 wheat/2 row, then you can go with ale temps with good ale yeasts.

Grain bill....Almost all pilsner malts (9 lbs 5.5G batch) with a half pound of carapils thrown in for head retention and mouthfeel. Funky stuff should be saved for funky stuff and not a regal Pils. Heavens.

The noble hops you named are on target: Hallertau, Saaz, Tettnang. Thumbs up.

Personally, if I was in your position, I'd look at a Kolsch yeast that can give lager qualities while handled at ale temps. You'd be pleased I think.

 

[KeninMN]

Personally, if I was in your position, I'd look at a Kolsch yeast that can give lager qualities while handled at ale temps. You'd be pleased I think.

Kolsch yeast is a low flocculator, so you'll either still need to have some way to cold crash to get the majority of the yeast out of suspension, or be prepared to "lager in the bottle" for a month or two and live with a lot of sediment on the bottom of the bottle.

 

[dmtaylor]

Kolsch yeast is a low flocculator, so you'll either still need to have some way to cold crash to get the majority of the yeast out of suspension, or be prepared to "lager in the bottle" for a month or two and live with a lot of sediment on the bottom of the bottle.

WLP029 flocs just fine. It's Wyeast 2565 that is the stinker when it comes to poor flocculation.

 

[Morrey]

WLP029 flocs just fine. It's Wyeast 2565 that is the stinker when it comes to poor flocculation.

Thanks, Dave. I recently made a Gose with a 50/50 wheat/2 row base with WLP029. I dropped the protein haze out of suspension completely clear with a small amount of gelatin fining in the keg. Of course this was done below 50F, and the equipment limitations are likely going to hold the OP back. Point is WLP029 is a very nice yeast to work with in a variety of applications.