west coast pilsner help

fluketamer · Jan 27, 2025

i saw a recipe for a west coast pilsner that looked interesting and i have some but not all of the ingredients so i want to try to make my own.

can i bitter with saaz then add a bunch of fruity hops for flavor / aroma or is that too crazy ?

i was thinking
9 lbs pilsner
1 lb vienna
4 oz acid malt

bitter with an ounce of saaz at 60
then add

an ounce of citra at 10
an ounce of amarillo at 5
an ounce of mosaic at flameout
dry hop with an ounce or two of citra or mosaic havent decided yet but i just ordered a pound of each so will definitely use one.

34/70 yeast at 62 ish

my last ale didnt work out after i switched from flavor/ aroma additions to whirpooling. i ended up with what i think is hopburn so i want to go back to flavor /aroma hopping instead of whirlpool. i also doubled the dry hop amount so maybe that burned it . idk.

thanks

dmtaylor · Jan 27, 2025

fluketamer said:
can i bitter with saaz then add a bunch of fruity hops for flavor / aroma or is that too crazy ?

That IS crazy... but only because Saaz hops average like 3% alpha acid. Bitter with anything OTHER than Saaz!!

Recipe looks fine other than that.

worlddivides · Jan 27, 2025

What DM Taylor said. I'd bitter with Magnum, Centennial, Columbus, or something like that.

hottpeper13 · Jan 28, 2025

I vote for Perle, it's my go to bittering hop for most of my lagers.

fluketamer · Feb 7, 2025

wow this came out really good :
5.5 gallon batch

9 lbs of pilsner
1 lb vienna
4 oz acid malt
3 ounces of corn sugar at flame out

mash at 150 for 60 mins.
mash out at 168 for 20 mins

75 minute boil

1 oz saaz at 60 (next time im going to perle, but i would use .5 oz magnum if i had it on hand)
2 oz of citra at 10
1 oz of mosaic at FO

34/70 at 62 degrees .

on day 7 i dropped it to 50 degrees and
dry hopped with 1 oz of citra and 1 oz amarillo for 3 days then cold crashed to 34 and kegged it .

its very hop forward and fruity it smells citrusy and piney. and the flavor is equally citrus/ berry/ dank.

it could benefit from a few more ibus to balance the sweetness of the hops as you guys pointed out.