1st Attempt At A Pilsner Using Biab

[tumi2]

I am going to brew a Pilsner and its my first crack at any type of lager or cold fermentation.

I have created my grain and hops bill from some limited reading but cant seem to find too much on this and there are so many differences to all recipes i have looked at.

How does this look to those who brew Pilsenrs using BIAB.

4.5kg of JW Pilsner malt (90%)
300 gr light Munich - just to get a bit more maltiness (6%)
200gr wheat malt - Aiming to get some head retention (4%)

Hops
25 gr northern Brewer @ 8% at 60 mins - Just because i want to use the rest of my NB and figure it would be OK to bitter with it
30 gr Saaz @ 4% at 40 mins
30 Gr Saaz @ 4% at 10 mins
20 gr Dry hops in secondary

Total IBU's in beersmith is 39 IBU's
Color is 3.7 SRM

I was not going to add a 5 minute addition as i am unsure if it would add too much taste and i want a well balanced beer OR should i do this for a bit of extra flavour?

Yeast: WLP800 if i can get it from LHBS

Mash
I have read that a protein rest is worth doing at about 53 degs when using Pilsner malt to assist protein break down and increase clarity so i will do 20 mins at 53 degs. then raise to 63 degs and do a 70 mins mash. Then a 10 minute Mash Out at 75 degs.

Fermentation
My first go at a low temp lager so this will be a learning curve. I am aiming for 12 degs for 2 weeks and then crash chill for 2 weeks, then isinglass and then carb in the bottle and chill for a month or so.

I brew using BIAB. Is their anything i need to look out for in particular when brewing a Pilsner?
How does my grain and Hops bill look?
Is this the yeast to use?. I see a fair bit of referrence to S-189?

Thanks in advance for any advice for me attempting my first Pilsner.

 

[Bribie G]

Looks good, I'd maybe up the base malt to 5k. Also the JW pilsener, if it's anything like the BB we get here in SEQ, is well modified and wouldn't need a protein rest IMHO. However when I used the proper imported Pilsener I did a rest.

I don't think Euro breweries dry hop, it may introduce 'grassiness' to the beer. Other than that, it's fine. A good yeast to use is the liquid yeast Wyeast Urquell 2001 - I don't know what the WL equivalent would be. The advantage of S-189 is that it is quite forgiving and if your temp control isn't spot on, no problems. I usually do mine at 14 - 15 degrees, raise to 18 for a couple of days then whack into lagering for at least 10 days.

A 'true' Pilsener is all Pilsener malt and all Saaz, the original SMASH beer :icon_drunk: and I guess you will end up with more of a German Helles or German Pils. Should be yummy and quite ok for BIAB.