Do Yourself A Favour Brew A Real Beer A German Pilsner !

[warrenlw63]

Good on ya pumpy, sounds yummy!. Don't listen to the "know alls"

Quid Pro Quo... Because they usually only hear themselves. B)

Warren -

 

[floppinab]

Id say, the secret of a good Pilsener beer lies mainly in the yeast handling.

rule 1: pitch a lot of healthy yeast, at least 5% of the batch size, viscous yeast.
rule 2: pitch the yeast cold, say around 10C
rule 3: ferment cool, not over 12C

I'd say there are a lot of things that will impact a Pils as detailed on this thread but for mine this has had the greatest impact. Getting a handle on doing good big starters at the right temps to generate enough good quality yeast (or find a local microbrewer happy to give his away B) ) for a cold pitch and ferment. Been very happy with my Pils since then.
A brewer on here from up Newcastle way.......... can't remember who it was...... also put onto using hopburst type additions (60, 45, 30, 15, 0), really brings out the best of those noble hops, Saaz or Hallertau.

Mmmmm, might even do another one this weekend.

 

[jimmyjack]

I recently brewed a Cap that is one of the best brews I have put down. It is not German but has a German ting from the hops I used and a real quaffer

59% Weyerman Pilsner
30% Flaked Corn
5.5% Munich 2
5.5 Carapils
60 min Hallertau Mittlefrueh
15 min Saaz
Flameout Glacier
s189 Swiss

P rest at 55
S rest at 64
A rest 69
MO 75

Cheers

Jj

 

[Fourstar]

Looks Great JJ, I have to say CAP is one of my fav beers to make. Hoppy malty corny and very refreshing. Whats the glacier like in it?

 

[Henno]

It actually turned out really nice Lothar. The reason for the huge amount of Saaz was because it had been in my freezer for over a year and was only 2.2%AA when I first got it so it doesn't taste overloaded at all.

I cheated a bit with this one with the yeast and made a single batch first. I then pitched the double batch straight onto the single yeast cake, Screwy's idea, thanks for that one mate. Interestingly the single turned out horrible and is about to go on the garden but the double is delicious.

I get the idea of pitching cold and fermenting cold but do the starters necessarily have to be built up cold? That is am I putting my stir plate in the fridge?

 

[brettprevans]

no mash schedule Tony.

 

[jbirbeck]

The first beer I brewed was a German Pils and it was nice, although due to a little inexperience it came out too strong and to be honest I'd probably tip it now.

I've done the german pils a couple of times since and have never been happy with them. I may give it another go shortly.

 

[marksfish]

a german pils mashing as i type

6.00 kg wey pils
500 gm wey cara-pils
100 gm wey melanoidin
100 gm j.w wheat

mash hop 28 gm hall/hersbrucker plugs
10 gm perle 90 min
25 gm tettenang 90 min

est ibu 40 :beer:

 

[floppinab]

I get the idea of pitching cold and fermenting cold but do the starters necessarily have to be built up cold? That is am I putting my stir plate in the fridge?

In my very limited experience Henno, not cold in terms of normal lager temps, although you can do this, and will get enough yeast, but it will take longer to produce. I did one of mine in mid-summer, was probably 26 deg plus and the results were not good. I've found at around standard ale temps ~20 odd degs gets you a quick and quality result of enough good yeast to pitch.
I'm using a stir plate too by the way.

 

[Henno]

So stir plate in the fridge then flopp? Sounds like a hassle to have the power lead hangin out of the fridge seal.

 

[Fourstar]

So stir plate in the fridge then flopp? Sounds like a hassle to have the power lead hangin out of the fridge seal.

You're growing yeast, not brewing beer. Simply keep it at 20deg to build up cells, once its built up, crash chill and decant excess wort/beer thats estery/phenolic and not good for your beer then you can build up a starter if you wish at lager temps then pitch the active yeast.

Personally when i build up from a slant, i just do it at ambient (where its below 22 deg) then crash chill, decant and pitch at fermentation temp (make sure the wort is warmer than your starter or the same temp). I have no issues with the fermentation and attenuation, a little lag time but usually end up with the yeast profile i expected.

 

[therook]

Tony

How do you like the WLP833, I know TDA sleeps with it and loves it more than his missus

I dumped a big yeast cake of this onto my Pilsner Saturday morning at 8C and was firing away within an hour....

Can't wait to try it

Rook

 

[floppinab]

So stir plate in the fridge then flopp? Sounds like a hassle to have the power lead hangin out of the fridge seal.

Yep, mine pretty much lives in there, with the hair dryer in there during the winter and the fridge on in summer!!!! I've cut a little slot in the seal where the leads slip through.

 

[T.D.]

Fourstar have you ever thought about writing a book?

 

[therook]

Fourstar have you ever thought about writing a book?

I can see 4star sitting in Myers autographing books :icon_chickcheers:

Rook

 

[brettprevans]

I can see 4star sitting in Myers autographing books :icon_chickcheers:

Rook

screw myers. make it mrs parmas so we can all sit around and free load craft beers and parmas

 

[Fourstar]

How do you like the WLP833, I know TDA sleeps with it and loves it more than his missus

Bcok yeast hey... interesting The Wyeast equivilant is currently in their VSS, should have ordered one from Ross on my recent order. Sounds like a kickass yeast to use. sort of reminds me of the Munich Lager strain with higher alc tolerance. Maybe i can get dave to order one in for me. Or just order more stuff from Ross!

Wyeast 2487-PC Hella Bock Yeast Beer Styles: Lager, Oktoberfest/Marzen, Munich Dunkel, Schwarzbier, Traditional Bock, Maibock/Hellesbock, Dopplebock, Eisbock Profile: Direct from the Austrian Alps, this strain will produce rich, full-bodied and malty beers with a complex flavor profile and a great mouth feel. Attenuates well while still leaving plenty of malt character and body. Beers fermented with this strain will benefit from a temperature rise for a diacetyl rest at the end of primary fermentation.
Alc. Tolerance 12% ABV Flocculation medium Attenuation 70-74% Temp. Range 48-56F (9-13C)

Fourstar have you ever thought about writing a book?

Ha! I'd be the last one capable of such a feat. ThirstyBoy seems to be more of the type to venture down that path, especially with the resources he has at his disposal. I did write a 3 part series about home brewing in RMIT catalyst student magazine lastyear. there where a few editing problems however <_< . E.g. Break was noted insted of Trub etc.

The articles went from "what is homebrewing" + basic kit and kilo stuff, Full extract brewing and a recipe included was the next and the final part was a "what is AG brewing" and a wrapup with resources/references. It had a good reception and a few thumbs up emails sent to the editors which was good. Was the perfect audience. Uni students wantsing a cheap way to get drunk plus being able to make better beer. The onyl downside is i lost all of the writings on softcopy from a disk crash all i have is hardcopies. I sure as hell aint writing those out again!

 

[mje1980]

There is nothing wrong with knowing some science behind what you are doing, especially when you can end up with thin watery beer.

Knowing the science behind brewing is fine, commenting on someone's water treatment who lives 1000km's and another state away is a bit of a wank. Or maybe that's just me.

 

[jimmyjack]

Looks Great JJ, I have to say CAP is one of my fav beers to make. Hoppy malty corny and very refreshing. Whats the glacier like in it?

The Glaciar really smoothes out some of grassiness of the Saaz and gives it a really mild mellow lemon hint. Very Nice indeed

 

[Fourstar]

Knowing the science behind brewing is fine, commenting on someone's water treatment who lives 1000km's and another state away is a bit of a wank. Or maybe that's just me.

Considering majority of the east coasts water supply is rather low in mineral content and alot of brewers are using rain water its quite easy to commment on someones adjustments. Worse so if it wasnt low in minerals imagine adding 20g of CaS04 to a water profile already laden with 100ppm Ca and 150ppm SO4. :unsure: It probabaly wouldnt be all that pretty on the palate, unless you like drinking dry chalky or astringent beer.

My biggest interest (not gripe) was the 300 odd ppm of SO4 in the beer and what kind of profile it has given the final product. Its not a bad thing ro to be taken as a negative comment. Its within an acceptable range (for bitters and IPAs) just wanted to know what effect it has on a delicate beer like a pilsner. Personally i would never invision going above 150-200ppm in a German pils.

Fortunatly for those who drink my beer I don't consider water treatment to be a 'bit of a wank' when it contributes to 90 odd % of your beers make-up.

Some think water adjustments are useless and it doesnt do much for the profile but the proofs in the pudding. I think so, and most of all I CAN taste the difference, not to mention the added benifits it has on wort pH and hop utilisation amoingst other things.

You can brew a good beer without water additions but its very hard to brew excellent beer in a wide range of styles, consistently without it.

End rant.