German pils recipe tips

[Alex.Tas]

Hello

I'm keen to make up a German pils this weekend. I'm hoping to make a dry lager, preferably one around the 4-5%abv mark, great for summer.
I brew in a bag-40l crown urn and can either nochill or use an immersion chiller. I usually nochill unless I really want some late hoppyness to shine through- which in this brew probably won't be required.

So hit me with some recipe suggestions and brew techniques (mash schedules etc). I've got some hallertau on hand so would preferably use that. I haven't used mineral additives before, but if they will help let me know. I'm in Hobart which supposedly has very soft water.

Many thanks

 

[Lemon]

Alex, I think the best thing to do is keep it simple. Maybe one crystal malt, carapils say if you feel the need. A single noble hop addition at 60.
IMHO I don't think a complicated mash schedule is needed say 65C for 90. Modern malts, yada, yada.
BUT ferment cold, 12 C, pitch a high quality lager yeast, wyeast bohemian lager, urquell, etc, 2 packs or a big starter. This is what will make your beer. Some prefer a 8C start then up to 11C.
Then patience. Lager for as long as you can last. The best glass of this beer is always the last one in the keg
Lemon

 

[Adr_0]

If you're going to use crystal, make it as light as possible, eg carahell.

Weyermann have an awesome range of pils malts. You can always chuck some Vienna in (30%?) if you want. Acidulated malt doesn't go astray (don't be afraid of 2-3%) and some calcium sulphate will work well... Maybe up to150-200ppm ssulphate. That does not reflect Pilsen water but it will give the hops more sharpness.

Make sure you do a long boil, 90min typically, to minimise DMS.

How much chlorine is in your water? Would pay to remove it but it is probably not as much as we get up here. You will notice these off flavours in a beer like this. Don't forget a diacetyl rest too.. .

Wyeast 2000 is awesome, def my favourite lager yeast. Give it a go.

If you cold pitch (7-8°C) make absolutely sure you are not underpitching and that you have nice healthy yeast .

 

[TheWiggman]

Check out the thread 'getting pilsner into pilsner'. Some very good advice there and a good PDF link from wessmith which mainly discusses how technique is key for German beers.
In your case I would target your pH with acid malt as suggested above. Only use German malts with minimal/no specialties. If you're into it, consider decoction step mashing which should be workable in a BIAB system.
And of course, select the right yeast, pitch low and pitch big.

 

[Josh]

I wouldn't use crystal malts at all.

Mostly Pils, with a little bit of Munich for some malt character. I tend to use something like 92% Pils 8% Munich.

If you're making a German Pils, recreating Pilsen water is really not an issue. Have enough Calcium in there for yeast health. Gypsum would be a good start. I use about 2/3 Gypsum 1/3 Calcium Chloride because I don't want it to be too harshly bitter - I have no evidence to suggest it works or not.

I target around 40IBU, mostly at the 60 minute addition, using generally lower alpha hops will give you enough hop flavour. But 1g/L at flameout can help with some additional hop character. I've been having some success using Sylva hops lately.

I like Wyeast 2001 Urquell with a big starter and pitched cold. Ferment cold, then let it rise a little at the end to finish off and clean up after itself.

Cold condition for 2-4 weeks afterwards, I use gelatin to clarify.

 

[TheWiggman]

... and some calcium sulphate will work well... Maybe up to150-200ppm ssulphate. That does not reflect Pilsen water but it will give the hops more sharpness.

I agree with your other comments but are you sure about this? Using CaSO4 you're talking ~12g addition if the water's already low in sulphate already. Seems out of style for a pilsner.

(ED: further reading implies that water is 'higher-sulfate' for German pils - though what 'higher' is I don't know)

 

[bconnery]

I got this outline for a german pils many moons ago and I use it just about anytime I make a pils.
90/10% pilsner/munich malt.
You can use less munich but I like the little malty kick it gives. .

Bitter to 25-40IBU overall by combining a 60 minute addition and a flavour addition at 15/10 minutes of 1.23g/litre rounded.(unless your scales are really really accurate)..

I use this base idea to play with the beers. I enjoy putting NZ hops such as Moteuka or Nelson Sauvin in a pils, but otherwise somthing like hallertau etc. is always good. I tend to use a higher alpha bittering hop if I finish with lower alpha ones, something like Northern Brewer or Southern Cross.

No comment on mash schedules because I don't play much with them in the normal course of events. I tend to just do single infusion as I'm generally doing a bunch of over things when I brew...
I've done a few with lagers but not enough to provide any meaningful insight.

I like s189 because I'm too lazy to deal with starters and it's a beautifully clean lager yeast that is forgiving on temperature.

 

[Alex.Tas]

Wow, thanks everyone for the great responses.
I should probably have stipulated that while I'm trying to make a German pils, I'm not overly stressed about making it exactly to style. I'm after a dry lager style, similar to something like a German pils.
As I wish to brew this weekend and my local hbd only has jw pils, I'll have to use that. I'm keen to run with 10-20% Munich or Vienna too but reckon I'll skip the caramel malts.
A small warrior addition at say 60 and then a dose of hallertaur in the cube.
Wiggman I'll have a look at that link tonight after work.
Is mash temp gonna be my best bet to get that dry crisp taste or do you think I should add some salts as suggested?
Sorry for the delayed/short response. Been under the pump at work!
Thanks again

 

[Josh]

Wow, thanks everyone for the great responses.
I should probably have stipulated that while I'm trying to make a German pils, I'm not overly stressed about making it exactly to style. I'm after a dry lager style, similar to something like a German pils.
As I wish to brew this weekend and my local hbd only has jw pils, I'll have to use that. I'm keen to run with 10-20% Munich or Vienna too but reckon I'll skip the caramel malts.
A small warrior addition at say 60 and then a dose of hallertaur in the cube.
Wiggman I'll have a look at that link tonight after work.
Is mash temp gonna be my best bet to get that dry crisp taste or do you think I should add some salts as suggested?
Sorry for the delayed/short response. Been under the pump at work!
Thanks again

Mash temp will help. Combined with proper fermentation and not skimping on the IBU will all provide you the beer you're after.

 

[Adr_0]

The lagering will probably be the ticket to that crisp taste.

A mash temp of 66 I'd probably a good starting point for your mash. I would probably not over gypsum it, maybe not more than 150ppm sulphate but you might need some calcium. I highly recommend acidulated malt (Weyermann). If you are going to use Munich, IMO Vienna is slightly more appropriate but either way German versions would be best.

I assume you have temp control? Have a look at Braukaiser for eg for some lager schedule examples.

You should be conscious of diacetyl and include a rest for this. Diacetyl will not be good for the crispness you are after.

 

[Alex.Tas]

Yup got a temp controlled fridge, so can dial in what ever temp I need. Is 66 going to be low enough for the taste I'm after? I usually raise to mash out at 78 after the main rest.

 

[Eagleburger]

I have only just started to play with mash temp and brewing in general, so I am no authority.but I thought 62-63degC if you want dry and faint sweetness, 60-61degC for crisp.

I think I seen on telly that you just have to brew longer for crispy. I guess I just dont know.

 

[Adr_0]

Just looking at the notes from a last (delicious) bohemian I did. I thought I had done it at 66 but apparently not. You don't want to JUST do a single 60-63°C rest because you will end up being thin, which is a crime for a pils. Crisp and thin are not the same thing.

So, last one I did:

Mash was 57°C for 20min, 63°C for 45min, 72°C for 30min and mashout. The sulphate was theoretically about 160ppm.

63% Vienna, 34% pils, 2.4% acidulated (all Weyermann). Hop additions at 60, 40, 20min and flameout.

Wyeast 2000 cold-pitched at 7°C (probably 1.5L of slurry) for about 24hrs, raised to 10°C and held for 6 days (to 50% attenuation) then 12°C for 3 days (60% attenuation after this) then 14°C for another 5 days until 67% attenuation. I then slowly dropped it about 1-2°C per day down to 1.2°C where it finally reached 74% attenuation.

I remember being a bit concerned about butter, but it did fade fairly quickly. Turned out to be beautiful.

There is not a lot of room to hide flaws in a pils. Remember a few things:
- Do a long boil (90min+) to get rid of the DMS (boiled cabbage) precursor, and chill quickly
- Dechlorinate your water, with either potassium met, sodium ascorbate/ascorbic acid - generally only a pinch or two
- Do a diacetyl rest. This flavour/texture will ruin the crisp body you are after.
- Treat the yeast gently, i.e. slow ramps where you can. You will need at least two weeks at 0-2°C but if you can wait four that will generally help. You notice BIG differences when you first get it down to that temp vs a week, two weeks, etc. in.

 

[Alex.Tas]

Thanks Adr_0.
As i'm using an urn for BIAB, i use the element to raise the mash temp rather than adding boiling liquid in to raise the mash temp. as such it takes a while to ramp the temps.

using your mash schedule as a guide, how does the following look?I dropped the last infusion time a bit due to the mash already being almost 2 hours including ramp times

Name: Multi step infusion, adr0 pils (BIAB)
Baseline Grain Weight: 5.00 kg
Grain Temperature: 13.2 C
Tun Weight: 0.00 kg
Tun Temperature: 67.0 C
PH: 5.40
Sparge Temperature: 75.6 C
Batch Sparge: FALSE

Name Description Step Temperature Step Time
Mash In Add 36.00 l of water at 59.3 C 57.0 C 20 min
Mash Step Heat to 63.0 C over 10 min 63.0 C 45 min
Mash Step Heat to 72.0 C over 15 min 72.0 C 10 min
Mash Step Heat to 76.0 C over 10 min 76.0 C 0 min

 

[JasonP]

Just looking at the notes from a last (delicious) bohemian I did. I thought I had done it at 66 but apparently not. You don't want to JUST do a single 60-63°C rest because you will end up being thin, which is a crime for a pils. Crisp and thin are not the same thing.

So, last one I did:

Mash was 57°C for 20min, 63°C for 45min, 72°C for 30min and mashout. The sulphate was theoretically about 160ppm.

63% Vienna, 34% pils, 2.4% acidulated (all Weyermann). Hop additions at 60, 40, 20min and flameout.

Wyeast 2000 cold-pitched at 7°C (probably 1.5L of slurry) for about 24hrs, raised to 10°C and held for 6 days (to 50% attenuation) then 12°C for 3 days (60% attenuation after this) then 14°C for another 5 days until 67% attenuation. I then slowly dropped it about 1-2°C per day down to 1.2°C where it finally reached 74% attenuation.

I remember being a bit concerned about butter, but it did fade fairly quickly. Turned out to be beautiful.

There is not a lot of room to hide flaws in a pils. Remember a few things:
- Do a long boil (90min+) to get rid of the DMS (boiled cabbage) precursor, and chill quickly
- Dechlorinate your water, with either potassium met, sodium ascorbate/ascorbic acid - generally only a pinch or two
- Do a diacetyl rest. This flavour/texture will ruin the crisp body you are after.
- Treat the yeast gently, i.e. slow ramps where you can. You will need at least two weeks at 0-2°C but if you can wait four that will generally help. You notice BIG differences when you first get it down to that temp vs a week, two weeks, etc. in.

What's the purpose of the 20min rest at 57degrees?

 

[Adr_0]

I think you will be ok without the protein rest. Most people actually do this at55°C and two Weyermann recipes I have seen actually rest at 50 or 52.

I have always been under the impression that a test in the 55-59 range is good for breaking down longer chain proteins into medium chain, (which is exactly what you want in a beer) and the 45-53 range can be harmful for a lot of malts as this rrange breaks down the existing proteins in this malt - which is bad. The exception to this is really high protein malts, which might be why the two Weyermann records I saw have rests on this range. And most people rest at 55 with good results. Pretty well all of the literature says to keep this rest short, ie 20min or less.

I would say you can definitely do not NEED to do this rest, so you can make your brewday far more simple by leaving it out if you are not confident in raising up to 63 fairly quickly.

 

[JasonP]

I haven't checked the specs on the Weyermann malts but guessing theyd be well modified so could leave out that rest.

 

[Alex.Tas]

As I'll be using joe white, should I skip it?

How do those ramp times look? If they are too long I can reduce the strike water and add the required volume of boiling water to get the desired increase in temp.

Thanks for the replies!

 

[Adr_0]

Yeah I would say skip it. It is far more important to remove chlorine, make sure there is no DMS it diacetyl, and have a good amount of yeast going through a good lager schedule.

Enjoy...

And maybe make up that time in your 72 rest (20min?) and mashout.

 

[JasonP]

Yeah skip it. The rest of the mash schedule looks fine.