JW Pilsener Malt

[paulmclaren11]

I have recently bought a sack of this to give it a try after my sack of JW Trad Ale is coming to an end (nice malt IMO).

I figured having the Pils malt on hand I can brew both Ales and Lagers easily.

My first beer I have brewed with this is a German Pils, got it down to 1010 bittered to 31 IBU @10c.

Whilst nice enough, I am finding a real sweet/honey after taste with this malt and it's not what I was really after (I wanted it lighter and and crisper). The grist is 100% JW Pils.

Is this a normal flavour for JW Pils? It has only been in the keg for 2 weeks after 3 weeks in primary.

I have an APA in the fermenter at the moment and will see how this goes, I am sure using the spec malts it will be fine.

 

[stakka82]

Just wondering mate, did u do a d rest with that brew?

 

[Bizier]

Agree with the above. It sounds like 2,3-pentanedione. It is like diacetyl's little sister.

 

[paulmclaren11]

G'day, yes I did a D rest - raised it to around 20c for 2 days just before fermentation finished then crash chilled.

It really doesn't taste that great after having a few more on the weekend.

It doesn't have a buttery taste (well my palate doesn't think so), as I mentioned a sweet/honey smell and after taste especially once the glass warms up.

Dissapointing when beers turn out like this.

 

[labels]

In my opinion, crash chilling is not the most ideal method with lagers. It's common practice to chill slowly over a period of time - 10 days is normal. This allows the yeast to keep working, albeit slower, to help clean up other fermenation by-products. Also with your diacetyl rest, I find that 2 days is usually not enough and I will hold at 18-20C until the krausen has completely fallen before crashing back to fermentation temperatures and then the slow chilling cycle. Holding at 0C for a week allows polyphenols and suspended proteins to drop out, I then filter for a final polish.

-=Steve=-

 

[mckenry]

I have recently bought a sack of this to give it a try after my sack of JW Trad Ale is coming to an end (nice malt IMO).

I figured having the Pils malt on hand I can brew both Ales and Lagers easily.

My first beer I have brewed with this is a German Pils, got it down to 1010 bittered to 31 IBU @10c.

Whilst nice enough, I am finding a real sweet/honey after taste with this malt and it's not what I was really after (I wanted it lighter and and crisper). The grist is 100% JW Pils.

Is this a normal flavour for JW Pils? It has only been in the keg for 2 weeks after 3 weeks in primary.

I have an APA in the fermenter at the moment and will see how this goes, I am sure using the spec malts it will be fine.

Hi paulmclaren11,
I have had a honey flavour in lagers before. Its not offensive, but not what youre expecting right?
If youre sure its not 2,3-pentanedione, then read on.
If so, I put it down to the hops. I pick up a honey flavour from some of the kiwi hops, namely BSaaz (or whatever the kiwi name for it is Motuka maybe?) and also in Nelson Sauvin (lesser degree). I have a brewing friend that believes NZ cascade can taste a bit honey-ish too.
Did you use any of these hops?

 

[paulmclaren11]

I used NZ Hallertau Aroma @ 15 and @ 1 mins

The beer is drinkable, but not what I was after as you said.

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

If you ask any Euro-beer-snob (the pretentious ones I mean) that "honey" taste is what they love so much about European beer.

Um.... that's stale.....

Lucky I don't have to brew Pilsners with this then....

 

[paulmclaren11]

After 4 weeks in the keg, I think the honey taste is subsiding somewhat, could be the hops as suggested above.

Next I plan on a Czech Pils, I will make sure pitching rates are right and temps, D rests are done by the book. If I get honey again I defo won't use this for lagers again.

My APA about to be kegged tastes great with the JW Pils as a base malt.

 

[Arghonaut]

I'm in the same boat, the guy at the LHBS (the only one within 200km) would only order in JW Export Pils, as he had done it before for someone else and had NFI on what else he could get. Typical shop full of kits, yeast stored on the shelves etc. When i picked the sack up, the guy behind the counter said incredulously "You can make beer from that!?" :blink:

Anyways, to date i have made an APA, Belgian Golden Strong and jyo's "simple saaz blonde" and all have been great. Just tonight i threw done an irish red using it as the base, with 10% carared, 3% cararoma, 1% roasted barley. Will let you know how it turns out (if this damn 1084 will swell so i can make a starter), but so far i have found it fine, and i pay double what you do for it!

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

Anyways, to date i have made an APA, Belgian Golden Strong and jyo's "simple saaz blonde" and all have been great. Just tonight i threw done an irish red using it as the base, with 10% carared, 3% cararoma, 1% roasted barley. Will let you know how it turns out ...

Please do. I have some carared, and I think carapils, so this would be good.

I've done an APA (in fermenter) and I'm going to do a sort of Southern Pilsner with it (after I've done my Munich x Vienna Red Lager with Sylva) and I'll use the leftover Sylva for that.

 

[Bizier]

[...]Typical shop full of kits, yeast stored on the shelves etc. When i picked the sack up, the guy behind the counter said incredulously "You can make beer from that!?" :blink:
[...]

You should have looked at the kits and returned the comment/question verbatim.

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

Another (seemingly stupid) question.

I'm looking at a Barleywine - mainly because I now live in a place where it's cold enough to drink them.

The AABC/BJCP guidelines talk about using a well modified Pale Ale Malt for a base.

Could I use the Pilsner malt on an extended boil with some cara/crystal malts to bring the 'maltiness' perception up. I will use a long boil and I have bourbon barrel chunks for the ageing process.

As my brewed beer hasn't yet come out, I'm blind with this malt and how far it can be pushed.

 

[Bizier]

I am sure that would be fine man. I would even go so far as to say that you could brew a decent barleywine with only JW pils, pale, perhaps less complex, but enjoyable for sure.

 

[Byran]

I got a bag of JW pils malt, made a few beers with it. And didn't like the flavour of the malt particularly. Weyermann is heaps, heaps better in my opinion.
Ill never use JW pils again. Cant quite put my finger on it but never loved the flavour it produced.The JW Trad ale is fantastic though.
I find that if you do a decoction mash you will def get a sweet finishing beer because you are obviously caramelising the wort to some degree.
But if you are hitting your FG then I guess it may be due to unfermentables or undesirables creating the flavours you described, as is suggested by some of the lads.......

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

Weyermann is heaps heaps heaps better. But I now live in Tas, so getting it straight up (until the next BB) isn't as easy, I don't normally use Pils malt as a base except in certain beers (and I used to buy it in small amounts from craftbrewer for that), and more importantly, I got 25kg of it for nothing. It's enough to get me up and running with brewing.

I don't want 21kg (which is what's left) sitting around, whilst I brew with other malts as I acquire them, so I'm seeing what it is capable of and what its limitations are.

Given I can get a sack (I think) of Trad Ale for $40 in a bulk buy, I may switch this as my 'normal' base until I can get hold of TFFMMO or Perle (which used to be my 'standard' base).

I'm thinking I'll do a 2 hour boil on a barleywine with it, some crystal, carared, caramalt, and then add in a little (about 400ml) of fruit syrup from tinned cherries and blueberries (my missus got some in the shopping), hop it to about 75IBU and see what comes out. If it works, I'll use it for heavy barleywine, as I can use it up quicker than making Pale Ales with it.

 

[mje1980]

I prefer pilz malt in big IIPA's as it finishes more dry and crisp. Why don't you do that instead of a thick syrupy barley wine?.

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

I prefer pilz malt in big IIPA's as it finishes more dry and crisp. Why don't you do that instead of a thick syrupy barley wine?.

Because I wanted to try a big syrupy barleywine

I wanted to do a barleywine last year, but there is only about 2 months in the year in brisbane where it is even drinkable, and by the time I'd finished all my comp beers last year, it was the end of July, so no go.

I figured that if I have to use up this pils malt, and I generally prefer a good ale malt for my AIPAs, then why not use the opportunity to experiment a little.

I got some tinned blueberries and cherries, missus wanted the fruit for puddings, and I kept the juices (about a pint went into 10L, more about that later). I got some bourbon barrel chunks for a bit of aging/oaking/oxydisation and thought I'd have a crack.

Then the water went out last night and when it came back, it was late and the water was an unpleasant colour. So when I pitch, I'll check the gravity, but unless that boil was better than I thought, I've got about 10L at 1.080, instead of 1.200, which is what I'm aiming for. So the 80 IBU in that mightn't be balanced.

 

[mckenry]

Weyermann is heaps heaps heaps better. But I now live in Tas, so getting it straight up (until the next BB) isn't as easy, I don't normally use Pils malt as a base except in certain beers (and I used to buy it in small amounts from craftbrewer for that), and more importantly, I got 25kg of it for nothing. It's enough to get me up and running with brewing.

I don't want 21kg (which is what's left) sitting around, whilst I brew with other malts as I acquire them, so I'm seeing what it is capable of and what its limitations are.

Given I can get a sack (I think) of Trad Ale for $40 in a bulk buy, I may switch this as my 'normal' base until I can get hold of TFFMMO or Perle (which used to be my 'standard' base).

I'm thinking I'll do a 2 hour boil on a barleywine with it, some crystal, carared, caramalt, and then add in a little (about 400ml) of fruit syrup from tinned cherries and blueberries (my missus got some in the shopping), hop it to about 75IBU and see what comes out. If it works, I'll use it for heavy barleywine, as I can use it up quicker than making Pale Ales with it.

You haven't tried what you've made with it yet!!! How do you know weyerman is heap heaps heaps better? Apologies if you're talking about it being better than something else, but it doesn't read that way.
It's comments like that with no evidence that gives things undeserved bad reputations.
If anyone out there wants to give me free JW Pils I'll gladly accept it. It's great.

 

[treefiddy]

You haven't tried what you've made with it yet!!! How do you know weyerman is heap heaps heaps better? Apologies if you're talking about it being better than something else, but it doesn't read that way.
It's comments like that with no evidence that gives things undeserved bad reputations.
If anyone out there wants to give me free JW Pils I'll gladly accept it. It's great.

Agreed.

Also, what is the wash you mention in the OP?