Malt flavour in extract Boh Pilsner - advice please

[waz_j]

Hi All - I'm after some advice on improving a Boh Pilsner extract recipe. I brewed the recipe below and it's been lagering for a month. I sampled a bottle on the weekend and did a side-by-side test with Pilsner Urquell. Colour wise, mine is lighter than the more golden PU but has better head retention. The aroma is about the same and the hops flavours, bitterness and aftertaste are very close.

Where mine falls down noticeably is the malt taste. PU has that really nice malty hit in the middle and mine is like a pale reflection. Is there anything I can try (short of moving to AG) to get more of a malt hit in my extract recipe? Should I try some different specialty grains? I pretty much follow the process in IanH's spreadsheet and this brew was in primary at 12C for 14 days then racked to secondary and dry hopped for 3 days. Temp raised to 18C over two days and then crash chilled to 2C for 11 days. Kegged and bottled the remainder and then lagered at 2C for 4 weeks.


Rhapsody
Bohemian Pilsner

Briess Pilsen Malt 2.7kg
CaraPils 0.25kg
CaraHell 0.5kg

Czech Saaz 70g @ 60 mins
Czech Saaz 30g @ 15 mins
Czech Saaz 30g @ 3 mins
Czech Saaz 15g Dry hopped in secondary

Wyeast 2278 - 1.5l starter from smack pack. Was slightly slow to start so will step up to 3l next time.

 

[GalBrew]

Decoction I imagine. Not all that helpful for extract brewing though.

 

[tazman1967]

Add some Melanoidin Malt.. gives you the malt taste without doing a decoction.

 

[Adr_0]

Partial mash some Vienna, use Wyeast 2000.

 

[waz_j]

Thanks guys - I'll do some reading into partial mashes but I might hold off brewing another pilsner until I get an urn and try BIAB.

 

[manticle]

Also try briess or weyermann pilsner malt extract.