Brewing with pilsner malt

Depends on what you mean by step mash. A two step mash (beta and alpha rests) can maximum attenuation, if that's what you want. A short glycoprotein short rest at 163 or so can help with foam retention. But if you're thinking about a low temperature protein rest, I wouldn't. Weyermann Pilsner Malt is not, contrary to popular belief, an under-modified malt. If anything, a protein rest could be counterproductive, thinning the body too much and harming foam.

 

One data point... I have made Czech (Bohemian) Pilsners that have won BOS medals with single infusion (@154F, not a typo) plus mash out, with the same malt as you're using (i.e. Weyermann German Pilsner).

 

Yep. I used to enter this beer as two beers in each comp. It consistently took 1st (BoPils) and 2nd (German) in the same flight. The "German" entry never did anything at all in the BOS round. I did this to see if the judges could distinguish the relatively fine line between BoPils and German, and they apparently could. That, and winning two ribbons and a medal for one beer was kind of a hoot.

 

If you have the time, and want to do it. Try it out. You won't necessarily be extracting much. But. That's not really the point in you wanting to try it. Is it? It's not the reason you had someone else responding with their horn tootery about their winning using this malt and by NOT going the decoction route.
Do it. Learn about, it, and then you can take decoction mashing into other beers you make. And you can design them with it in mind.

 

@fuzzbalz made a statement, which I confirmed and supported with data. I very rarely mention competition results on the forum. When I do, it's to illustrate a point. So go toot yourself.

 

@VikeMan Brewed the Pliny the Elder recipe from BYO 11/12 2024. Mash was at 156F for NA 2 row.

At NH years back Greg Doss presented a study where the best attenuation for Pils malt in a single infusion was at 153F. Your 154F didn't surprise me.

 

I personally use a Hochkurt 3-step mash with temperatures at 145 F (beta rest: 25-30 minutes), 159 F (alpha rest: 20-30 minutes) and 168 F (mash-out: 10 minutes). It helps attenuation. I also notice that it helps the grain bed when sparging. The sparge water goes through it quite easily and quickly, a lot more so than when using a single infusion mash.

 

Makes sense. Most German pils malt nowadays qualifies as overmodified by the standards of just 20 years ago. The maltster is now doing a lot of the work that used to be the brewer's responsibility. If anyone is really into step mashing and decoctions it would pay to seek out undermodified specialty malts.

 

I think it improves the taste, but the difference might be too subtle for most. One of the reasons I enjoy lagers so much is that ther subtleness shines through for me. Just a lttle too much or too little can make a big difference. But I've been brewing lagers for a long time, and rarely brew ales (I don't like the taste of esters) so I have learned to distinguish the subtle flavours.

If you're doing a BIAG, a single infusion will be just fine. Aim for about 152 F.

 

All good points, In my brewing world I step mash every type of lager or ale just because it's easy and as I find it produces a fully ferment-able wort that has more malt body which I like. Temperature ramps slowly up thru mash out. 122(30), 144(30), 160(15), mash out at 170

 

The protein rest at 122 F may be unnecessary for most of the modern malts (and might actually be detrimental), except possibly for some of the more unmodified malts such as floor-malted pilsner malts. Even those are modified to some extent.

 

I know but why not? Tasting some of those really good German beers has something going on with temperature control and quality malt.

 

Why add unnecessary time to your brew day? And there are reports that using a protein rest for highly modified malts may actually be detrimental to the final results. There's a lot more to brewing good German beers that are rarely, if ever, written about. In fact, concerning one important process, I don't think I have ever seen it mentioned in any book (and I have dozens of books about brewing beers).

 

Low temperature protein rests can be a foam retention killer in beers made with modern (highly modified) base malts. The reason is that some of the same things happen in a protein rest as in the germination (modification) stage of malting. One of those things is the enzymatic breakdown of long proteins into shorter, foam positive proteins. But a protein rest on top of a long modification stage can be too much of a good thing, resulting in some of those those foam positive proteins being further broken down to the point they're no longer foam positive.

Many years ago, I put together a presentation on foam for a homebrew club. May be worth a read for anyone interested in improving foam retention:
http://sonsofalchemy.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Foam.pdf

 

A lot of German brewers are using single temperature infusion mashes these days. The malt is built for it, and time is money. The major exception to this trend is probably hefeweizens.

 

This is true, but there are advantages to doing step and/or decoction mashes, even with highly modified malts, although it is also true that most people would not be able to tell the difference, just as there are a lot of people who can not tell the difference between a really good quality wine and a lesser quality wine.

I find that the more I homebrew, the more I seem to learn to taste the most subte differences. Maybe this is a curse? If I'm just drinking for the sake of drinking, say in loud, busy, boisterous environment, a better quality beer or wine makes little difference. But if I'm drinking them in a different environment for the pure enjoyment of the taste, then for me, it does make a difference.

If the subtlety makes no difference, then I agree that it's a waste of time to do a step mash.