Interesting pilsner recipes

My normal Pils is:

94% Floor malted Pils
4% Belgian Caramel Pils
2% Acid Malt

60-30-10-0 with Saaz.

I think I did around 40 IBU's. Probably a bit bitter, but I like a bitter Czech Pils, very crisp. I did it because I was also playing with the belgian cara-pils. It's a 7SRM, has a slightly sweeter flavor than a base malt, but it's not really a dextrin malt I don't think. More like a really, really light crystal, but I didn't get much sweetness from it at all, more color, and body left. Tons of foam.

Used WY2278, it was okay. Will use a different strain next time to play with.

The nose doesn't really go away with the late additions I think. Smoother maybe. Mine still had the nice spicy earthy note to it with 1 oz of Saaz at flameout.

 

Since yall are talking about this let me throw this out there. I have stated playing with lager styles and ale yeast. What im trying to make is a hoppier version of a pils/Kolsch style lager without lagering. I thought this would be fun to play with. What do you think ? ( all grain )

6lb German Vienna
8oz Munich Light
4oz Carapils
4oz table sugar
153 mash
US-05 yeast or the White labs cream ale strain.
Hopping:

1 ozTettnangerPellet 60mins

1 ozDomestic HallertauPelletBoil 10 mins
2 ozAhtanumPellet Whirlpool at 175 °F20 min
2 ozSaazPellet Whirlpool at 175 °F20 min

 

I've never brewed this but I recently came across this recipe for an imperial pilsner with nelson sauvin. Sounds great. I'm going to brew it for spring or summer with a few modifications, namely increasing the batch size and decreasing the gravity and ibus. I didn't copy the username so I don't know who to give credit to unfortunately...

Yeast: S-23
Batch Size (Gallons): 3
Original Gravity: 1.078
Final Gravity: 1.015
IBU: 63
Boiling Time (Minutes): 90
Color: 4.4
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 14 days at 50
Additional Fermentation: 6 weeks lagering
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 3 days at 60

7 lbs. Pilsner
0.30 lbs. Cara-Pils
0.50 oz. Pacific Gem @ 60 min (42 IBU)
0.50 oz. Nelson Sauvin @ 20 min (19 IBU)
0.50 oz. Nelson Sauvin @ 2 min (3 IBU)

 

Why not try a kolsch strain?

 

I could see that being pretty good, a fair bit fruity and tropical tasting with that crisp clean pils malt backbone.

 

I have used a Kolsch strain once ( K97 ) and the beer turned out good but I wanted to see how much better it COULD possibly be with US-05. Wasnt sure if anyone here had brewed a pils recipe with more hops and a neutral ale yeast strain.

 

I've settled on US-05 for my Cream Ale. It pretty much stays out of the way - nearly as clean as a clean lager yeast, IMO. I've also eliminated Maize from my Cream Ale (discovered that by accident last year when I found myself out of stock on brew day). My recipe, then, is 95% German Pilsner, 5% table sugar, enough Willamette to give me about 20 IBU, then 2 oz Willamette at 5 mins. I'm thinking of boosting the IBU to 40-ish this year to give it more of a Czech Pils character, though I suppose I should probably stop calling it a Cream Ale.

Not a Lager, but it fills in nicely when I have a taste for a good Pils.

 

You can probably make a tasty beer with a pils malt bill and US-05, but a neutral is relative. An ale yeast that is considered to be neutral (such as the Chico strain) has more character than a typical lager strain. If you want something more lagery, then using Wyeast 2124 at ale temperature may get you something more like a lager than the Chico strain will. Norther Brewer Brewing TV has an episode on this. You may want to give the CP yeast Cry Havoc a shot. It is fairly neutral and can be used for ales or lager styles.

P.S. Just saw mkehartigan post above. Still, experimenting with some different yeasts may get you where you want to go.

 

WLP810 works at ale temps. I have used 34/70 at 66 degrees with good results.

 

If you use US-05, keep in mind that you are going to come out with a thin, flavorless beer due to high attenuation rates when using a classic pils recipe. Consider a couple lbs of carapils instead of ozs. and ditch the sugar. Lower fermentation temps should give it a little sulfur, but you will miss the nutty/mineral aspect. I would overhop it a little bit for the style with noble hops in order to trick the drinker into thinking its a lager.

 

I see your point there. Maybe some hop bursting with 3 oz or of Hallertau at the end of the boil could fill in.

 

One word, SMASH, pilsner and saaz. Won't go wrong, you can use just about any yeast and get a good beer.

 

Nice

 

No problem with head retention on all Pils malt beers.

Yes there are differences. Not as much as between ale yeasts. You have to play around with different ones to find your favorite.