Looking to Brew a fake Pilsner

No. You'd bottle and carbonate with priming sugar after primary fermentation is finished. Then refrigerate after carbonation is finished. There's no way anyone could safely/reliably finish the primary fermentation in bottles.

 

Yes like vikeman stated. You would carbonate bottles after primary was finished and fg was stable. Then bottle like normal with priming sugar. Let sit in bottle at room temp for 2-3 weeks and then stick in fridge for a month to "lager".

 

Lager means to store roughly.

Why do you need to lager your fake Pils?
Because if you don't it can not even approach a Pils. Could be good. But you may as well make any beer.

Truth is most any beer benefits from some cold storage. Yeah that super IPA you brewed? Let it sit for 2 weeks then enjoy. You'll thank me.
Cheers

 

You can order it from an online vendor such as MoreBeer. That is what I do.

Cheers!

 

I have lagered in bottles and won competitions with the beer. I also know a brewer in our club that brews all his lagers with the Cal Commons yeast, and wins numerous comps with them, including BOS at OR State Fair with an American Light Lager.

 

Without lagering it, how can you call it a "Pilsner", fake or otherwise? Why not just make a Kolsch out of it.

 

No harm in that! You just have to be careful with the terminology.

 

If you're going to be careful with the terminology (which I applaud), isn't calling something that's not lagered and brewed with California Lager yeast a Kolsch is just as bad as calling it a pilsner? Arguably worse, in fact, since Kolsch is still a lot more strongly associated with a specific yeast type and geographical location...

 

I was only referring to the fermentation temperature and making other adjustments to approach a Kolsch. For that matter, I've never seen a Kolsch described consistently. Do you happen to have an absolute definition for a Kolsch-style beer, other than the beers actually made in Cologne?

 

There's the Koelsch Convetion:
http://www.gaffel.com/Privat-Brewer...Koelsch-convention/en_Koelsch_Convention.html

"[As well as being brewed in Cologne, t]he guidelines specify that true Koelsch is a top-fermented, light-coloured, clear, highly fermented, hopsy full ale and is brewed according to the German Purity Law of 1516."

I've always been under the impression that traditional Koelsch is invariably lagered as well, although that doesn't seem to be specified in the convention. I can't imagine it not being the case, but perhaps someone who knows more about German beer than me can confirm...

 

No need to apologize. The beer styles are not necessarily so tight that one beer couldn't fit under 2 or more different styles. Also, some styles, especially Kolsch (see Dave_S' definition above), have very loose definitions that seem to fit the description for some ales more than anything. I have seen Kolsches made with a variety of different malts, hops, fermentation temperatures and with or without lagering. Whether or not they fit under the definition is anyone's guess. I didn't mean to criticize you for your use of the term "Pilsner", since the malt and hops do relate to Pilsners, but the fermentation temperature and lack of lagering do not. So in a way, it's part way there.

 

I used to have all sorts of impressions of what a Kolsch was, and also thought it had to be lagered, but when I looked up the guidelines, I was quite surprised to see how loose the definition was, especially in terms of the type of malt, hops, fermentation temperatures and whether or not it had to be lagered. I do have a wall chart: "Periodic Table of Beer Styles" which provides 65 different categories of beer under 20 different styles. Kolsch is listed under the "Alt" style and is shown with the following characteristics:

OG: 1.042 - 1.046
FG: 1.006 - 1.010
ABV: 4.8 - 5.2
IBU: 20 - 30
SRM: 4 - 5