Pilsner dms

Nope never. PH is another (often overlooked) variable to DMS. Personally I don't use Best because I get a sort of wet hay flavor no matter what.

 

I used to do 90 minute boils with pilsner, but not anymore. I think the 90 minute rule is/was a hangover from an era when malts were a little different. Haven't noticed any DMS in the finished beer. Haven't used Best Malz IIRC.

 

I routinely do 30 minute boils with all pilsner without any perceptible DMS.

 

Some light reading on why what you're picking up probably isn't DMS:

http://www.milkthefunk.com/wiki/Dimethyl_Sulfide

 

Are you confident that you are tasting dms? Just asking because I have never noticed it myself in a finished beer. Where I think I have noticed it is in starter wort that I have canned with a pressure canner. Or it could have been something else entirely that I was smelling.

 

Ever had Rolling Rock back in the day?

 

I’d say that “dms cooked corn flavor” is more due to the actual corn in rolling rock than dms from pilsner. I understand the taste is similiar.

 

They are similar. But RR was well known for having above threshold DMS levels.

 

I haven't had a Rolling Rock since 1992. I had no awareness of beer off flavors at that time. If I were to get one now, would I be able to pick up on it?

 

I have to boil for 90+ but I live at 7000 feet. DMS is blatantly corn when it’s bad but I think it can present itself as other aromas as well that aren’t corn.

 

Good question. The brand is owned by InBev these days and no longer brewed in Latrobe. I don't know what changes have been made along the way. I think my last Rolling Rock was in the mid to late 80s. I really hated that beer.

 

I can't remember where I read it, but I remember reading that after the acquisition of Rolling Rock (or Latrobe or whatever) by InBev, an InBev brewer was asked whether they would slowly reduce the DMS or what, and his response was something like, "No, we will learn to brew with flaws." In other words, the DMS is here to stay. [Oh here's a link to what I was referring to.]

But I also haven't had a Rolling Rock in years, so I have no direct knowledge.

Incidentally, I believe InBev shifted production from Latrobe to Newark, although I have no idea where it's brewed now.

[Updated for clarity & to expand on point.]

[Updated with new information.]

 

It was sort of trendy in the mid-Atlantic areas for a stretch. Bars would sell a "bucket of Rocks" to tables of frat-boys in Charlottesville. That's actually what I remember from 1992; since I wasn't part of those tables, could be I didn't have one even then.

 

Same at Penn State. There was even a bar whose only beer was RR. I would have killed for a Miller Light.

 

This thread has been a learning journey for me, and I've learned that pilsner malt is prone to DMS. (I'm an extract brewer so no real effect from DMS for my beers, but I still like to learn everything about brewing that I can.) The thread's title is "Pilsner DMS" which may have caused the focus of the discussion to be on that tendency towards DMS from that specific malt, but isn't having a lid on the boil kettle also a significant reason for getting DMS in a beer? And no one has confirmed with the OP whether a lid might have been in use when brewing this beer.

@chavinparty, did a clue get missed here?

 

Yes, preventing the escape of converted and volatilized DMS can be a problem.

I figure @chavinparty has been doing all grain for quite a while now and he indicated that the problem has occurred only with this particular malt. But certainly, if a lid is covering the boil to any significant extent, that could be a factor.

 

So it doesn't smell like cooked/creamed corn or cabbage?