AG pilsner brewing

[StevieDS]

First off, thanks to everyone who answered my many questions regarding my first pilsner ag biab. I brewed this yesterday using all the advice I got on this forum and from a lot of web browsing, and thought I'd list my method here in full to maybe help others who are new to ag like myself, and also to get some suggestions and/or criticisms from the experts
Here goes...

Recipe
20L Brew Length
4kg Pilsner malt from HBC

60g Saaz pellets @ 60mins
30g Saaz pellets @ 30 mins
60g Saaz pellets @ 1 min

Saflager w34/70
Whirlfloc tablet @ 15 mins

Method
This was a brew-in-a-bag, decoction mash. As I was using an electric boiler/mash tun it was very easy to raise the temperatures as required.
As this was a pilsner my water was no good, much too hard, so I used Asda Eden Falls spring water (£1.10 for 5L bottle) which is soft, with a little (0.4ml for 22L water) lactic acid added to reduce bicarbonate levels and alkalinity . This brought the water profile quite close to Pilsen water.
I brought the water in the boiler/mash tun up to 42° then poured in the grain and left it to rest for 15 mins. Then I raised the temp to 50° and rested for 20 mins.
Then I removed about a 5L decoction from the mash tun (very thick, mostly grain with just enough liquid to cover it) and put this in a pot. I slowly (took about 15 mins) raised the temp of this decoction to 71° and rested for 15 mins, all the while keeping the main mash tun at 50°.
I then slowly (about 15 mins) raised the decoction to a boil and kept it simmering for 15 mins, stirring well. This was then added back to the mash tun and brought the temp up to 65°, then rested for 10 mins.
Then a 2L decoction was removed, much thinner this time, and brought slowly to the boil and held for 5 mins. This was then added back to the mash tun and the temp increased to 71°, rested for 10 mins.
Then the temp was raised to 75° for mash out. I placed the bag in a colander in an empty fv and poured 5L water @ 75° through it to sparge, and left to drain.
Next the boil...
I boiled for 90 mins to remove any dms from the liquid, due to the pilsner malt. Added the hops as required, added the sparge water at 60 mins and the whirlfloc at 15 mins.
When finished, I placed the vessel in a bath of water and ice and left to cool overnight.
When cooled to about 15° I poured into the fv and added the re-hydrated yeast.

Fermentation
I only brewed yesterday but this is my fermentation schedule...

Primary- 1 week @ 12°
Secondary- 2 weeks @ 12°
4 weeks @ 2°
2 days @ 12°
Bottles- 3 weeks @ 12°
Then cold condition for a couple of months.

Thats it. Sorry for the long post!
I'd really welcome any comments on this, I'm still a newbie at this and no doubt there are some areas for improvement so let the criticism fly, and thanks again for all the help received before I started this brew.
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[Good Ed]

well done :thumb: a very nice style of beer, home made of course. Also for doing a decoction mash with one of your first beers :thumb: ; there is quite a bit of debate about whether it is necessary with the modern well modified malts, although I'm sure I'll try it one of the days just for the hell of it. :)

Personally I wouldn't bother with transferring to secondary after a week, I follow the advice of Jamil Zainashelf (here you go http://thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/The-Jamil-Show/search/pilsner), and he just lets his lagers ferment out in the primary, 3-4 weeks. Also I don't bother with a diacetyl rest as I don't find it necessary with healthy yeast and low temperatures, but by all means do one after abot 14days if you want.

As for lagering it would be necessary to transfer to a secondary vessel, and to introduce some CO2 on top of the beer to protect it. Or use a vessel with very little head space. I don't have the facility to lager anymore since my fridge packed up, but have lagered in the garden shed over winter with ok results. I have a cellar, so I just let it condition longer at cellar temperatures.

When bottling you may wish to add a bit of yeast after the lagering process, although there is probably enough yeast left in suspension. If so I usually just add a tablespoon or so of some slurry. When tranferring to your secondary, leave a bit of beer at the bottom on the yeast cake, give it a swirl and bottle this, keep in the fridge and use this when bottling, you wont need much.

Classic American Pilsner is relly nice, it is what was brewed pre prohibition, search on here for posts by Aleman if you want to do it

 

[pittsy]

sounds great , now the really hard bit........ waiting

 

[StevieDS]

Thanks for the comments good ed. Like I said I'm very new to all this, hence this topic, so all advice is very welcome.
Yeh I thought id jump in at the deep end, as good a way to learn as any.
Couple of daft questions, firstly I don't know what a diacatyl rest is so I didnt know I was doing one.
Secondly, the reason I'm transfering to a secondary after 1 week rather than just before lagering is to allow a CO2 layer to form naturally. This was following advice I received from another forum member. If doing it as you suggest how do u add the CO2 layer?

As for lagering I don't have a fridge so I'm planning on keeping it outside wrapped in a wet tshirt to keep cool and hoping for a cold winter :lol:
I know its not ideal but will it work?

 

[mak]

Thanks for sharing mate, saves me asking a fair few questions soon when I try the dark side pils! :

 

[pittsy]

a diacatyl rest is when you bring the beer back up to temp for a few days before bottling and as you have done decoction i would recommend it as this increases the risk of pop corn flavour (diacatyl)

 

[Good Ed]

Secondly, the reason I'm transfering to a secondary after 1 week rather than just before lagering is to allow a CO2 layer to form naturally. This was following advice I received from another forum member. If doing it as you suggest how do u add the CO2 layer?

As for lagering I don't have a fridge so I'm planning on keeping it outside wrapped in a wet tshirt to keep cool and hoping for a cold winter :lol:
I know its not ideal but will it work?

That's all fine. I would transfer to secondary after the wort has dropped at least 2/3 of the gravity points you are expecting, this may be longer than a week. Most brewers with kegs would have CO2 on hand, I don't have any but I was going to get some CO2 bulbs from my LHBS and give it a go. I've lagered beer in the garden shed over winter, not ideal but it gave good results.

 

[rpt]

Where do you measure the temperature in the boiler/mash tun? How do you ensure it's even? Do you have a controller with a probe or is this manual control?

 

[StevieDS]

I just use a chefs thermometer at the minute but I am going to get a decent one soon.
For even temperature just stir well while heating.
Yeh I'm just controlling the temperature manually, making sure the boiler/mash tun is well insulated to hold the temp steady.

 

[Aleman]

Ok I didn't comment on the first thread because it was BIAB and I have very little experience with BIAB.

There is a wealth of info in my thread Aleman's Bohemian Pilsner which covers grain bill, mashing methods, and water treatment.

when you said

This was a brew-in-a-bag, decoction mash. As I was using an electric boiler/mash tun it was very easy to raise the temperatures as required.

I thought you were just doing a temperature stepped mash, but you actually did it the proper way pulling decoctions . . . well done :hat:

If you can't get the temperature down to 0-2C then you are not really lagering . . .

If I get the time, in a couple of weeks I'll be brewing a Boh Pils which I'm really looking forward to.

 

[Good Ed]

Aleman's thread on Bohemian Pilsner is highly recommended :thumb: I did my first Boh Pils from this

 

[StevieDS]

Thanks again for all the suggestions and comments, just checked the brew when I got home, about 36 hours since pitching yeast and there is activity from the airlock :party:
Its very slow but its def doing something!
About the lagering stage, I'm on gum tree at the minute trying to get an old fridge though I don't really have space for it. If I can't get down to 2°, say for example I can only get down to about 5 or 6° how would this affect the beer?

 

[zgoda]

Will take longer to mature, maybe 8 weeks instead of 6. 20-25% longer, that's from my experience.

 

[rich27500]

Nothing to add other than well done and do you have a name yet for your virgin brew?

 

[StevieDS]

If the only issue with a slightly high lagering temp is that it will take longer then I can live with that. But I will try hard to find a fridge somewhere before that!

No name for this brew, im a bit unimaginative when it comes to naming beers, the wife usually gives some good suggestions :grin:

Its been about 2.5 days since pitching and still bubbling away nicely. Will check the SG in bout 5 days or so and see what the progress is like

:

 

[BelfastBottler]

If the only issue with a slightly high lagering temp is that it will take longer then I can live with that. But I will try hard to find a fridge somewhere before that!

No name for this brew, im a bit unimaginative when it comes to naming beers, the wife usually gives some good suggestions :grin:

Its been about 2.5 days since pitching and still bubbling away nicely. Will check the SG in bout 5 days or so and see what the progress is like

:

Yooooo! Big lad!... Looking forward to tasting this brew!!! I'll name the pilsner for ya!!! Lmao

 

[StevieDS]

If the only issue with a slightly high lagering temp is that it will take longer then I can live with that. But I will try hard to find a fridge somewhere before that!

No name for this brew, im a bit unimaginative when it comes to naming beers, the wife usually gives some good suggestions :grin:

Its been about 2.5 days since pitching and still bubbling away nicely. Will check the SG in bout 5 days or so and see what the progress is like

:

Yooooo! Big lad!... Looking forward to tasting this brew!!! I'll name the pilsner for ya!!! Lmao

Ha judging from your own name BelfastBottler I think i'll let the wife name it :lol:

 

[StevieDS]

Ok so its been sitting close to 12° now for 4 days, still bubbling away happily. Tomorrow I'll check the SG to see how its doing. I'll follow Good Ed's advice and wait for a 66% drop in gravity before transferring to the secondary, that means somewhere around 1.020-1.022.

I need some more advice if possible...
On brew day, during the boil I added the aroma hops at 1 min. Then as soon as the boil was finished I removed the hop bag and began to chill of the wort. Don't know why I took the hop bag out straight away, probably was worrying about too many things as this was only my second AG, but basically the final hop addition was only in the brew for 1-2 mins.
Should I dry hop to make sure I'm getting a good hoppiness or should I just leave it??
Help please.

 

[pittsy]

i think i'd leave it be , you don't want too much hops and besides you'll want to get a good taste on the malt etc to see how it is etc

 

[StevieDS]

Five days now since pitching and I just took the first gravity reading: 1.032.
Still plenty of airlock action and loads of foam on top so it's coming along nicely.
Also had a little sip for curiosities sake and it wasn't half bad, obviously still a little sweet but plenty of the distinctive Saaz flavour and aroma. I don't think it'll be a million miles away from an Urquell which is what I was aspiring to.
And yeah I think your right pittsy, plenty of hoppiness but not so bitter you can't taste the light maltiness, so I won't bother dry hopping.
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