Better Brew Czech Pilsner

[oldstout]

Dropped to 20 degrees C now so hopefully it'll continue to drop a little bit further as the day goes on. Yeast is going berserk as we speak

I see you are planning a stout Phil....

:hmm:


......Milestone Black Pearl

:

 

[Phil_MG]

I'll bear that in mind cheers

Right, we're at the 7 day point and still the occasional bubble from the bubbler. It's sat at 18 degrees for the majority of the time apart from the warm start.

Just had the lid off for a hydrometer check and we're at 1016 now (temp corrected). So that's 3.6% ABV so far, I would really have been expecting a little lower than that at this point but I wasn't planning on bottling it till next Saturday so should drop some more yet.

Couldn't resist trying a little from the trial jar once I'd taken my measurements, and my god YUM. The extra hops have mellowed right out now, but it's certainly a huge difference from any kit I've done before, there's a real fresh taste and bite to it which I haven't been able to replicate before. I'll certainly be using the cold water and pan method again to pep kits up.

Another thing which I've noticed is there's very little in the way of trub settled to the bottom, I can only presume that's because the yeast is still busy working away disturbing it all with it's bubbles rising to the surface.

 

[oldstout]

I'll bear that in mind cheers

Right, we're at the 7 day point and still the occasional bubble from the bubbler. It's sat at 18 degrees for the majority of the time apart from the warm start.

Just had the lid off for a hydrometer check and we're at 1016 now (temp corrected). So that's 3.6% ABV so far, I would really have been expecting a little lower than that at this point but I wasn't planning on bottling it till next Saturday so should drop some more yet.

Couldn't resist trying a little from the trial jar once I'd taken my measurements, and my god YUM. The extra hops have mellowed right out now, but it's certainly a huge difference from any kit I've done before, there's a real fresh taste and bite to it which I haven't been able to replicate before. I'll certainly be using the cold water and pan method again to pep kits up.

Another thing which I've noticed is there's very little in the way of trub settled to the bottom, I can only presume that's because the yeast is still busy working away disturbing it all with it's bubbles rising to the surface.

Patience Grasshopper .....

 

[Crunchie]

Has anyone had real trouble with this Pilsner clearing? I saw a couple of mentions of being cloudy.

Mine fermented nicely but like an earlier post when I barreled it it was still very cloudy. The SG was down to 1004 and it had finished fermenting. I did leave it another week before transferring it and again left it in the kitchen for another week for secondary fermentation.
It's been conditioning in the barrel now since 23/4/12, nearly 2 months, and it's still very cloudy. It has a very good fizz but it tastes like it's still not ready yet.
I'm now beginning to wonder if I've just brewed a duffer.

 

[alanywiseman.]

I have to say that i am not overly impressed with this kit. It is not very clean and crisp. It is ok but i will not be brewing it again.

 

[oldstout]

I have to say that i am not overly impressed with this kit. It is not very clean and crisp. It is ok but i will not be brewing it again.

:wha: :wha: :wha:

That's unlucky alan three of my mates have done this and all have produced an excellent lager, mine have both been superb, so much so I've put my third batch into 42 bottles and they are conditioning right now - and clear as a bell too..... :thumb:

I'm impressed with these kits - I did the export lager which was spot on, the Stout which IMO was better than the Coopers Irish and am putting on their Brown Ale this week, my LHBS sells stacks of these too and they recently won an award from BetterBrew for sales :thumb:

:

 

[calumscott]

my LHBS sells stacks of these too and they recently won an award from BetterBrew for sales :thumb:

:

Mostly sales to you hey Stout? :lol:

 

[Phil_MG]

Strange isn't it. I wonder whether theres been a dodgy batch doing the rounds or if it's simply down to peoples own opinion?

 

[lovelldr]

Strange isn't it. I wonder whether theres been a dodgy batch doing the rounds or if it's simply down to peoples own opinion?

Was wondering that too reading the thread.

Mine had cleared fine in the bottles. Tried one last week, and it tasted "ok". Nothing special, and still yeasty. However, because the yeast stirred up when bottling, there's quite a lot in bottle at the bottom. Will have to put one intuit fridge for tomorrows game, and see what it's like after a further week...

The ipa I made from same range is a cracking pint, and superb... So either something I messed up when brewing, our a dodgy batch I reckon...

 

[alanywiseman.]

Strange isn't it. I wonder whether theres been a dodgy batch doing the rounds or if it's simply down to peoples own opinion?

My vote is personel taste. I am not trying to put people off the kit, just giving my opinon was all. Since come back to homebrew my taste has changed dramatically! From drinking mainly lager I now avoid it like the plague, favouring beer with more taste.

I have also done the IPA but ended up using 100g of Chinook in it (can be a bit of a hop head at times ) and it has only be conditioning about a week and was tasting very nice indeed.

 

[calumscott]

Have you done any other lager/pilsner kits recently Alan? How did they compare?

(The IPA is a belter, I'm planning another one ASAP as I'm ripping through it! 100g of chinook is one heavy hop-bomb!!!)

 

[alanywiseman.]

It is the first lager kit, you are probably right that i should do another to compare with it though.

I boiled up 40g of hops with some DME (25g for 15mins and 15g for 5) left this for 20mins after flame out then strained into FV. The remaining 60g was used to dry hop. It is a belter but it should just improve with time.

 

[calumscott]

The trouble is not drinking it too quick (as always!).

I just started the BB Export Lager on Saturday, so that will be interesting to contrast with the pils (although I used extra light DME in place of the sugar). As you know I'm a big fan of this pils but that'll be because I'm basically comparing it to shop bought commercial c**p lager and also the youngs el-cheapo harvest pils that I've done a couple of times. :grin:

 

[oldstout]

my LHBS sells stacks of these too and they recently won an award from BetterBrew for sales :thumb:

:

Mostly sales to you hey Stout? :lol:

Hahaha nice one calum, how u doing? :lol: :lol:

I wish I could say I've been on commission but sadly not

I simply speak as I find, exactly the same as everyone else on this forum I would imagine

I really like these kits, and I know you have enjoyed the Czech pils too :thumb: but ultimately, I think it's all down to personal taste at the end of the day........


:

 

[ScottM]

I quite fancy giving this a go. Given that I have a lager-clone brewing away upstairs I'll probably hold off for a little while but is this kit REALLY that good? Is it better than what I'll be able to do with extract, due to me basically shooting blind to find it?

I have high hopes for what I have at the moment but I'm always happy to try a kit with positive reviews, for the sake of it being so simple

 

[oldstout]

I quite fancy giving this a go. Given that I have a lager-clone brewing away upstairs I'll probably hold off for a little while but is this kit REALLY that good? Is it better than what I'll be able to do with extract, due to me basically shooting blind to find it?

I have high hopes for what I have at the moment but I'm always happy to try a kit with positive reviews, for the sake of it being so simple

I'd say go for it :thumb:


:


But remember.......

Let it mature for three months

 

[lovelldr]

Been in garage now conditioning for 3 weeks... So, decided to pop one open when I got home from work :lol:

Anyway, carbonation levels still good (didn't really expect to get worse :p). Fairly big head (wonder if maybe I over carbed), but, getting towards the end of the bottle, the yeast sediment starts coming out, and I have to stop with about 1.5cm left in bottom of bottle to stop the yeast coming in (some might already had got in).

Anyway, the head ... tasted the head, as wanted to get it down a bit, as was started to overflow the glass... Taste of this ... seemed quite weird. Maybe a bit hoppy, but couldn't really say... Then, came the drink. The underlying taste was quite nice still, but had the homebrew taste to it, and also tasted a little weird hoppy.

Anyway, will leave this for another few weeks, but still not overly impressed compared to most other beers at this age. As said before, wonder if there was something wrong with the batch I had, possibly wrong yeast or something?! As it stands, it's just about drinkable, but I wouldn't go out of my way to brew again or recommend. Just hope it comes in it's own in another few weeks...

 

[Asalpaws]

Just opened a keg of this my father in-law was looking after for me. Been in a fridge since April, it tastes really good, due to kegging it's a bit under carbed but still very drinkable and crisp. No beer kit taste at all. Very nice session beer, not quite as interesting as the Midas Touch kit I have been saving for the same amount of time but well worth doing. I added DME to mine instead of Dextrose and fermented at 15 degrees but no other tweaks, it's a good kit and I don't think it needs it!

 

[oldstout]

I have to say that i am not overly impressed with this kit. It is not very clean and crisp. It is ok but i will not be brewing it again.

:wha: :wha: :wha:

That's unlucky alan three of my mates have done this and all have produced an excellent lager, mine have both been superb, so much so I've put my third batch into 42 bottles and they are conditioning right now - and clear as a bell too..... :thumb:

I'm impressed with these kits - I did the export lager which was spot on, the Stout which IMO was better than the Coopers Irish and am putting on their Brown Ale this week, my LHBS sells stacks of these too and they recently won an award from BetterBrew for sales :thumb:



:

Put one into the fridge today and got rewarded with a pint of chill hazed brew...... :whistle: :whistle: :lol: :lol:

Typical :lol:

 

[lagerlout]

I put the czech pilsner kit on to brew last night and now 24 hrs later its foaming up and out of the airlock :shock: Is it normally as active as this? It is producing a lovely smell though, very different and much nicer than the other 2 lager styles i've done.