In search of a descent Pilsner!

[Iechyd Da Laa]

Hi all, I was looking for a little guidance and advice for a brew I was looking to do over the weekend. I was hoping to brew a fairly good Pilsner using a Cooper’s kit with some extra bit I have purchased.

In a nutshell, I have a can of Cooper’s 86days Pilsner, a brew enhancer one pack as the fermentable, two packets of Fermentis 11.5g W34/70 yeast, 100g of Spalter Select Hops with a low Alpa Acid % and finally an extra bag of Dex- Trose for extra fermentables (if needed) and Priming.

I have median to hard water, so I was thinking of boiling the water for 10 mins and letting it cooling over night in a fermentation fridge to soften the water, would this be worth the effort?

I’m not sure if I should or how to add the hops to ensure that Pilsner classic bitter hops tastes is there.

I’m also not sure how much of the yeast to pinch as 23g seems a lot, especially as I am aiming for a medium to low ABV (around 4%)?

Finally, I have built a fermentation fridge so can controlled the temperature, how long should I be looking to larger it for?

Any advice and guidance would be much appreciated. Thank you all in advance!

 

[cushyno]

I can't advise much on the pilsner kit as never made one myself. However, the malt extract in the kit should already be bittered so you may only want to dry-hop after fermenting. I suspect 100g is way too much for the style, but I've never brewed a Pilsner before.

As for your water, boiling would work. You don't need to chill it right down for the calcium to precipitate out. Just make sure you boil a bit more than you need, siphon off the water with the end of the siphon tube or tap NOT resting in the bottom or floating on the top. The calcium that you want to leave behind collects at the bottom and floats on the top of the liquid as it cools. Leave the vessel to cool in a place where you won't need to move it the next day, you want minimum disturbance of the water surface when draining/siphoning the brewing water off.

An alternative is to use Tesco Ashbeck bottled water.

The 2 packets of W34/70 is a good choice. As you'll be fermenting at 10-12°C - proper lager temperatures, two packs of yeast ensure you have enough yeast growin at those low temperatures to inhibit growth of any other bugs and to ensure the yeast isn't stressed during the growth phase which will keep a nice clean flavour.

 

[Iechyd Da Laa]

Thank you cushyno, that most useful. Dry hopping it is then. How much would you recommend?

 

[Patrick_Newing]

Someone with more experience might advise better but I've done two pilsner kits like this brewing as best as I can in the winter when its colder (must get a fermentation fridge!) and added 25g Saaz as dry hop.
Could definitely taste it although more subtle effect as you'd want in a pilsner. Personally I wouldn't want to put more than that in, it was just right.

 

[Scottyburto]

+1 for ashbeck for a light/pale ale/lager!

 

[An Ankoù]

Yec'hed mad,
Why not just brew it up as recommended? What are you hoping to achieve with all the other stuff? Your water's no good for Pilsner. I'd recommend collecting a sufficient quantity of rainwater and using that. It's seems to be the right weather for it. You don't have to worry about the mash pH as that bit has already been done.

 

[labrewski]

Done this one it needs the yeast it's a certain type so it's not too much this one took a few weeks if I remember it was 34 days til I could bottle some will disagree but I had gentle air lock activity until then and got steady reads

 

[labrewski]

I added a 100 g of a hallerteur for a dry hop

 

[terrym]

I've done this kit as well as the similar Euro lager. Its an OK one can kit, but don't get carried away. It comes with an lager yeast which works OK. You can use that on its own down to about 15*C , and it might even see things out down to 13*C. As for water, it's a kit, so in my view anything other than pretreating mains water with half a campden to remove chlorine is unnecessary, unless it tastes particularly foul. And the brew enhancer will probably be fine on its own. If you start chucking extra dextrose into it will just thin it and make it dry. If you want to enhance the flavours a bit, just brew short to say 21/22 litres which will up the ABV a bit as well. As for hops its a Pilsner not an IPA. I used 25g and 40g of Saaz, Hallertau and Motueka at different times in mine and the 40g was on the limit for me.

 

[Iechyd Da Laa]

Amazing all, thanks for the advice. I got it going over the weekend. I will post an update over the weekend and post the process I went for. Thanks again all!