Lager recipe?

[Clint]

Hello all!
First brew of the year planned for tomorrow.
I'm thinking of doing a lager,not something I usually drink but I do like a good lager... I've got temp control and plan to bottle and leave in the brew shed to condition until the warmer months..
Ingredients wise I have 5kg weyerman pilsner malt,got loads of carapils,flaked barley,caramalt,Munich,Vienna..
Hops...saaz and a bit of hallertau hersbrucker. Yeast 2 X s23.
Initial thoughts are just the pilsner and saaz,all the yeast,ferment at 12,about 30 IBU..nice and simple.
Any pointers on this and lager brewing in general?
Thank
Clint

 

[Horners]

Watching this thread with interest, my previous lagers have been a bit naff. Have similar malt, hops and yeast in stock and 30L of Ashbeck bought with a view to getting a decent basic lager nailed ahead of the warmer months.

 

[chopps]

Pilsner and Saaz = Stella.
http://www.fermentarium.com/homebrewing/brewing-beer/how-to-make-stella-artois
Simple one this, as a beginner lager (not that you're a beginner!)
Did it end of the summer, and was very happy. Wasn't like Luton Stella at all.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Hello all!
First brew of the year planned for tomorrow.
I'm thinking of doing a lager,not something I usually drink but I do like a good lager... I've got temp control and plan to bottle and leave in the brew shed to condition until the warmer months..
Ingredients wise I have 5kg weyerman pilsner malt,got loads of carapils,flaked barley,caramalt,Munich,Vienna..
Hops...saaz and a bit of hallertau hersbrucker. Yeast 2 X s23.
Initial thoughts are just the pilsner and saaz,all the yeast,ferment at 12,about 30 IBU..nice and simple.
Any pointers on this and lager brewing in general?
Thank
Clint

Hiya Clint!

My Czech Pilsner was similar and is nice so I’d say you’re on the right lines - Pilsner malt, Saaz hops, 30 IBU. The main difference is that I used California lager yeast so I could ferment warm.

 

[Clint]

Pilsner and Saaz = Stella.
http://www.fermentarium.com/homebrewing/brewing-beer/how-to-make-stella-artois
Simple one this, as a beginner lager (not that you're a beginner!)
Did it end of the summer, and was very happy. Wasn't like Luton Stella at all.

Ha! That sounds worth a go..

 

[Clint]

Hiya Clint!

My Czech Pilsner was similar and is nice so I’d say you’re on the right lines - Pilsner malt, Saaz hops, 30 IBU. The main difference is that I used California lager yeast so I could ferment warm.

Cheers H!
Two for the pilsner and saaz,looks like I'm onto a winner!!

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Cheers H!
Two for the pilsner and saaz,looks like I'm onto a winner!!

My Czech Pilsner came 2nd in the lager comp after just 1 week of conditioning too so you can drink it young! Steve also did a review...


Recipe:

Having decided on a lager - probably a Pilsner. I’ve been thinking about my recipe and this is what I’ve put together, views welcome.

BJCP suggest water with a higher proportion of sulphates for a dryer finish so I’m thinking maybe Cl:24, SO4:84, Ca:48. (0.05g/l chloride, 0.15g/l sulphate, 20 litres RO water). Not thinking of adding any salts to the sparge water.

The recipe is simple...

Czech Pilsner 6.3%
5Kg Pilsner malt
Mash for 75mins at 145F (62.8C)

I don’t have any German noble hops so it will be Saaz (with apologies to the purists).

60g Saaz leaf, AA=3.2%, 60mins, 26 IBUs

1/2 protofloc tablet at 10 mins
40g Saaz leaf, AA=3.2%, 10mins, 4 IBUs

(My gravity was a little low so I added 500g of glucose here)

22 litres in FV, OG=1052
1 pack California Lager Yeast

Keg on day 12, FG=1004

Steve’s review:

I'm off work today so a good excuse to sample @Hazelwood Brewery's Czech Pilsner, and more importantly to see if it deserved to beat my German pils in the Nov competition. I'll be impartial, promise...

Aroma
Lovely fresh herbal and lightly spicy hops, a slight carbonic bite but otherwise very clean.

Appearance
Very pale straw colour, a thin white head with good retention. A bit of yeast haze which was my fault from a bad pour (not on purpose, I swear).

Flavour
A very pleasant soft, bready, doughy pilsner malt profile with the beautiful and elegant saaz hops coming through nicely with a crisp spiciness. Very well judged bitterness, just balancing the sweetness enough to keep it refreshing. The bread crust flavour that lingers through the finish is delicious. Again a bit of carbonic acidity from the high carbonation. Just a hint of greenness, I reckon another couple of weeks conditioning will see a big improvement.

Overall Impression
Initially this was rather over carbonated for my taste. I know a lager is generally highly carbed but personally I don't like a lot of fizz, and I felt it was killing the malt flavours a little. So I took your advice from last time and whipped some of the fizz out of it. And wow the beer really came alive. Delicious. The delicate and beautiful pils malt and saaz combo is captured just wonderfully here with a lovely balance of flavours that are a classic for a reason. When people say they don't like lagers I can only assume they're basing that on flavourless US beers like Miller or Bud and that they've never tasted a properly made continental style lager like this, because it's superb. Exceptionally drinkable while having plenty of depth of flavour. It also reminds me just how good a simple recipe can be when executed properly. The fact that this such a young beer is noticeable to be honest, but it's subtle enough not to detract and in a couple of weeks this could be really special. Just out of curiosity, I saved the last little bit so I could compare side-by-side with my German pilsner. Yours definitely has more of the bready malt flavour and is considerably less bitter, and it really highlights the differences between saaz and hallertau, which I found very interesting. So did yours deserve to beat mine in the competition? Well put it this way, I was more sorry when yours was finished than mine, so as much as it pains me I have to admit that I agree with @MickDundee, yours is better. But only by 1 point... Anyway thanks for another great beer :hat:

I should also say it tastes NOTHING like Stella!

 

[chopps]

Even Stella tastes nothing like Stella these days :) If it’s from Pilsner, Saaz, with similar IBU and process then any major difference is in the yeast then? I fancy giving yours a go too @Hazelwood Brewery with that California. I used CML Hell last time as I had it in stock.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Even Stella tastes nothing like Stella these days :) If it’s from Pilsner, Saaz, with similar IBU and process then any major difference is in the yeast then? I fancy giving yours a go too @Hazelwood Brewery with that California. I used CML Hell last time as I had it in stock.

Great! Best of luck to you. I fermented at a flat 20C for 12 days.

 

[foxbat]

Hello all!
First brew of the year planned for tomorrow.
I'm thinking of doing a lager,not something I usually drink but I do like a good lager... I've got temp control and plan to bottle and leave in the brew shed to condition until the warmer months..
Ingredients wise I have 5kg weyerman pilsner malt,got loads of carapils,flaked barley,caramalt,Munich,Vienna..
Hops...saaz and a bit of hallertau hersbrucker. Yeast 2 X s23.
Initial thoughts are just the pilsner and saaz,all the yeast,ferment at 12,about 30 IBU..nice and simple.
Any pointers on this and lager brewing in general?
Thank
Clint

Did you brew the one you asked about in October?

https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/pilsner-or-lager-recipe.90626/#post-966016
If this is the same one then what I recommended in that thread is the same as I'd do now. Looks like you still have the same ingredients available.

 

[Clint]

Did you brew the one you asked about in October?

https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/pilsner-or-lager-recipe.90626/#post-966016
If this is the same one then what I recommended in that thread is the same as I'd do now. Looks like you still have the same ingredients available.

Yeah I got a bit distracted..

 

[Zephyr259]

I made a pretty nice one with 100% Minch lager malt to 1.051, then threw the 125g of Styrian Goldings I wanted to used up at it, it was 75g at 60 mins, 11g at 15 min, 16g at 10 min and 23g at 5 min in a 23L batch for a nice round 40 IBU. Fermented with WY 2308 Munich Lager. I was really surprised at how much hop character I got and it's aged really well over the last 6 months, almost gone now.

 

[Gerryjo]

Used Minch myself on my first lager using hallertau blanc @60,5 and 0min with IBU of 26.8.
WLP810 or lallemand diamond lager yeast.

 

[Clint]

Looking forward to this...just dragged all the brew kit in from the shed, commandeered the kitchen and set about cleaning and preparing the mash water.

 

[An Ankoù]

Hello all!
First brew of the year planned for tomorrow.
I'm thinking of doing a lager,not something I usually drink but I do like a good lager... I've got temp control and plan to bottle and leave in the brew shed to condition until the warmer months..
Ingredients wise I have 5kg weyerman pilsner malt,got loads of carapils,flaked barley,caramalt,Munich,Vienna..
Hops...saaz and a bit of hallertau hersbrucker. Yeast 2 X s23.
Initial thoughts are just the pilsner and saaz,all the yeast,ferment at 12,about 30 IBU..nice and simple.
Any pointers on this and lager brewing in general?
Thank
Clint

A tad of carapils and some acid malt or some phosphoric acid to get the pH down. You need very soft water. It all depends on the water. Use rainwater if you have to (fresh, not out of a butt). All saaz or use the hersbrucker for bittering with saaz later additions. But all saaz is better.

 

[krispn]

Might be a bit late but... oh and ignore the 60m hop stand I chucked in some Bru -1 for about 20min but not necessary. This was a 23L batch

 

[Clint]

Hello all,
Well my pilsner is now 13 days in the fv at around 12c. The high sulphur smell has virtually gone but it's still bubbling very slowly through the blow off tube.
I might take a gravity reading tomorrow to see where it's at and taste it.
I believe diacetyl has a buttery taste..which brings my question...
What if anything should I be doing towards the end of my pilsner fermentation?

 

[foxbat]

Hello all,
Well my pilsner is now 13 days in the fv at around 12c. The high sulphur smell has virtually gone but it's still bubbling very slowly through the blow off tube.
I might take a gravity reading tomorrow to see where it's at and taste it.
I believe diacetyl has a buttery taste..which brings my question...
What if anything should I be doing towards the end of my pilsner fermentation?

Slowly allow the temperature to rise to 16-18 ish and hold for a week.

 

[Clint]

Thanks Foxbat. Should I take a reading or just start to increase it?

 

[foxbat]

A reading might be interesting for your own information but not essential because after this long you'd raise the temperature anyway regardless of the gravity. It's up to you.