Pilsner malt help !!

[Mattyde05]

Hi
So I’ve been given some pilsner malt but don’t really want to make a pilsner as don’t really have the set up for it . I’ve only been doing small all grain brews of 5 litres on the cooker . Can I still use the pilsner to make pale ales ? What would you guys suggest I do with it ?
any help would be great thanks

 

[MyQul]

Yes you can just make ales with pilsner malt. You could make a stout with it if you wanted, it doesnt have to be pale ales

 

[Mattyde05]

Thanks for your reply . Ok brilliant will have a look for some 1 gallon recipes for stouts and pale ales . Thankyou

 

[Hew's Brews]

A local brew pub to me the Towcester Mill Brewery only use Pilsner malt and don't make any lagers at all. Because of that they have some unique delicious beers.

 

[Mattyde05]

Very interesting and looks like a lovely place for a great pint

 

[Hew's Brews]

Worth a visit IMO and the owner John is very approachable and happy to talk about his brewing process and beers.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Personally I'm not a fan of 100% pilsner for trad British ales <5%, they just come out a bit thin for my taste.

It's also worth mentioning that most Belgian beers tend to use pilsner as that's what's easily available to them, so you could go in the saison/abbey direction if you fancied it.

 

[jceg316]

For pale ales/IPAs I sometimes sub the pale malt for pilsner. Can't say I notice a huge difference in flavour as most of it comes from the hops. In terms of mouthfeel I rarely make single malt pales, usually have some crystal or wheat, oats etc. which I think has a bigger effect on the mouthfeel.

 

[MickDundee]

Most of my recent/future brews use pilsner malt as the main base malt. There are 2 lagers in there, but the other styles are all “normal” ales (apart from the Berliner Weisse which is kettle soured but a normal hefe uses pilsner malt):

• Berliner weisse
• Belgian wit
• Vienna lager
• California Common (Steam beer)
• American Blonde ale
• American wheat
• Saison
• Czech lager

 

[An Ankoù]

Personally I'm not a fan of 100% pilsner for trad British ales <5%, they just come out a bit thin for my taste.

It's also worth mentioning that most Belgian beers tend to use pilsner as that's what's easily available to them, so you could go in the saison/abbey direction if you fancied it.

That's a very interesting point, NB, they do drink thin in a bitter, particularly if you make a one-for-one substitution in a recipe for pale ale malt. On the other hand, Belgian beers don't drink thin, in fact many of the "abbey" style beers are too heavy for my palate. Perhaps there's a fine balance of crystal and "aromatic" malts that can be added to bring forward the malt profile.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Well most of the Belgians have the benefit of rather more than 5% alcohol, which adds a lot of mouthfeel in its own right. It's not just the mouthfeel though, the whole point of British beers is that they are a balance of all 4 ingredients - water, yeast, malt and hops, and while a little (say 20%) pilsner or extra pale in the grist can work for hoppy golden ales, you really want the malt to be contributing more character than 100% pilsner can bring.

IMO - it's different for styles other than trad UK cask.