Pilsner or lager recipe..

[Clint]

Hello all
I've got a" couple" more brews lined up before Christmas then brew fridge permitting I plan to do a temp controlled lager.
I've got 5kg pilsner malt put aside plus Vienna,Munich,carapils, wheat plus other stuff. I've also got two packets of s23 lager yeast. Hops...saaz!
Any suggestions?
Cheers
Clint

 

[foxbat]

95% pilsner
5% carapils
25g of Saaz at 10 mins, same again at 5 mins if you want it spicy, not if you want it malty.
Magnum at 60 mins to bring the IBUs to 30ish
ABV target 5% to 5.5%

Safale S33 is an ale yeast. Did you mean to say Saflager S23? Both packs of S-23 rehydrated will do you good.

 

[Clint]

Typo with the yeast....I've corrected yes s23...
Thanks Foxbat...

 

[Clint]

I've put that lot into brewers friend...ticks all the boxes.
Any pointers in rehydrating the yeast as I normally just bung it in...oh,and what temp for fermentation?

 

[Leon103]

For a pilsner I tend to go for 100% pilsner malt

 

[alsch890]

My standard pilsner is 88% pilsner malt, 8% Carapils and 4% melanoidin. I do four hop additions with Sládek at 60 and 30 and Saaz at 10 and switch-off. Boil 19L and batch 15L for an OG of 1.048 (approx 4.5-5% abv) and ibu of 38. My aim is a classic Czech Ležák (12° plato).

I add the Melanoidin as a way to get some of that Urquell maltiness and I use Sládek because it's easily available and double % of Saaz so more economical. I think a 100% Saaz is probably better.

Oh and I've tried s-23 and s-189 (I think it is) but my preferred yeast for pilsner is w-34/70. Whichever you use, it's 2 packs.

 

[UKSkydiver]

Any pointers in rehydrating the yeast as I normally just bung it in...oh,and what temp for fermentation?

25-30c on the rehydrating water. There is an article about the best was to pitch dry yeast, I will take a look in a sec, but bottom line is 30c water is better than using wort or a starter IIRC.

I have a dark lager on the go and I'm using the Brulosophy Fast Lager method, which seems pretty straight forward.

Edit: Here is the article

 

[matt76]

I'm pretty much going to echo what others have said, but for my half size 10L-ish batches I use:
2000g lager malt
250g Vienna
250g Carapils
50g Victory malt

So you can pretty much double up for 20L-ish and adjust water volume to get your target OG.

For Czech Pilsner I've used all Saaz but as foxbat says I see no reason not to go with Magnum for bittering.

If you keep the IBUs down to around 15-20 then you're in to Munich Helles territory, 35-40 for Czech Pilsner.

I tend to mash mine around 67-68degC.

For fermentation I tend to do 1 week in the mid range of the recommended temperature for the particular yeast strain, then bring it to 20degC for another week or so to finish off and clean up before cold crashing and bottling.

Have fun and good luck

 

[Clint]

Thanks all for the replies! I don't drink lager usually but I fancied a go at one! I think Foxbat recipe will do me nicely!

 

[matt76]

Thanks all for the replies! I don't drink lager usually but I fancied a go at one! I think Foxbat recipe will do me nicely!

I know what you mean @Clint - I think I got in to homebrewing with the intention of making hoppy beers but actually I've become intrigued by lagers, from very pale to very dark.

I think it's a good technical challenge but also lager is a surprisingly broad church compared with the pale fizzy p1$$ we get in the UK!

 

[chrisbjones202]

Going to have a go at a Pilsner today what water profile do any of you target, I've got some RO to dilute my modorately hard water.

 

[chrisbjones202]

Going to have a go at a Pilsner today what water profile do any of you target, I've got some RO to dilute my modorately hard water.

Actually, i found this from Steve back in February.

For a reasonably simple Czech style pilsner like Staropramen or Urquell:

Soft water with low alkalinity, aim for about 50 - 60 ppm calcium, <20 ppm alkalinity, low sulphate, moderate chloride

100% Pilsner malt (or if you want to add 5% carapils that'll work too) to around 1.050, mash at 67C

Bittering hops of your choice followed by a 30 mins, 10 min, flame out additions of 30g each of saaz aiming for about 40 IBU total

Two packs of W34/70 or S23 yeast fermented at 10C, raise to 19C towards the end of fermentation

Lager as cold as possible for 4 weeks then bottle

 

[AlDaviz]

Hello all
I've got a" couple" more brews lined up before Christmas then brew fridge permitting I plan to do a temp controlled lager.
I've got 5kg pilsner malt put aside plus Vienna,Munich,carapils, wheat plus other stuff. I've also got two packets of s23 lager yeast. Hops...saaz!
Any suggestions?
Cheers
Clint

Hi Clint, I got this recipe when I first started a couple of years ago, I still use this as a basis when I’m brewing a Pilsner, I tend to use (mangrove jacks) yeasts as there predictable. And I only ferment at room temps, or garage temps depending on time of year, M54 Californian Lager works well at my kitchen sort of temperature, and M84 has worked well at my garage temp depending on time of year.

 

[GeorgieV]

Hi All,
I'm also brewing a lager and was thinking if what advice can I get regarding my late hop additions.
I'm going to be using Magnum for bittering plus Hallertau Mittlefrueh and Saaz for flavour/aroma as shown below:
Hops
==========================================================
Name Amount Time
Magnum 13.000 g 1.000 hr
Hallertau 25.000 g 30.000 min
Hallertau 15.000 g 10.000 min
Saaz (Czech Republic) 15.000 g 10.000 min
Hallertau 10.000 g 0.000 s
Saaz (Czech Republic) 35.000 g 0.000 s

I'm wondering if the late additions look reasonable for 18 litres batch?
Optionally I can go with only Hallertau or only Saaz and save the other one for another brew.

 

[Alastair70]

Planning to brew a Helles this side of crimbo. 25L batch
4kg pilsner malt
0.5 kg munich
17g Mandarina Bavaria 60m
17g Saaz 15m
Wyeast munich lager yeast

(John Palmers recipe, not mine)

 

[foxbat]

Hi All,
I'm also brewing a lager and was thinking if what advice can I get regarding my late hop additions.
I'm going to be using Magnum for bittering plus Hallertau Mittlefrueh and Saaz for flavour/aroma as shown below:
Hops
==========================================================
Name Amount Time
Magnum 13.000 g 1.000 hr
Hallertau 25.000 g 30.000 min
Hallertau 15.000 g 10.000 min
Saaz (Czech Republic) 15.000 g 10.000 min
Hallertau 10.000 g 0.000 s
Saaz (Czech Republic) 35.000 g 0.000 s

I'm wondering if the late additions look reasonable for 18 litres batch?
Optionally I can go with only Hallertau or only Saaz and save the other one for another brew.

That's quite a hoppy lager. Nothing wrong with that though if it's what you like.

Personally I would stick to one flavour hop. Saaz if you like Czech pilsner or Hallertau if you like the German style.

I don't think you'll get much from the 30 minute addition. Less is more with lagers. The recipes are simple, trivial even. It's all about the technique.

 

[GeorgieV]

Thanks Foxbat.
Czech it is. I like hoppy beers so hopefully this won't be excessively hoppy.

Hops
=========================================================
Name Alpha Amount Time IBU
Magnum 10.7% 25.000 g 1.000 hr 30.0
Saaz (Czech Republic) 3.2% 45.000 g 15.000 min 8.0
Saaz (Czech Republic) 3.2% 55.000 g 0.000 s 0.0

 

[Brewnaldo]

My current lager recipe, which has become my "house recipe" is 5kg pilsner malt, 500g torrified wheat mashed at 65 for an hour. Mittelfruh 65g at start of boil, 35g at 5 mins and ferment with CML Hell. I am going to dabble with the same recipe but with Saaz soon, and am messing about with pressure fermenting but this recipe seems to be really solid for me.

 

[Clint]

Do you think it "needs" the torrified wheat?

 

[HarryFlatters]

Do you think it "needs" the torrified wheat?

For what it's worth, I prefer my house Kolsch with a small amount of wheat rather than without.