Hoppy Pils
Pilsner
- literally means from the town/area of Plzeň in Bohemia
- Human beings did what they do with that and now virtually every pale lager is a "Pilsner"
- Looking at you Miller Lite "Taste a True Pilsner"
- "Pils"
Lager History
as near as we can tell
Some Lager Facts
- German word for "store"
- Summer brewing produced bad beer due to microbiology (100+ years before the "cell", 200+ before Pasteur)
- Bavaria banned brewing from April 23-Sept 29 for 300 years
- Winter brewing favored cold fermentation yeasts
- The cold storage reputedly produced cleaner, drier, "finer" beers (and selected for some unique yeasts)
- Thank lager brewing for refrigeration and a/c (Spaten)
The Yeasts
- The old ways of classifying it
- raffinose
- bottom fermenting
- Today, genetics are showing
- most of that earlier stuff was rubbish
- S. pastoranius is a hybrid of S. cerevisiae and S. eubayanus (from Tibet/China)
- Different strains demonstrate different levels of their parent characteristics.
- S carlbergensis name is deprecated (Emil Hansen)
The Story of Pilsner
- Starts in Bavaria
- Jealously guarding their yeast strain
- Making lager version of Einbeck beers
- Beers were much like Dunkel or darker
- Josef Groll - November 11, 1842
- Combined Bavarian Lager yeast and know how with English pale malting techniques to generate Pilsner
- Within a few decades, Pilsner style beers are everywhere
Why?
-
Pilsner was unlike anything seen before on a mass scale.
- Light, golden, clear and...
-
The Rise of Cheap Glassware
- Who wants murky beer when you can see it?
- hmmm....
- Who wants murky beer when you can see it?
- As we'll see brewing since has been in response
- Also, very importantly - the Czechs have a ton of varieties of lagers... we just obsess over Pilsner
Hoppy Pils
Not a Pale, Not an IPA
American Craft Pils
- A lager evolution on the base Blond ale
- Lots of domestic pilsner malt
- Other malts brought on board to "enrich"
- Hops approach either:
- Noblish/Neutral
- Damn the torpedos
- West Coast "Lager", "Pils"
Italian Pils
- German Pils based, but suffused with hops
- Low pH target for Mash/Sparge (sparge at 5.5)
- Warm ferment
- Restrained hand with dry hops, but twice dosed
- Primary (0.25 oz)
- Secondary (0.5-0.75)
- Birrificio Italiano’s Tipopils / Firestone Walker Pivo
New Zealand Pils
- Half between a Pils and a Kolsch
- Warm ferment typical
- Bursting with NZ specific hops on the aroma. Bitterness is firm, but not overwhelming.
- Emerson’s Pilsner (originator of the style)
Hoppy Pils Ingredient
Ingredients
- Water usually oriented to "Hoppy"
- Malt - simple bills - this is where you make an impact
- Pale choices
- Some folks get fancy with German malts
- Hops
- Depends on the style, but lots of late additions
- Yeast - 34/70 strains
- So many schedules
- Classic - Pitch at 50°F, run for 2 weeks, raise to 65°F for a few days (D-rest), slowly crash to 35°F and lager for 2-6 weeks
- Speed - Pitch at 50°F, raise to 55°F after 2-3 days, raise to 60°F for another run and then to 65°F for 1-3 days before crashing.
- Very yeast strain dependent
- Dry Hops for short times at cool temps
The Ferment/Yeast
Jack's Abby Braü
Batch Size: 5.5
Boil Time: 60 minutes
Original Gravity: 1.050
Est Final Gravity: 1.008
IBUs: 30
ABV: 5.5%
Malt/Grain/Sugar/Extract:
|
5.25 lbs |
Pale 2-Row malt |
48.8% |
|
5.25 lbs |
Pilsner malt |
48.8% |
|
0.25 lbs |
Carafoam | 2.4% |
Water Profile
|
Bru’n Water: Dry Yellow (pH -5.3/5.4 |
Mashing
|
Main Rest – 150°F for 60 minutes |
Hops:
|
30 IBUs worth of the desired hop for flameout (2 minutes at end of boil – whirlpool for 30 minutes) |
|
1.5 oz of hop in the fermenter at knockout |
|
5 oz (142 g) of your favorite hop at second dry hop for 1 week |
Yeast:
|
Wyeast 2124 Bohemian Lager, Fermentis SafLager W-34/70, or favored lager strain |
Notes:
|
Pitch and add first dry hops at 50F (10-14 days) |
|
After hitting terminal gravity, add second dry hops for 7 days at 50°F |
|
Cool to 32°F and rest until brew hits 28 days. |
Copy of Pilsner
By Drew Beechum
