First Pils

Ingredients
1

Im going to take a swing at a pils. Im not really trying too hard to nail the guidelines, not trying to IT the heck out of… it. Moderate bitterness and lots of hop flavor and aroma is what im shooting for.

5%
95% Best Pils
5% CaraPils
Mashed low and long
Will build my water, CaSO4 mostly
German Magnum at 60 for about 25 IBUs
40g Sapfir and 40g Tettnanger 170/30
40g Saphir and 40g Tettnanger dry hop 4 days once I hit TG and no D
Then I’m crashing and gell fining.

Anyone ever wirlpool or dry hop a pils?

2

I brewed my first pils today, cloning firestone’s pivo pils. Recipe calls for 2oz dry hop with saphir on 5 gals…couldnt get saphir at my lhbs, so got hallertauer blanc instead. So yeah, 2oz hallertauer blanc in 5 gals dry hopped for 5 days.

3

I don’t see why you couldn’t treat an experimental pils with any sort of hop treatment for BJCP specialty beer guidelines. Wide open. if you were considering a submission.

Some of the commercial Czech pils I’ve had have been remarkably hoppy and aromatic. Great beeers.

4

Next brew day is lagers again. Probably last of the season. One will be my German Exportbier, and I’m just looking for something fun and new to go next to it. I’ll just go for it and see what happens

5

I brew a dry-hopped Pils pretty often, but it probably ends up closer to an APA than a Pils. I use Motueka and Sterling, two Saaz descendants that have some nice citrus character to them as you push the hopping rates. Makes for a great summer beer.

6

Cool Eric, sounds like I’m tracking right. Thanks

7

I brew a pale lager that is dry hopped with sterling and crystal with great results for me. My amounts are very modest though…

8

I’ve whirlpooled with nice results on German and Bopils. I go fairly short, like 20 mins @ 170F. Comes out nice.

9

I’ve tried soft water (Czech Pils-style), and it wasn’t what I was looking for. I think you’re on the right track with the Gypsum addition. I’m at about 130ppm in my hoppy lagers and that’s right where I like it. Again, this ends up closer to an APA in hop character, so YMMV depending on what you’re shooting for.

I got some Crystal for just this purpose. I hear it’s similar to Sterling in that it has noble character but can get fruity as you push the hopping rate.

10

Yeah I haven’t experimented with upping the rates of either yet but would like to. I use a relatively small amount of sterling/crystal late in the boil and at dry hop. At the amount I use, they come off as noble hops with just a touch of citrus character to me.

11

Just so happens I’m brewing a German pils today.  I sometimes use 10% dark Munich for them, but usually it’s 100% pils malt.  That’s what I’m doing today.  Using the boiled Jever water profile, 90 min. mash at 148.  FWH with Hallertauer Herbrucker, Hallertauer at 60, then more Hallertauer Hers. at flameout.  No whirlpool hops, no dry hop.  Although my flameout addition kinda becomes a whirlpool addition by default.

12

SMaSH brewing!

13

I like this approach as well, don’t have much if any interest in dry hopping a pils. To me, noble hop pleasure is not about intensity.

14

Agreed.

15

I brewed a pilsner last month and split the batch in half after chilling the wort. One half got fermented with M-44 @ 68 and the other got S-34/70 @ 52f.
I dry hopped the ale version with glacier and the lager with saaz and wakatu.
The ale version was bottled last week and the lager part was racked into another carboy and placed in the lager chest.

16

Ok I’ll skip the dry hop. I never do it anyway. Was just a thought

17

The Germans like to boil hops for at least 10 minutes. The Americans doing Pilsners, not so much.

18

As time has passed my preference has turned to restraint in the use of hops. And it’s good to know about the 10 minute minimum.

19

Jeff, given the 10 minute practice, do German brewers specifically target whirlpool hop character in pils (or other hoppy beers), or does it just sometimes come as a result of the long cooling process ? I wouldn’t dry hop a German beer (though I have done that for American ‘hoppy lager’/IPL beers). Just curious if you feel the best German hop flavor comes from the boil or that combined with the whirlpool process.

20

I haven’t been in Pilsner Breweries. It is said traditional ones have flotation tanks. The chilled wort is pumped into tose. The break settles, and clear wort is pumped th Ed next day to fermenters and pitched. The wort is cold the whole time.

At as brewery that made Dunkel, they whirlpooled and chilled.The plate chiller was huge, but the batch size was 51 barrels. Chilling was just under an hour. But there were not a ton of hops in the Dunkel.