Good luck on your PIls, Red.
Well the yeast is pitched and fingers are crossed. Everything went smoothly, it was only my 5th decoction mash but I feel like it was probably went the best of them all, I think I understand what I’m doing now and it’s starting to feel “normal” to decoct… next time I do a quick 60 min infusion mash it’s going to seem weird! Of course I won’t know for sure until about Aprils Fools Day or thereabouts, then the beer will be “tested”…
OH! Color is definitely improved with addition of Munich, I’ll have to see how it compares in the glass down the road… I don’t think I’d want to add any more Munich than I did, though…
-red
Fair enough.
I believe that PU is made using a decoction mash. That might account for the darker color. They probably also add a tiny bit of colorant to get color consistency from batch to batch.
If your beer is a bit too dark for the style, don’t despair. The Czechs brew hoppy amber beers as well. The BJCP style guidelines are only the tip of the iceberg as far as Czech beer styles go.
If you have a tolerance for a certain amount of bureaucratic B.S., these are the EU specifications for the various Czech beer styles:
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:C:2008:016:0014:0022:EN:PDF
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:C:2009:073:0045:0049:EN:PDF
Those pdf files are great reference.