Bohemian Pilsner

28 January 2007 @ early evening | Comments (3)

Everything went so smoothly with the California Common that I’ve decided to stick with this yeast for a little while longer, even though it’s not a true pilsner yeast. I’m pretty excited that I’ve found a lager yeast that can ferment at temperatures that are more manageable in this (relatively) warm San Diego climate; it really opens up a large amount of styles that I’ve yet to had the opportunity to brew.

The recipe

Style: Bohemian pilsner
Type: All grain
Batch size: 5 gal
Color: 5 SRM
Bitterness: 38 IBU
OG: 1.054
FG: 1.014
BU/GU: 0.70
Mash: Single step infusion (151°F/168°F)
Efficiency: 75%
ABV: 5.3%
Yeast: San Francisco Lager (WLP810)
Grain:
- 6 lb. German pilsner malt
- 3 lb. Pale malt (American 2-row)
- 0.75 lb. Crystal 10L
Hops:
- 2.0 oz. Czech Saaz (pellet, 60 min)
- 0.5 oz. Czech Saaz (pellet, 30 min)
- 0.5 oz. Czech Saaz (whole, 15 min)
- 1.0 oz. Czech Saaz (whole, aroma)

The process

This is all fairly well-modified grain bill with low protein content, so no protein rest was needed. An acid rest was also unnecesary because the pH of the RO water, adjusted with 0.03g/gal of both CaCO3 and CaSO4, is about 8.2 (and remarkably close in mineral content to the water of Plzen!). This was the most problem-free brewday I’ve ever had, hitting both saccharification rest and mashout perfectly and finishing the entire process in just over five hours.

Primary fermentation will be held for 10-14 days at 50-52°F, then racked off to secondary for three weeks at 45-50°F. The temperature and duration of this secondary fermentation is untraditional for a Bohemian pilsner, which usually involves being slowly cooled to 34°F and lagered for a couple months, but a) this is southern California and traditional lagering is a pain in the ass for most homebrewers around here, and b) I’d like to compare the results of this slightly different use of WLP810 to the California Common I brewed last month.

The result

April 28, 2007: Not particularly bad, but definitely not my best performance. It finished up a bit sweet. Additionally, it showed some mild signs of infection that were largely unnoticeable above the spicy Saaz, but added a bit of phenolic character that was out of style. Next time around, it will also need a stronger hop bill.

Lessons learned

BeerAlchemy has rapidly become the best recipe formulation software for Mac OS X; I now use it interchangeably with ProMash + Parallels Desktop.
Finding a good beer-related domain name is nigh impossible.

3 comments

1
I’m interested in trying to make some home brew myself. do you know or recommend any basic starter kits that wouldn’t be too hard?

can your brew every be purchased? hmmmm

drew stauffer → alibiproductions.com

2
It all sorta depends on how much you’re willing to throw down to get started and how serious you are about getting into brewing. Plan on spending anywhere between $100-$200 to get a good baseline of equipment.

In San Diego, Home Brew Mart offers a pretty good selection of kits for the starting brewer. For my first batch, I purchased Kit 3 ($200), which includes bottles, a kettle, and some additional equipment that will still be useful if you ever decide to move from extract brewing to all-grain (btw, howtobrew.com is a useful resource for the beginning brewer). If you already have a big enough kettle (at least 14 quarts), Kit 2 ($130) is a really good option, but you’ll have to get yourself some bottles.

While I do recommend Home Brew Mart, it can be a bit overpriced. If you’re comfortable shopping online, you can order a kit from Beer Beer & More Beer for much cheaper. Their Deluxe Starter System is a really good deal for $99 ($30 cheaper than HBM’s Kit 2) and qualifies for free shipping (which is good, since it’s 30lbs). Their Bottling Deluxe Starter System comes with a similar selection of equipment as HBM’s Kit 3, but comes with a higher quality kettle.

Your first few batches will be more of a learning experience than anything, since you’ll be more just getting acquainted with the steps of brewing than learning how the differences in process can affect your final result. The learning curve is steep, but not a hard climb and when you’re done you have beer!

You should also check out Basic Brewing Radio and Brewing Network, both of which offer podcasts that have a ton of informative interviews of talented brewers. Between the two of them, there are probably 200 shows dating back to 2005.

Feel free to ask if you ever need help :)

(oh, and while selling homebrew may be illegal, it’s still damn good for bartering!)

Andrew → compooter.org

3
Thanks buddy, I appreciate the tips.

- I have a glorious colection on old gnr LP’s – many (only used once) fly’s for those Montana fly fishing trips – an herb garden that will make your head spin. rosemary, thyme, basil galore

It can all be yours!! haha.

Drew Stauffer → alibiproductions.com