Young Bohemian Czech Pilsner

It's been just over 3 years since my first time brewing a lager. The beer was a Bohemian Pilsner that turned out quite tasty despite a little more diacetyl than I would have liked. The beer was inspired by my European trip that included a visit to the Czech Republic (Bohemia is the largest region in the Czech Republic) had me obsessed with all things lager, especially the classic pilsner.

 After moving to San Francisco recently I've seen an abundance of available German style Pilsners (e.g. Sudwerk Northern Pilsner and Trumer Pils) but not many of the Czech variety, which I generally prefer. With my chest freezer essentially empty due to no kegs being on tap I decided to use the availability and try and recreate this previous recipe with just a few tweaks.

In order to minimize diacetyl I switched from the Wyeast 2000 Budvar strain to the Wyeast 2278 Czech Pils. I also switched from Briess carapils to Weyermann Carafoam and had additionally intended to replace the Simpsons CaraMalt with the lighter Weyermann Carahell, but forgot to include it in my order and ended up replacing it as well with the Carafoam. I dumbly decided to drop a half pound of Weyermann Pilsner malt at the last minute due to my recently high efficiency and ended up getting only a 1.046 wort, still in line with the style and a decent efficiency but a touch lower than I had aimed for. The hops were kept the same except for a large Saaz dose replacing the Magnum.

I mashed at 156F (to partially compensate for the omitted carahell malt) with just 3 gallons for a 1.4 quart/pound ratio. I typically do thinner mashes (often over 1.5 qts/lb) and I wonder if my lower than expected efficiency was due to this change, or the high mash temp. The mash was very interesting as it was the foamiest and haziest mash I have seen. I assume this is due to the Carafoam.

The batch also boiled over with extreme vigor, something I had not seen in a long time and was not expecting on the electric stove. After the boil the beer was split between two pots which were each put in an ice bath but due to limited space I was only able to get them down to ~110F. I recombined, transferred to a 6 gallon better bottle and placed it in my chest freezer (set to 45F) in the hopes of getting it down to pitching temps overnight

There was about 4 times this much hop gunk left in the kettle

.

12/8/17
Pitched fully inflated yeast pack into wort at 48F and increased chest freezer temp to 50F
24 hours after pitching, no signs of activity, increased chest freezer temp to 55F.

12/12/17
Increased chest freezer temperature to 63F.

12/14/17
Fermentation slow but still going. Taste is mostly good clean Pilsner malt and Saaz hops with a little too much diacetyl, hopefully that clears up with another few days of warmth.

12/18/17
Surprisingly turbid looking. Pulled out of fridge to try to remove last of diacetyl. Active fermentation seems to have entirely slowed. Smells fairly butterscotchy but diacetyl taste is not as strong and has fallen in the last few days. The rest of the flavor is nicely grainy, grassy, and fairly bitter.

12/19/17
Still looks pretty turbid. Returned to fridge at 32 F.

12/20/17
No noticeable change in looks. Moved to keg still at 32 F.

12/21/17
Shockingly cloudy after 48 hours at 32 F. Taste is pretty good, a slightly aggressive spicy hop character and bitterness that lingers nicely and low to moderate diacetyl (maybe a touch higher than I'd like but not overpowering). The look and thick creamy mouthfeel are the most surprising aspects of the beer to me. I assume the high mash temperature and Carafoam likely created a lot of dextrins that left this beer looking like a NEIPA but it's hard to complain about a beer that otherwise tastes pretty good. I guess I'll call this a kellerbier now, or a New England Pilsner.