Knowing that now was the time to brew a lager the only question was, what lager would I start with? While I've long wanted to brew a BMC-ish "plain" beer (complete with adjuncts and light hopping), my recent trip to Europe introduced me to so much lagered goodness. While I originally thought about brewing my favorite newly discovered style from Europe, the Czech Černý (which seems to sit somewhere between a Munich Dunkel and a Schwartzbier), I thought better of it due to already having a dark, roasty beer on tap and wanting something more pale and balanced. The German Oktoberfest style beers I drank in the Wiesn tents, and the Helles and Dunkels I drank in the bars and beer gardens, were well crafted and easy drinking, but I've already had more of them than I would want for a few years. So then, what lager to brew? Why not the most influential lager that set the bar for countless styles and the vast majority of beer consumed: Bohemian Pilsner.
While in Prague I was fortunate enough to enjoy a number of Pilsners including the original, Pilsner Urquell, in both its usual filtered and special unfiltered version (the unfiltered version is rarely seen outside of the city of Plzen but I happened to be in Prague the same weekend as Pilsner Urquell's brewing anniversary of October 5th). Both of these, and a number of the other Pilsners offered in the Czech Republic, were excellent and I wanted to go for as classic of a Pilsner Pivo (beer, in Czech) as possible. In my eyes there are 5 traits that make a Bohemian Pilsner what it is:
- Soft water
- Pilsner Malt
- Lager Fermentation
- Saaz Hops
- Decoction mash
While I had these characteristics in mind, in order to fully design my recipe I looked at the most recent issue of Brew Your Own magazine which focused on German and Czech Pils. I also reviewed the four Bohemian Pilsners to have won gold at the NHC. Some notes that I found interesting:
11/13/14
2 days before brew day. I built a 1 gallon starter at room temperature (~68) with 2 packs of Wyeast 2000 Budvar Lager. While 2 packs might not have been necessary, lagers typically require significantly more yeast than Ales and I wanted to make sure that mine took off without a hitch.
11/15/14
Brew day. I purchased 6 gallons of distilled water and added in 3.5 gallons of filtered Arlington, VA water, with no other water chemistry treatments. Cooled wort to ~60 post fermentation before moving wort and starter to 42F chest freezer. Will pitch yeast tomorrow once cooled and bring temps up a little.
11/17/14
Yeast was pitched yesterday morning and chest freezer temperature raised to 48F. Fermentation slowly showing signs of life.
12/3/14
Temperature increased to 60F for diacetyl rest.
12/5/14
Temperature decreased to 35F for lagering.
12/6/14
Gravity down to 1.013 (exactly what was predicted pre-brewing!). Taste is moderately hoppy and grainy, maybe a slight off-flavor, not sure if it is due to using some older Saaz for bittering or an aspect of the Budvar yeast but it comes off a bit earthy. Hopefully a month or so at lagering temps will bring this down but already tasting like an interesting and respectable pilsner.
- In addition to Saaz, Sterling was a common hop choice
- Nearly every recipe used a small percentage of slightly darker malts in addition to Pilsner (often Vienna and/or CaraPils)
- Not all recipes required a decoction with some using a single infusion mash
- Diacetyl rest was often (though not always) mentioned as necessary
- Long, extremely cold (~32F) lagering periods and extremely soft water were musts
11/13/14
2 days before brew day. I built a 1 gallon starter at room temperature (~68) with 2 packs of Wyeast 2000 Budvar Lager. While 2 packs might not have been necessary, lagers typically require significantly more yeast than Ales and I wanted to make sure that mine took off without a hitch.
11/15/14
11/17/14
Yeast was pitched yesterday morning and chest freezer temperature raised to 48F. Fermentation slowly showing signs of life.
12/3/14
Temperature increased to 60F for diacetyl rest.
12/5/14
Temperature decreased to 35F for lagering.
12/6/14
Gravity down to 1.013 (exactly what was predicted pre-brewing!). Taste is moderately hoppy and grainy, maybe a slight off-flavor, not sure if it is due to using some older Saaz for bittering or an aspect of the Budvar yeast but it comes off a bit earthy. Hopefully a month or so at lagering temps will bring this down but already tasting like an interesting and respectable pilsner.
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