Christmas Pilsner

[BobbyBoy]

Hey guys, I know it’s early to be thinking about Christmas, but I like to pre plan.

I am really new to brewing, but, was hoping to make a Pilsner to give to my mates for Christmas.

I’m hoping to get some suggestions or advise to make the best brew I can considering my newness to the hobby. I was planning to base the beer on the Coopers 86 day Pilsner kit, maybe using some liquid malt (as I heard i will have better results with it) and possibly dry hopping for the first time.

I’ll be brewing a half batch as I only have the craft kit at this stage.

I would love some suggestions on what malt may suit and hop suggestions too.

thanks,

Bobby

[The Captain!!]

I’ve never done a pils nor have I done a kit for ages but I have been enjoying NZ Pils of late.

Hop suggestion: Motueka, Nelson Sauvin. 75%\25% 

Sorry I don’t want to lead you up the garden path of malt as I have no idea when using a kit.

Good luck with your brew.

Captain 

[BobbyBoy]

3 minutes ago, The Captain1525230099 said:

I’ve never done a pils nor have I done a kit for ages but I have been enjoying NZ Pils of late.

Hop suggestion: Motueka, Nelson Sauvin. 75%\25% 

Sorry I don’t want to lead you up the garden path of malt as I have no idea when using a kit.

Good luck with your brew.

Captain 

Thanks Captain. Any ideas for weight/amount of the Hops?

[Otto Von Blotto]

Depends what sort of pilsner you're after. If you want it like a new world one then the captain's suggestion would be the way to go but if you want a traditional Czech pilsner then use Saaz hops. 

I don't really know much about making new world pilsners in terms of hop schedules but for a traditional one you could try boiling 15g Saaz for ten minutes, then add another 15-20g at the end of the boil for a 20 minute steep. No dry hop. 

The yeast in that kit is a lager yeast, and to get the best result you will want to do a proper temp controlled fermentation around 10-12 degrees, and condition the bottles cold for 2-3 months after they've carbonated.

As for the malt if you can get your hands on some briess Pilsen extract, that would be the way to go. I know Craftbrewer at Capalaba sells it, not sure on the gold coast. Do a 3-4 litre boil with 400g or so of the extract then dissolve the rest with half the kit in the fermenter.

I brew pilsners a fair bit so if you need any further information just ask away

[Hairy]

If it is for Christmas then you need to make a Chestnut Pilsner.

[Greenyinthewestofsydney]

Not sure i agree with cheapening the pilsener name whether its a pilsner or pilsener. To me if its a pilsener or pilsner it comes from germany or czechoslovakia. Everything else is an imitation. Using motueka or nelson makes it a NZ lager in my book.

[The Captain!!]

2 hours ago, BobbyBoy said:

Thanks Captain. Any ideas for weight/amount of the Hops?

Sorry Bobbyboy I’m honestly can’t remember what sort of schedules to use in kit beers. 

Plus it all depends on what you want to do. Personally if your bottle conditioning and storing (lagering) the bottles for a few months I would tend to go for the more traditional pils due to hop fade. By the time you drink it the hop flavour would deminish so that it would be underwhelming. 

Captain

[BobbyBoy]

Thanks guys. Definitely looking for a traditional style Pils. For the steeping, just so I understand correctly (complete noob here): boil for 10 mins with 15g of the grain, then heat off, add the rest of the grain and then let sit for 20mins? And would this be the same boil as the one for the 400g of pils extract?

[The Captain!!]

18 minutes ago, Greeny1525229549 said:

Not sure i agree with cheapening the pilsener name whether its a pilsner or pilsener. To me if its a pilsener or pilsner it comes from germany or czechoslovakia. Everything else is an imitation. Using motueka or nelson makes it a NZ lager in my book.

You can call it whatever you want Greeny. And I do understand however the BJCP call it NZ Pils

[The Captain!!]

8 minutes ago, BobbyBoy said:

Thanks guys. Definitely looking for a traditional style Pils. For the steeping, just so I understand correctly (complete noob here): boil for 10 mins with 15g of the grain, then heat off, add the rest of the grain and then let sit for 20mins? And would this be the same boil as the one for the 400g of pils extract?

Pour 400g of extract into 4 litres of water, boil, add 15g Saaz for desired minutes, turn heat off, steep 20g Saaz for 20minutes, cool wort. Add to fermenter.

whatever you do don’t boil grain.

Make sense?

[joolbag]

4 minutes ago, The Captain1525230099 said:

You can call it whatever you want Greeny. And I do understand however the BJCP call it NZ Pils

Better charge that phone mate. 1 bar of Telstra reception... No wonder your battery is so low. Poor phone using all the juice to find a signal!

 

Greeny better call yours a Czech Premium Pale Lager. Seems our kiwi cousins have taken Pils from BJCP

[BobbyBoy]

8 minutes ago, The Captain1525230099 said:

Pour 400g of extract into 4 litres of water, boil, add 15g Saaz for desired minutes, turn heat off, steep 20g Saaz for 20minutes, cool wort. Add to fermenter.

whatever you do don’t boil grain.

Make sense?

Thanks again Captain!

[Otto Von Blotto]

I have to agree with Greeny on that and I have made my thoughts known about how ridiculous the BJCP are for removing the name pilsner from the original pilsner that all others are regional imitations of and giving it to a lager that has nothing in common with it other than maybe the malt and yeast/fermentation process. Not taking away from the beer itself which I'm sure is very tasty, but I think they got the names arse about. They really should have left the pilsner alone and called it an NZ lager.

[Greenyinthewestofsydney]

Ok i think its time for a western sydney pilsener for the BJCP.. Please!!!!!!

Not only do they get overly favourable referring in the rugby but also now in the beer judging. Aussie aussie aussie oi oi oi..

[The Captain!!]

22 minutes ago, joolbag said:

Better charge that phone mate. 1 bar of Telstra reception... No wonder your battery is so low. Poor phone using all the juice to find a signal!

Some of the joys of working in the middle of WA Joolbag.

Actually, when I’m home it’s not much better. Ha ha ha

[The Captain!!]

I agree with Greeny too. For the record

[BobbyBoy]

I seemed to have confused myself. With the boil of the extract that Me Von Blotto was suggesting, would I be steeping Hops or grain?

Captain, my Captain, said not to boil grain, but is boiling Hops ok?

[Otto Von Blotto]

There is no grain in the recipe mate. You are boiling/steeping hops. Saaz are Czech hops and one of the things that makes pilsners pilsners.

As the captain said, put 4 litres of water in a suitably sized pot, tip in around 400g unhopped liquid extract (i.e. NOT the kit itself), bring this mini-wort to the boil on the stove, once boiling add 15g Saaz then start a timer for 10 minutes. When the timer goes off, turn off the stove, add the other 20g of Saaz and let it sit there for another 20 minutes before cooling and mixing up with the half kit in the fermenter.

[BobbyBoy]

Awesome. Thanks Otto! Just wanted to get it right in my head.

[Otto Von Blotto]

No worries mate. Czech Pilsner is one of my favourite beers and it's great being able to brew good examples of it at home

[Hairy]

34 minutes ago, Otto Von Blotto said:

No worries mate. Czech Pilsner is one of my favourite beers and it's great being able to brew good examples of it at home

Don’t you mean Czech Premium Pale Lager.

[Tömmy8888]

10 hours ago, Greeny1525229549 said:

Not sure i agree with cheapening the pilsener name whether its a pilsner or pilsener. To me if its a pilsener or pilsner it comes from germany or czechoslovakia. Everything else is an imitation. Using motueka or nelson makes it a NZ lager in my book.

Original type of beer is called Pilsner after the town of Pilsen ( Plzeň in Czech language) where it was originally brewed. I think Pilsener is just a German variation of the word .... just like Budvar and Budweiser.... i also saw a great documentary on youtube recently about the history of 1000 years legacy of harvesting Sazz hops in the region ..... to me pilsner without Sazz is not Pilsner

[Otto Von Blotto]

35 minutes ago, Hairy said:

Don’t you mean Czech Premium Pale Lager.

I refuse to call it that generic term

 

1 minute ago, Tommy1525230200 said:

Original type of beer is called Pilsner after the town of Pilsen ( Plzeň in Czech language) where it was originally brewed. I think Pilsener is just a German variation of the word .... just like Budvar and Budweiser....

I did read somewhere that the Germans called their version Pilsener or pils out of respect due to it not being brewed in Pilsen or Czech. Not sure how true that is. 

[Tömmy8888]

1 minute ago, Otto Von Blotto said:

I refuse to call it that generic term

 

I did read somewhere that the Germans called their version Pilsener or pils out of respect due to it not being brewed in Pilsen or Czech. Not sure how true that is. 

Who knows, due to a big influence of Germany and Austria in Eastern Europe throughout history lots of names and words were germanized and are still in use in other languages .... i think its just their variation for that style of beer ..... also before the beginning of WW2 in the area of Sazz (as it is so close to German border) there was a long tradition of Czechs and Germans working together and in the region was also the biggest export brewery in Austria Hungarian empire at the time..... 

[BobbyBoy]

4 hours ago, Otto Von Blotto said:

No worries mate. Czech Pilsner is one of my favourite beers and it's great being able to brew good examples of it at home

Pils is a favourite within my group of friends. Hence making it for Christmas.

Loving the discussion regarding the history and of the beer. Tommy, do you have a link to that YouTube documentary?