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Author Topic: Grain for a classic German Pils?  (Read 7597 times)

Offline denny

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Re: Grain for a classic German Pils?
« Reply #30 on: October 08, 2021, 10:53:26 am »
My advice for a great german pils- sulfate to around 100-150ppm, and use the best quality noble type hops you can find, dont get hung up on varietal; Liberty,  or Mt Hood hops that are in great condition make a MUCH better beer than HMF thats in poor condition (and in my experience, homebrewers get shafted on the quality of alot of imported euro hops). and for the love of all that is holy DONT dry hop.
I have read not to use sulfates with Noble hops. (Never tried it myself) Interesting you found the opposite works. Cheers! 



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That absolutely isn't my experience.  I make German pils a lot and my sulfate is usually in the 100-150 area.  I mean, that's what the Germans do, so I don't understand the recommendation to not do it.
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Offline Bel Air Brewing

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Re: Grain for a classic German Pils?
« Reply #31 on: October 08, 2021, 03:34:01 pm »
My advice for a great german pils- sulfate to around 100-150ppm, and use the best quality noble type hops you can find, dont get hung up on varietal; Liberty,  or Mt Hood hops that are in great condition make a MUCH better beer than HMF thats in poor condition (and in my experience, homebrewers get shafted on the quality of alot of imported euro hops). and for the love of all that is holy DONT dry hop.
I have read not to use sulfates with Noble hops. (Never tried it myself) Interesting you found the opposite works. Cheers! 



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That absolutely isn't my experience.  I make German pils a lot and my sulfate is usually in the 100-150 area.  I mean, that's what the Germans do, so I don't understand the recommendation to not do it.

Just checked, and my Sulfate is 58 ppm. Are you saying we need to add more?
CaCO3 = 113 (Total Hardness)

Offline denny

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Re: Grain for a classic German Pils?
« Reply #32 on: October 08, 2021, 03:41:51 pm »
My advice for a great german pils- sulfate to around 100-150ppm, and use the best quality noble type hops you can find, dont get hung up on varietal; Liberty,  or Mt Hood hops that are in great condition make a MUCH better beer than HMF thats in poor condition (and in my experience, homebrewers get shafted on the quality of alot of imported euro hops). and for the love of all that is holy DONT dry hop.
I have read not to use sulfates with Noble hops. (Never tried it myself) Interesting you found the opposite works. Cheers! 



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That absolutely isn't my experience.  I make German pils a lot and my sulfate is usually in the 100-150 area.  I mean, that's what the Germans do, so I don't understand the recommendation to not do it.

Just checked, and my Sulfate is 58 ppm. Are you saying we need to add more?
CaCO3 = 113 (Total Hardness)

For German pils I would recommend increasing sulfate and reducing hardness.
Life begins at 60.....1.060, that is!

www.dennybrew.com

The best, sharpest, funniest, weirdest and most knowledgable minds in home brewing contribute on the AHA forum. - Alewyfe

"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts." - Bertrand Russell

Online purduekenn

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Re: Grain for a classic German Pils?
« Reply #33 on: October 08, 2021, 07:07:16 pm »
I feel like half of the German style pils I've had here in LA are made with Weyermann Bohemian and the other half made with Weyermann Barke
Hmmm, those two malts are quite a bit more expensive than Best, Avangard, Viking, and the American malts that they could use- at least at the homebrew level. I guess they think the difference in the beer is worth the extra expense.

Nothing against Weyermann. I like them, but I only brew 3 gallons at a time so the extra cost feels negligible to me.
just my experience, but I HATED viking pils. Took forever to convert, and had a one dimensional straw flavor and took a long time to clear. I will be trying the Rahr North Star pils soon, in hopes of finding a domestic replacement for Barke Pils, I'll keep you posted
I used Rahr North Star pils recently in a Festbier and Marzen Oktoberfest and I liked the flavors.
« Last Edit: October 08, 2021, 07:37:46 pm by purduekenn »

Offline tommymorris

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Grain for a classic German Pils?
« Reply #34 on: October 08, 2021, 07:53:22 pm »
I feel like half of the German style pils I've had here in LA are made with Weyermann Bohemian and the other half made with Weyermann Barke
Hmmm, those two malts are quite a bit more expensive than Best, Avangard, Viking, and the American malts that they could use- at least at the homebrew level. I guess they think the difference in the beer is worth the extra expense.

Nothing against Weyermann. I like them, but I only brew 3 gallons at a time so the extra cost feels negligible to me.
just my experience, but I HATED viking pils. Took forever to convert, and had a one dimensional straw flavor and took a long time to clear. I will be trying the Rahr North Star pils soon, in hopes of finding a domestic replacement for Barke Pils, I'll keep you posted
I used Viking Pilsner malt in several batches and I found it to be fine. It did have a noticeable flavor, I’ll go with straw since you mentioned it. I kinda liked that flavor.  On the other hand, I am going through a bag of Bestmalz Pilsnen now. I also like this one.  I find it to produce light clean crisp beers, but I also find it has very muted flavors. It mostly just gets out of the way.
« Last Edit: October 08, 2021, 07:54:59 pm by tommymorris »

Offline Bel Air Brewing

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Re: Grain for a classic German Pils?
« Reply #35 on: October 09, 2021, 06:22:23 am »
The most recent grains used by us is Ireks Pils, and Weyermann Floor Malted Bo-Pils. We had good luck with Ireks. The Weyermann is good too.

Brewed 10 gallons of a Czech style Pils with the Weyermann, single grain. With Saaz hops. Diamond Lager yeast. Soft water.
It came out clean, crisp, and very light. My neighbor and brewing friend (Dave) said it is the perfect summer beer. But Dave detected a very minor hint of green apple. Very, very, slight. I think it is from the Saaz hops, because I have noticed this in our other beers brewed with Saaz.

Offline hmbrw4life

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Re: Grain for a classic German Pils?
« Reply #36 on: October 09, 2021, 07:26:01 am »
There are many recipes directly from the brewmasters on another forum, which usually gets people banned when mentioned. There is a recipe for bitburger. It has 2 malts.
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Offline BrewBama

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Grain for a classic German Pils?
« Reply #37 on: October 09, 2021, 07:51:42 am »
… It did have a noticeable flavor, I’ll go with straw since you mentioned it. …

I think that’s the flavor I object to with most Pils malts.

…There is a recipe for bitburger. …

IMO, Bit is Germany’s BMC. No thanks. There are much better regional/local brews.

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Offline denny

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Re: Grain for a classic German Pils?
« Reply #38 on: October 09, 2021, 08:32:51 am »
There are many recipes directly from the brewmasters on another forum, which usually gets people banned when mentioned. There is a recipe for bitburger. It has 2 malts.

Go ahead...mention it and let's see.
Life begins at 60.....1.060, that is!

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Offline denny

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Re: Grain for a classic German Pils?
« Reply #39 on: October 09, 2021, 08:34:30 am »
… It did have a noticeable flavor, I’ll go with straw since you mentioned it. …

I think that’s the flavor I object to with most Pils malts.

…There is a recipe for bitburger. …

IMO, Bit is Germany’s BMC. No thanks. There are much better regional/local brews.

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Yeah, that hay/grass flavor is what I don't care for in Weyermann malts.  But then i like Bitburger, so maybe I'm not a good judge.
Life begins at 60.....1.060, that is!

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"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts." - Bertrand Russell

Offline Bel Air Brewing

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Re: Grain for a classic German Pils?
« Reply #40 on: October 09, 2021, 08:44:34 am »
… It did have a noticeable flavor, I’ll go with straw since you mentioned it. …

I think that’s the flavor I object to with most Pils malts.

…There is a recipe for bitburger. …

IMO, Bit is Germany’s BMC. No thanks. There are much better regional/local brews.

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Yeah, that hay/grass flavor is what I don't care for in Weyermann malts.  But then i like Bitburger, so maybe I'm not a good judge.

As you and I both like Bitburger, it is obvious you have good taste!
Could grass flavor be similar to green apple? This actually reminds of fresh cut hay. It is faint, very faint. Not objectionable at all.

Offline hmbrw4life

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Re: Grain for a classic German Pils?
« Reply #41 on: October 09, 2021, 08:58:14 am »


…There is a recipe for bitburger. …

IMO, Bit is Germany’s BMC. No thanks. There are much better regional/local brews.

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OP literally mentioned Bit in the first post, hence the answer.
Science functions when theory correctly predicts the results of experiments.
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Offline hmbrw4life

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Re: Grain for a classic German Pils?
« Reply #42 on: October 09, 2021, 08:58:56 am »
There are many recipes directly from the brewmasters on another forum, which usually gets people banned when mentioned. There is a recipe for bitburger. It has 2 malts.

Go ahead...mention it and let's see.

https://themodernbrewhouse.com/forum/
Science functions when theory correctly predicts the results of experiments.
Six Sigma in a former life. Retired in the current life.

Offline denny

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Re: Grain for a classic German Pils?
« Reply #43 on: October 09, 2021, 09:24:33 am »
There are many recipes directly from the brewmasters on another forum, which usually gets people banned when mentioned. There is a recipe for bitburger. It has 2 malts.

Go ahead...mention it and let's see.

https://themodernbrewhouse.com/forum/

Thank you!
Life begins at 60.....1.060, that is!

www.dennybrew.com

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Offline BrewBama

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Grain for a classic German Pils?
« Reply #44 on: October 09, 2021, 10:27:55 am »


…There is a recipe for bitburger. …

IMO, Bit is Germany’s BMC. No thanks. There are much better regional/local brews.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

OP literally mentioned Bit in the first post, hence the answer.
Absolutely. To each his own..

My son feels the same way I do. He said, “I’ve had beer that tastes like that before.”  When I told him I didn’t care for it he agreed. Just not my (our) thing. Some German beers are awesome. Some aren’t IMO.

I will try Best malts based on recommendations. I haven’t tried them yet.
« Last Edit: October 09, 2021, 10:51:52 am by BrewBama »