Keeping with the German beers. I did after all buy an entire 55lb sack of Viking brand pilsner malt. It’s time to try a Bavarian pilsner. One of my favorite styles of beer to enjoy during the Fall. I really hope this Viking brand malt turns out to be enjoyable. It was significantly less expensive than other traditional German malts. Made in Finland. Guess we’ll see how well they do pilsner malt!

So when I’ve brewed it’s usually spurred by running out of German lager on tap. My father-in-law, Louis deLatour, likes to talk about when he went to Germany as a very young man and all the time he spent in the various brew halls including the famous Hoffbrauhaus in Munich. This was post World War II as his father was a high ranking military officer and working in France as part of that post war effort. He’ll come over and tell me the same stories, but they’re great. If I have a German lager, he’ll give very honest feedback on it and compare/contrast it to what he had back in Germany.

So I use Lou as a bit of a Guinea pig with these lagers. Because he has no filter and can’t hide it if he doesn’t like a beer. He compares all German lagers to those of the masters. I refined down a winning Festbier with him and brewed it multiple times over. German pilsner was too bitter for him even though I thought it was awesome. (I also tested high quality commercial versions on him and he doesn’t like those either) Bavarian pilsner he liked better. That pils is more malty and less aggressive in the bitter. So now we’ll try Munich Helles. Even less bitter and more soft/balanced. I think this will be his jam, given the likes on Festbier and an ok nod for Bavarian pilsner.

I’ve strayed away from brewing the Helles, probably because I screwed it up bad a few years ago. Given my recent success with the Germans, it’s time to try again. I’m pretty confident that I’ve figured out all the kinks of the past. It’s really all about precision with ingredients, volumes and process.

This recipe is close to the Bavarian pilsner wort. Difference is that I’m using Vienna with the pilsner malt instead of Carahell. Also using a Munich Lager yeast. Subtle changes, but subtlety seems to really matter with the German lagers.

Brew day went well. Took my time an dialed in the calculations. Volume was spot on. Gravity was spot on. Currently cooling down the wort and the starter to pitch tomorrow morning.

Brewed the same pilsner I brewed back in March. It was the best lager I ever brewed. I feel like the precision around the process and extra care around the calculations was the difference maker. I’m optimistic I had the same experience today. Same recipe. A little low on the gravity at 1.046ish but with a target of 1.048 this is close enough. The volumes appeared to work out appropriately although the post boil volume was about a half gallon heavy. This probably is what caused the slight variation on gravity. We’ll see if it impacts the final product. Going to chill the wort and the starter overnight and pitch at 45F.

Update November 8, 2020

The final gravity was 1.0086ish per the calculator. Roughly 5% ABV. The beer is spectacularly clear, even before the refining agent that I put in the keg.(gelatin) It’s extremely bright and beautiful. This certainly confirms that all the precision around brewing this beer is what makes it a success. Amazing. I feel like 5-10 years ago I used to try to be precise in brewing this beer. But I can remember how I just didn’t have all the little things I have today in terms of knowledge, equipment and ability to adjust. Put it in a keg today and looking forward to enjoying it at Thanksgiving with the family.

Update November 27, 2020

This beer came out fantastically crisp, clear and clean. Everything you expect out of a good pilsner. Everyone in the family certainly enjoyed it for the holiday. I feel like it could be in my head but for whatever reason I suspect the slightly lighter gravity made a difference as I preferred the first batch earlier this year. Could just be expectations though. Either way this will be a great beer over the next month to compliment the Janet’s brown.

So I brewed a Bavarian Pilsner. I’ve got a long running love of Pilsner style beer but all of my homebrew versions have basically come out….well….poor to be kind. Too bitter, not dry enough, just not good or crisp. This time I was a lot more precise. I’ve now learned quite a good deal over the years of brewing and went back to basics. I read the section addressing this style beer from Ray Daniel’s book, designing great beers. I built this recipe around the higher incidence of the yeast and hop choices for quality brews in the NHC winners.

Update from Brew Day:
The beer was right on gravity. I was extremely cautious and adjusted the hops for a slight shift in volume when testing gravity during the run-off. I feel like precision is what makes this beer great, so I’m adjusting rather than just going with what I had. I had to add additional hops and the recipe below reflects that.

Update from fermentation:
Fermentation appears to have gone very well.