American Home Brewing Supply Recepies - Classic American Pilsner


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Classic American Pilsner
(a beer from a time when mainstream American beers had flavor and character)*

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GRAINS/MALT	HOPS	YEAST/EXTRAS
7 lbs. Pale Malt Extract 1 lb. Munich grain 1/2 lb. Cara Pils grain	1 oz. Cluster hops (boil) 1 oz Hallertau hops (late boil) 1/2 oz. Saaz hops (finish)	Pilsner style Lager Yeast -or- California or German style Ale yeast**
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Steep grains in a mesh bag while heating 2 gallons of water to near boiling. 2. Remove grains and add malt extract, stirring to ensure it is thoroughly dissolved. Bring mixture to a slow, simmering boil. 3. Add 1 oz. of Cluster hops and begin timing a 30 minute simmering boil. Remember to stir gently but frequently to avoid scorching and darkening of the beer. 4. In the last 5 to 7 minutes of the 30 minute boil, add 1 oz. of Hallertau hops. Continue to stir gently. 5. At the end of the 30 minute simmering boil, add 1/2 oz of Saaz hops. Immediately cover and remove the kettle from heat. Cool as quickly as possible (preferably using a Wort Chiller coil) to retain flavors and help safeguard the beer from airborne contaminents. 6. When cooled to approximately 70 to 75 degrees F, pour into a sanitized fermenter, add cool water to make 5 gallons total volume, and add yeast. 7. For better clarification, transfer to a secondary fermenter and/or add gelatin solution when fermentation slows. If you are unfamiliar with these practices and interested in clearer cleaner beer, ask us for guidance.
NOTES:
For All Grain brewing: Substitute 9 to 10 lbs. of 2-row Pilsner grain for the malt extract. Mash at 153 to 155 degrees F for 60 minutes. Sparge slowly, maintaining sparge water temperature to ensure good extraction. Boil 60 minutes, but maintain hop schedule as above unless you would prefer a slightly more bittered beer that will result from the longer boil time and the addition of the boil hop at the beginning of the boil period. These beers were originally based on European style lagers and share many of the characteristics of those beers, with a North American flair from ingredients commonly available on this continent in the early 20th century. *These are clean, neutral flavored yeast varieties. Others are equally appropriate. While it is preferable when using a lager yeast to ferment your beer cool, it is not strictly necessary to do so in order to make the yeast happy. Lager yeasts tend to simply act a bit more "ale like" when used at warmer temperatures, but often make a beer of unique character. (This is not a mainstream idea. That whirring sound you hear is the sound of old brewers spinning in their graves... it's OK though, it's good for them to turn over now and then. In other words this is considered by traditionalists to be sacrilege. We like that!)