home brewing recipes from Arny Lands

Try a Pilsner

Home Brewing Recipes
Baker Street Ales Associate Brewer
Arny Lands

Beer Nexus
the crossroads of the beer world

As the weather warms one of my favorite styles to drink is
Pilsner so I thought we'd give it a try in this month's column.
I'm going to give you my recipe for an all-grain organic lager
that should turn out to be crisp with a slight bitterness and
a hint of malt. I've switched my diet to as many organic foods
as possible so why not my beer?
-----------------------------

Ingredients for 5 gals:
6 lbs.Weyermann organic Pilsner malt
1 1/2 lbs.Weyermann organic Vienna malt
1/2 lb. Briess organic Munich malt
1 lb. Briess organic Carapils malt
3/4 oz. Organic German Hallertauer Tradition hops
for bittering
1/2 oz. Organic German Hallertauer Mittlefrueh
pellet hops- flavor
1 oz. Organic German Hallertauer Mittlefrueh
whole hopsfor aroma
Ale Yeast: Wyeast #2278 Czech Pils Lager
or White Labs #800 Pilsner Lager
Bottling Sugar: 8 oz. (1 1/4 cups) Dry Malt Extract
Optional ingredients: 1/2 teaspoon Irish Moss

Directions
1. Heat 3 1/2 gallons of water to 168 oF
and add all of the grains in the recipe.
2. After 10 minutes, adjust temperature if needed,
and then mash at 150- 152 oF for 40- 60 minutes.
3. When starch conversion is complete,
raise the temperature to 165- 170 oF (optional).
4. Sparge the grains with 3 1/2 gallons of
water heated to 170 oF.
5. Transfer wort to the brew pot and bring to a boil.
6. Once the wort has reached a rolling boil add
3/4 oz. Hallertauer Tradition hops (bittering)
and boil for 40 minutes.
7. Add 1/2 oz. Hallertaur Mittlefrueh hops (flavor)
and boil for 15 minutes. If desired, add the Irish Moss flakes.
8. Add 1 oz. German Hallertaur Mittlefrueh hops (aroma),
boil 5 more minutes, & turn the heat off.
9. Cool the wort to 50- 60 oF and transfer the chilled wort
into your sanitized primary fermenting vessel.
10. Shake or stir (with a sanitized spoon!)
the unfermented beer vigorously to add oxygen.
11. Add the yeast and ferment in a cool dark place for
3-5 days at 45- 55 oF in the primary fermenter.
12. If you have a secondary fermenter, transfer the beer
to it when fermentation activity has subsided.
13. Ferment for an additional 7- 21 days (or lager
for 1- 3 months), or until fermentation is complete.
14. Bottle your beer and store at room temperature for the first
few days, then in a cool dark place (40- 60 oF) for 1-3 weeks.
Your beer is ready to drink when it is clear and carbonated.

Please remember that the easiest way to ruin a batch of your
beer is to infect it through a lack of cleanliness. You've worked
hard so take the time to make sure everything is clean and
sterile. When in doubt review my rules for sanitation that appear
in the column I did on Belgium Tripels. Another thing that some
home brewers forget is that yeast works best in an aerobic
(oxygenated) environment. I find that by pouring my wort into
the fermenter from a decent height sufficiently aerates it to
get the fermentation off to a flying start.

Oh, here are the answers to a couple of questions
sent to me by readers during the past month:
For Tom: OG and SG (Starting Gravity), and FG and
TG (Terminal Gravity) are the same thing.

For Jeff: paying top dollar for liquid yeast, learn to make
starters. They are VERY easy to make, they save you money, and
stretch your yeast. I have a shelf in my fridge dedicated to yeast
slurry in several mason jars. You can reuse it about 5 times,

Good Brewing and Cheers!
Arny Lands