Traditional Bohemian Pilsner w Modern Hop Schedule

[biertourist]

Just what it sounds like a very traditional ingredients list but with a bit of hop bursting to make it a bit more hoppy than is traditional.  I have INSANELY soft water so it could take 90 days for this thing to clear during lagering and I wanted the hop presence to remain after a long lagering.

I'm not decocting but I like more color and mid-palate malt flavor than a 100% Pilsner malt grist so I've added some light munich and Vienna malt.

Stats
OG: 1.056
FG: 1.014
IBUs: 40
SRM: 4.2
ABV: 5.4%

Batch size (10.8 gallons/40.9 liters) end of boil

Grist
80% German Best Pilsen Malt
11% Weyermann Vienna Malt
4.5% Light Munich- Best
4.5% Cara-Pils (for a higher FG and head retention)

Hops
All Pellets, IBU estimates using Tinseth and Daniels formulas
90 minute boil but wait to add hops for 15 minutes (hops start degrading with longer boils)

75 minutes Sterling (great Saaz / Zatec alternative for bittering) 6.1% AA 1.9oz
30 minutes Czech Zatec Saaz 3.1% AA 2.5oz
10 minutes Czech Zatec Saaz 2.6% AA 2 oz
0 Minutes Czech Zatec Saaz 2.6% AA 1.5 oz

Rapid chilling with counterflow chiller recirculating back into whirlpool kettle

Water
Pilsen's twin water: Seattle

Total Alkalinity (mg/L as CaCO3): 17.7
Calcium mg/L as CaCO3: 23.4
Total Hardness mg/L as CaCo3: 25
Total Hardness as grains / gal CaCO3: 1.4
Chloride 2.6
Sulfate: 7.4
Sodium: 0.79 mg /L
Magnesium: 0.36
Phosphate soluable-reactive: 2 micro grams / Liter
TDS: 37.3
pH: 8.12 - 8.51

NO water treatment despite being mostly deficient in calcium.  This is how Pilsners are brewed in Pilsen so who am I to mess with it?  I want that nice mellow softness that comes from the very soft Pilsen water profile and I don't care if the lack of calcium prevents the yeast from flocculating properly.  After a 60-90 day lagering it will drop mostly clear anyway and I'm willing to be patient with this one.

-I take that back, I added 1/4 tsp of 88% lactic acid in the HLT; probably not quite enough but my water has almost no buffering capacity and if I add too much the lactic acid almost instantly drops way too low.

Another brewer who has the same water supply as me and who has probably brewed over 100 bohemian pilsners since 1989 recommended 1/4 tsp 88% lactic if adding to the mash; because I dilluted it more in the HLT the pH was probably a tiny bit high but I think it will be nicely balanced given the extra IBUs I got out of my hop "oops".



Yeast / Fermentation
2 Smack packs of Wyeast 2278 Czech Pilsner yeast and 2, 2 liter starters (one for each 5 gallon batch)

Make starter at room temperature on stir plate to maximize yeast growth. 
Starter is slightly undersized but I don't have the ability to make a 3 liter starter; I did multiple aeration additions with my aeration stone trying to get the maximum yeast growth I could out of the 2 liter starter.

Chill wort down to 46F (7.7C) over night and then pitch yeast in the morning after chilling the starter down to the same temp in the fridge.

Primary fermentation @ 48F (8.9C) for 2 weeks, then diacetyl rest at least 3 days / until it passes the diacetyl force test.

Slowly decrease temp down to 33F / 1C and lager first carboy for 30 days on the yeast, then transfer to keg.  Continue to lager the 2nd keg for another 30 days in the carboy (60 days total).


Oops!
I accidentally grabbed my 0 minute Saaz addition and added it as the 75 minute hop addition instead of the Sterling.  Then I was afraid that it wouldn't get me enough IBUs so I added the sterling @ 30 minutes and then added a bit of centennial (10.5% AA) to try to make up for it.

I think this is going to be much closer to 55 IBUs instead of 40 based upon the sample jar tastings... More like an India Pale BoPils...


Yes "India Pale BoPils' is a naming and style guideline abomination; but you know what I mean by it.  ;-)

Adam

[biertourist]

Hmm... I'm now on Day 3 of my Diacetyl rest and the early graininess of the pilsner malt has started to fade.  The beer has incredible mouthfeel -exactly what I was hoping for.  And the diacetyl is still certainly present but not crazy intense.

At this point, I think I'd prefer to have more hop flavor / aroma... Stupid Zatec Saaz are basically worthless this beer needs like a 1/2 lbs or more for a 10 gallon batch.   

I'm going to wait and see when I chill it down for lagering for a few weeks and it gets carbed up what the hop level is like.  Probably 30 days left to go before I start putting it on tap and I won't expect it to clear for probably up to another 30 after that considering there's nearly ZERO calcium in my water.



Adam

[biertourist]

Hoping that this is mostly carbed up today; plan to try a first taste tonight.

If it goes well, I'm looking to enter it into the Washington State Fair. (Free entry and really awesome huge ribbons if you win.)


Adam

[neoanto]

Are you lagering in your Keg?

[biertourist]

Are you lagering in your Keg?

I start lagering in my fermenter so that it stays on the yeast longer but then after a couple of weeks of lagering, especially after the beer passes a diacetyl force test, I transfer to keg and lager in the keg.


Adam

[biertourist]

This ended up actually hoppier than I expected.  Saaz just doesn't have much on the nose until the beer gets fully carbed up.

-I actually took one of the 5 gallon fermenters and pulled 1 gallon and heated it up to 40-50C and then added another oz of Zatec Saaz and then added that back to the fermenter so I have a hoppy version and a REALLY hoppy version that's like bohemian IPA.


The beer wasn't ready for the state fair but next weekend both versions will go to another competition. They wouldn't let me enter 2 Bohemian Pilsners so I added gypsum to the really hoppy version and called it a German Pilsner; they're both too hoppy to be traditional but hopefully the judges get fatigued before they get to mine and don't ding me too badly for it- they taste pretty awesome; style guidelines or not.


Adam