Beer of the Moment Article - American Pilsner

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	Paul Rigby

American Pilsner

History
Before anyone gets overly perplexed at the thought of me suggesting brewing an American Pilsner LET ME SAY THAT A “CLASSIC AMERICAN PILSNER” HAS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING IN COMMON WITH BUDWISER, SHLITZ, COORS OR MILLER BEERS! Phew!! The origins of this little known style are very interesting on many levels but particularly, as will be seen later, how the modern day “Budwiser” type American beers could have originated from this marvellous beer style.
During the early part of the 19th century the American Midwest was being colonised by immigrants from all over Europe but particularly from Germany. These German settlers naturally brought with them a healthy thirst for high quality German style Lagers and more importantly Pilsners made from excellent two-row barley malt and highly hopped. In the US of the day the only barley available for malting was a local six-row variety, which proved to be quite unsatisfactory in producing quality malt to make beer for the spoilt German palettes. The local barley was very high in protein and produced cloudy murky concoctions that were somewhat unpalatable to the immigrants. It was well known that diluting high protein malt with adjuncts was possible and would help correct the problem (I suspect that the German immigrants would have been happy to ignore the “Reinheitsgeboot” in the hope of obtaining acceptable beer to drink!). The American Midwest is well known for growing vast acreages of corn – a beer adjunct that was both plentiful and cheap. (This is the origin of the abomination referred to as “megaswill”, brewed (loosely speaking) in vast quantities using the cheapest ingredients in order to make enormous amounts of profit. - Off my soapbox now!!) So it was that wonderful clear beers were then brewed using the local six-row barley malt and local corn, ultimately it was discovered that up to 30% corn produced the best results. The Midwest is also renowned for the growing of …. you guessed it hops! The local variety was called Cluster a name that will be familiar to most brewers as a classic American variety which was used at a reasonably high rate in the typical German style. There was born a new locally brewed style called American Pilsner.
So what are the characteristics of a “Classic American Pilsner” (referred to in many texts as - CAP) I hear you ask? According to the BJCP (Beer Judge Certification Program) the aroma should be low to medium clean, grainy sweet maltiness with medium to high hop aromas. Appearance should be light to gold, bright with a long lasting head. Flavour should be medium to high malt with a slight grainy sweetness due to up to 30% corn in the grist. Mouthfeel should be medium. Original gravity should be between 1.050 to 1,060, bitterness from 25 to 40 IBU and alcohol between 4.5 and 6.0%. Hopping should ideally employ American Cluster (unfortunately not always available) or noble European types such as Saaz, Hallertau, Tettnang or Hallertauer Hersbrucker at reasonably high rates.

Enhanced Kit Version
I suggest starting out by purchasing a good quality Pilsner kit. There are numerous choices of brands and the quality of the kits in this popular style are generally excellent and the final decision is yours. There really isn't much that can be done to enhance a kit beer but one of the primary attributes of Pilsner is hop character and this can’t be put in a can!
For hop flavour I recommend that you make a “hop tea” by putting half a litre of cold water into a saucepan and add 10 to 15gms of fresh Saaz or Hallertau hop pellets, bring to the boil as quickly as you like, and boil for 5 minutes. Add the strained liquid into the fermenter and discard the residue. Procuring the elusive hop aroma is best obtained by dry hopping. I suggest that you add 10 to 15gms of Saaz or Hallertau hops toward the end of fermentation. Follow the usual kit method for the remainder of the brew.
Alas obtaining the distinctive sweet grainy corn like flavour by the use of simple adjuncts, as far as I’m aware, isn’t possible without adversely affecting the other characteristics of the beer.

Malt Extract & Mini Mash Version
Base Malt – 4.25kg Light Malt Extract (Preferably dry)
Mini mash grains - 900gms Flaked Maize
400gms Pilsner Malt
200gms Light Crystal Malt

Put half a litre of cold water in a saucepan and add grains and heat up VERY SLOWLY (over a 25 to 30 minute period) until just short of boiling. Strain the liquid into your fermenter, and discard the grain residue.
Hops – For bittering aim at around 32 IBU's using Cluster (if Cluster is not available then any of the noble European hops as listed above will be fine). Quantity will vary depending on the %AA (alpha acid) of the hops being used. Grain & Grape staff will be happy to do the calculations for you. For hop flavour make a hop tea as outlined above, for hop aroma add 10 to 15gms of Saaz or Hallertau to the fermenter toward the end of fermentation at an SG of around 1.016-18, or if you are in the habit of racking into a secondary fermenter (I recommend racking for every brew not just Pilsners!) then add hops into the secondary fermenter after racking,
Total boil time should be 90 minutes with the hops boiled for only 60 minutes.
Yeast - I recommend Wyeast 2024 Danish, 2206 Bavarian, or 2124 Bohemian - in that order of preference. If you prefer the convenience of dry yeast then try DCL Saflager.

Full Grain Version
Grains - 3000gms Pilsner Malt
1000gms Flaked Maize
1000gms Vienna Malt
200gms Light Crystal Malt

Mashing regimes are many and varied. Most modern malts are very well modified and only need a simple single step infusion mash to obtain very good results, however some of the more complex mashing regimes will provide the brewer with more control over the ratio of fermentable to non fermentable sugars. US Pilsner is a case in point where the flaked maize will provide no dextrins (non fermentable sugars which provide mouthfeel and body to beer) at all and without consideration of this fact in designing a mashing regime you will end up with a thin watery brew. I recommend that if using a simple mash regime then the saccrification rest should be at the higher end ie around 68°C
Hops – For bittering aim at around 32 IBU's using Cluster (if cluster is not available then any of the noble European hops as listed above will be fine). For flavour add 25 to 30gms of Saaz, Hallertau, or Tettnang for the last 10 minutes of the boil, for aroma soak 25 to 30gms of Saaz, Hallertau or Tettnang at the end of the boil. I strongly recommend dry hopping with 10 to 15gms of Saaz or Hallertau in the secondary fermenter after racking.
Total boil time should be 90 minutes with the hops boiled for only 60 minutes.
Yeast - I recommend Wyeast 2024 Danish, 2206 Bavarian, or 2124 Bohemian - in that order of preference. If you prefer the convenience of dry yeast then try DCL Saflager.