Czech Pilsner: Concoctions

Ingredients

• Brewing water: the water from the faucet is too hard for this type of beer. Therefore the ion contents are dilluted by mixing it with distilled water in a 1/1 ratio.
• 2 kg’s of Bohemian pilsner malt
• Saaz Hop pellets.

Brewing

Decoction

Decoction is a process where part of the mash is separated from the larger part and boiled. This process was traditionally repeated 3-4 or more times and helped to get the most out of the malt. Due to the quality of modern malt, this process is no longer frequently used (by some even considered a waste of time and energy). To brew a Czech pils however, it would be a shame to forego this process.

Therefore in this recipe two decoctions were performed, to honour the tradition and hopefully enrich the flavour of the malt.

Brew schedule

The malt was milled prior to brewing and placed in a brewing bag. The brewing water was heated to 65°C while milling. The brew was kept around that temperature for an hour once the malt was added, regular stirring was done.

Hop schedule

The water was brought to a boil before hopping. Hop was gifted 4 times in doses of 20gs in stretches of 15 minutes, for a total of an hour of cooking.

Cooling

The brew was cooled to around 25°C, by letting the cooking pot stand in a bath of icewater for about an hour with the lid closed as to keep the chance of contamination events to a minimum.

Gravity measurement

• Specific gravity measured: 1.048
• Alcohol percentage expected: 5%

This alcohol is still relatively high for a Czech pils (they’re usually around 4.4%), but I sure won’t complain!

Primary Fermentation

A fastbrew fermenter is used for this batch. Both primary and secondary fermentation should be able to be done in the same reservoir.

• sanitization fastbrewer, airlock and tools used
• yeast pitched and waterlock placed

The brew had a large amount of green sludge (hop) that was left in the cooking pot. The amount of brew obtained in the end was less than the 10L expected (around 6L) due to evaporation. Therefore secondary fermentation (anaerobic) should be performed in a smaller vessel than the fastbrew recipient to prevent any oxidation.

Bottling

• Specifig gravity measured: 5% alcohol indeed
• sanitization pump and bottles
• priming sugar added (30g brown sugar) for carbonization
• bottles filled by faucet from fastbrew, with minimal headspace
• bottles were left for at least a week before carbonization was adequate

Taste

• Too bitter for a pilsner
• Otherwise, nice color, feel and alcohol percentage.

Recommendations future

• Use hop bag, and be a little less generous with the hop.
• Use a cooler, cooling takes way too long.