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Recipe: Atlas Bullpen Pilsner
From Atlas Brew Works in Washington, D.C., here’s a recipe for their popular pilsner, a bronze medal–winner at the 2022 Great American Beer Festival. Easy-drinking yet flavorful, this pils gets subtle extra character from its Cal Common yeast strain.
Image: Courtesy Atlas Brew Works
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“We started using the San Francisco Lager yeast because we also make a Cal Common,” says Daniel Vilarrubi, head of brewing operations at Atlas. “But we found that it performs great at low temperatures. It’s pretty clean, though it has a slight nuttiness to it. And the sulfur production is low, which is always nice for lagering times.”
For more on brewing more characterful lagers with expressive strains, see These Lager Yeasts Have Something to Say! Or, for more from Atlas, check out our Ask the Pros article on Silent Neighbor, their “pumpernickel” stout that won gold at the 2023 World Beer Cup.
ALL-GRAIN
Batch size: 5 gallons (19 liters)
Brewhouse efficiency: 72%
OG: 1.044 (10.9°P)
FG: 1.008 (2°P)
IBUs: 26
ABV: 4.7%
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“We started using the San Francisco Lager yeast because we also make a Cal Common,” says Daniel Vilarrubi, head of brewing operations at Atlas. “But we found that it performs great at low temperatures. It’s pretty clean, though it has a slight nuttiness to it. And the sulfur production is low, which is always nice for lagering times.”
For more on brewing more characterful lagers with expressive strains, see These Lager Yeasts Have Something to Say! Or, for more from Atlas, check out our Ask the Pros article on Silent Neighbor, their “pumpernickel” stout that won gold at the 2023 World Beer Cup.
ALL-GRAIN
Batch size: 5 gallons (19 liters)
Brewhouse efficiency: 72%
OG: 1.044 (10.9°P)
FG: 1.008 (2°P)
IBUs: 26
ABV: 4.7%
[PAYWALL]
MALT/GRAIN BILL
6.4 lb (2.9 kg) Briess Pilsen
1.2 lb (544 g) Munich 10°L
13 oz (369 g) Briess Carapils
HOPS SCHEDULE
0.17 oz (5 g) Bravo at 90 minutes [10 IBUs]
0.4 oz (11 g) each Mt. Hood and Saaz at 15 minutes [9 IBUs]
0.3 oz (9 g) each Mt. Hood and Saaz at 5 minutes [4 IBUs]
0.3 oz (9 g) each Mt. Hood and Saaz at whirlpool [3 IBUs]
YEAST
Jasper JY234 Common, White Labs WLP810 San Francisco Lager, Wyeast 2112 California Lager, or similar
DIRECTIONS
Mill the grains and mash at 154°F (68°C). Rest 20 minutes and test for conversion. Otherwise, rest 60 minutes to ensure conversion. Recirculate until the runnings are clear, then run off into the kettle. Sparge and top up as necessary to get about 6 gallons (23 liters) of wort, depending on your evaporation rate. Boil for 90 minutes, adding hops according to the schedule. After the boil, do a whirlpool step: Add the whirlpool hops, stir or recirculate to create a vortex; spin 10 minutes, then allow 10 minutes to steep. Chill to about 50°F (10°C), aerate the wort, and pitch the yeast. Ferment at 50°F (10°C) until active fermentation begins to slow, then allow a rise to 72°F (22°C) for a diacetyl rest. Crash and lager at 34°F (1°C) for 4 weeks. Check for clarity and any residual sulfur before packaging. Carbonate to 2.6 volumes of CO2.
BREWER’S NOTES
Malt: Briess Pilsen is a diastatic beast that allows us to mash a bit hotter and quicker than we could with most base malts—and we don’t mash out, so conversion continues during vorlauf and lauter. If you trade out the base malt, you may want to tweak mash times and temperatures. Meanwhile, that bit of Munich builds color and malt character on a super-light base—enough to take it from straw to a pale gold.
Water: We keep the sulfate-chloride ratio nearly even, leaning slightly toward chloride (~7:8). We keep our sparge pH below 5.6.
