Recipe: KC Bier Pils

For Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine®, Holle has put a great deal of thought into how to preserve the details on a homebrew scale—including a clever method of decoction that could even be done on a stovetop.

ALL-GRAIN
Batch size: 5 gallons (19 liters)
Brewhouse efficiency: 75%
OG: 1.046
FG: 1.010
IBUs: 35
ABV: 4.75%

[PAYWALL]

MALT/GRAIN BILL
10 lb (4.5 kg) German pilsner
8 oz (227 g) German Sauermalz (acidulated malt)

HOPS SCHEDULE 2 oz (57 g) Hallertauer Mittelfrüh [4% AA] at 60 minutes
0.7 oz (20 g) Hallertauer Mittelfrüh [4% AA] at 10 minutes

YEAST
2 packets of Fermentis SafLager 34/70 or a 1.5-gallon (5.7-liter) starter made from White Labs WLP830 German Lager, Wyeast 2124 Bohemian Lager, or similar

DIRECTIONS
Prepare 8.5 gallons (32.2 liters) of charcoal-filtered water for mashing and sparging. Add calcium chloride (CaCl2) to achieve about 100 ppm calcium (or add 0.3 oz/9 g of CaCl2, as a guess).

For the decoction: Combine the malts, then transfer 3 lb (1.4 kg) of the malt to a pot. Add 1.5 gallons (5.7 liters) of 149°F (65°C) water to hit a mash temperature of 144°F (62°C). Rest 20 minutes; add low heat to maintain the temperature or insulate the pot. Slowly bring the mash to a boil and boil for 10–15 minutes.

Transfer the decocted mash to a lauter/mash tun and add just enough cold water to reduce the mash temperature to 149°F (65°C). Add the remaining 7.5 lb (3.4 kg) of malt with up to 3.5 gallons (13.2 liters) of hot water to rest at 149°F (65°C) for 45 minutes. (A thin liquid mash followed by minimal sparging produces a cleaner, drier beer than a thick mash followed by intense sparging. If your mash tun can’t hold the recommended mash water, reduce the mash water and increase the sparge water.) Sparge to collect about 6.5 gallons (25 liters) of wort—or more, depending on your evaporation rate. Boil for 75 minutes, following the hops schedule, to get 6 gallons (22.7 liters) of wort. Chill to 48°F (9°C), aerate the wort, and pitch the yeast.

Ferment at 50°F (10°C). Near the end of fermentation, optionally, allow the temperature to rise to 61°F (16°C) for a diacetyl rest and for higher attenuation. Rack the beer off the yeast and trub and lager for 3 to 5 weeks. Reduce the temperature slowly by about 3°F (1°C) per day to avoid yeast shock and finish lagering at 34–36°F (1–2°C).

BREWER’S NOTES
Ready to dial in some details for a more perfect German-style pils? Here are specific suggestions from Steve Holle:

Acidification: Aim for a beer pH of 4.25–4.30. Extremely pale beers such as pils need acidification to achieve the right pH level. Pale lagers are notorious for finishing at a pH above 4.4, which can render them dull and lifeless. The Reinheitsgebot doesn’t permit non-biological acid additions. That is why natural sour malt is specified in the recipe. If you typically use acid as an additive, you can skip the Sauermalz and use 100 percent pilsner malt.

Make a good, kräusen-like starter: At least a week before brew day, add the liquid yeast to a starter, frequently/continuously aerating at room temperature until fermentation is complete. Refrigerate the yeast starter until brew day. Early on brew day, pour off the yucky-tasting supernatant (beer), add 12 oz (355 ml) of sterile wort, hold at fermentation temperature, swirl, and pitch into the fermentor at full kräusen.

Chill: Chilling the wort from boiling to 48–50°F (9–10°C) at most U.S. latitudes requires a two-stage wort chiller or an efficient counterflow chiller with ice water. Lager yeast produces esters when fermented warm, and the most important point at which to reduce ester production is the start of fermentation.