Homebrew Recipe
KC Bier Pils
- Method:
- All Grain
- Style:
- German Pils
- Boil Time:
- 75 min.
- Batch Size:
- 5 gal.
- Boil Size:
- 6.5 gal.
- Efficiency:
- 75
- Rating:
- Source:
- Craft Beer and Brewing
- Source Notes:
- June-July 2020 page 79. "A German pils should be pale and refreshing," says Steve Holle, founder of KC Bier in Kansas City, Missouri. "The delicate but assertive bitterness should combine with the crisp maltiness to produce a clean and slightly dry finish. The spicy and floral aroma notes from the late kettle hops are perceptible but not overpowering." 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. 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, krausen-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 of sterile wort, hold at fermentation temperature, swirl, and pitch into the fermentor at full krausen. Chill: Chilling the wort from boiling to 48-50F 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.
- Notes:
- Prepare 8.5 gallons of charcoal-filtered water for mashing and sparging. Add calcium chloride (CaCl2) to achieve about 100 ppm calcium (or add 0.3 oz of CaCl2 as a guess). For the decoction: Combine the malts, then transfer 3 lb of the malt to a pot. Add 1.5 gallons of 149F water to hit a mash temperature of 144F. 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 149F. Add the remaining 7.5 lb of malt with up to 3.5 gallons of hot water to rest at 149F 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 of wort - or more, depending on your evaporation rate. Boil for 75 minutes, following the hops schedule, to get 6 gallons of wort. Chill to 48F, aerate the wort, and pitch the yeast. Ferment at 50F. Near the end of fermentation, optionally, allow the temperature to rise to 61F 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 3F per day to avoid yeast shock and finish lagering at 34-36F.
Brew Numbers
| OG | FG | ABV | SRM | IBU |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.046 | 1.01 | 4.75 | 0 | 35 |
Fermentables
| Name | Amount | % Grain Bill |
|---|---|---|
| Lager or Pilsner Malt | 10 lbs. | 95.24 |
| Notes: German pilsner | ||
| Acidulated Malt | 0.5 lbs. | 4.76 |
| Notes: 8 oz German Sauermalz (acidulated malt) | ||
| Total: | 10.50 lbs. | |
Hops
| Name | Amount | Boil Time | Use | AA |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hallertau Mittelfruh | 2 oz. | 60 | Boil | 4 |
| Hallertau Mittelfruh | 0.7 oz. | 10 | Boil | 4 |
| Name | Amount |
|---|---|
| Hallertau Mittelfruh | 2.7 oz. |
Yeast
| Name | Lab | Product |
|---|---|---|
| Bohemian Lager | Wyeast | 2124 |
| Notes: 1.5 gallon starter | ||
| German Lager | White Labs | WLP830 |
| Notes: 1.5 gallon starter | ||
| SafLager | Fermentis | W-34/70 |
| Notes: 2 packets | ||
Other Ingredients
| Name | Amount | Time | Use | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calcium Chloride (CaCl2) | 0.3 oz | Mash | Other | |
| Notes: A guess of amount needed to achieve water profile with 100 ppm calcium. | ||||
Mash Steps
| Step | Name | Temp | Time | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Decoction | 144 | 20 | All Grain |
| Notes: 3 lb of the malt to a pot. Add 1.5 gallons of 149F water to hit a mash temperature of 144F. Rest 20 minutes; add low heat to maintain the temperature or insulate the pot. | ||||
| 2 | Decoction | 212 | 10 | All Grain |
| Notes: Slowly bring the mash to a boil and boil for 10-15 minutes. | ||||
| 3 | Step Mash | 149 | 45 | All Grain |
| Notes: Transfer the decocted mash to a lauter/mash tun and add just enough cold water to reduce the mash temperature to 149F. Add the remaining 7.5 lb of malt with up to 3.5 gallons of hot water to rest at 149F for 45 minutes. | ||||