Spring is here and it is time to start working lighter beers into your brewing (and drinking) rotation. The porters and other, darker beers you’ve been drinking are great, but they’re not always the best choice once the temperatures rise back into the eighties and stay above sixty at night.
A Pilsner is a good transition beer from Winter to Summer. It has a higher Hops count than dark beers, but doesn’t have the sharper flavor you get with an IPA. What’s the difference? I’ll cover that next time.
This recipe I put together is based off the original California Pilsners such as North Coast Pilsner and Trumer Pils.
Its primary ingredients include:
- Seven pounds of Golden Light grain
- Two pounds Two-row grain
- Two-and-a-half ounces Cluster hops pellets
- One teaspoon Irish Moss flakes
- One three-quarter cup of Bottling Sugar
- American Ale yeast
With these two grains, the resulting malt is light in flavor and smooth on the taste buds. The Cluster hops provide a lemony flavor with a spicy note.
If you are asking yourself ‘Why did he put moss in the beer?’, there is a reason. Irish Moss is actually derived from seaweed. When inserted near the end of the boil process, it helps to keep the resulting wort clear and more visually appealing by enabling the proteins and tannins to coagulate or cluster together and fall out of the wort. If they do not, then the beer can take on a hazy appearance.
American Ale yeast is the best choice for fermenting your wort above 55 degrees. If you can ferment at a constant range between 48 and 55 degrees, then the 2206 Lager yeast is a better choice. I haven’t used 2206 yet, but several brewers I’ve talked to have and they report that both options provide a tasty result.
Okay then, let’s get started:
- Bring to boil three gallons of water in your brew pot until it reaches 160 degrees. Turn off the heat and insert your mesh grain bag into the pot for 45 minutes.
- Remove the grain and carefully pour water through it into the pot. Lightly squeeze the bag between several pours, to ensure you get the natural flavors and sugars into the pot.
- Turn the heat back on and bring what is now your wort to a boil. Add one ounce of Cluster hops. Maintain your boil for one hour.
- Add the Irish Moss. Continue your boil for fifteen minutes.
- Add one-half ounce of Cluster hops. Continue your boil for ten minutes.
- Turn off the heat and add the last ounce of Cluster hops.
- Begin chilling the wort until you reach below 100 degrees. Note: Do not put the very hot brew pot in your refrigerator or freezer. It’s a very bad idea.
- Once chilled to 99 degrees or lower, pour the wort into a clean carboy and then add the American Ale yeast.
- Place the carboy into a cool, dark place for two weeks. A closet in the middle of your home is a good spot.
- Carefully use food-grade tubing to transfer the beer into a second carboy. Let it settle for two days then transfer it to a bottling bucket.
- Dissolve your bottling sugar into two cups of boiling water and stir it into the beer. Bottle your beer, cap it carefully and return it to the closet for one week.
- Pop that first beer and enjoy!
If any of these terms are unfamiliar, you can find them in these previous Get Your Brew On entries.
Explore More with My Military Lifestyle and Crafts!
No comments yet. Be the first!