Homebrew Recipe: Smoked Pilsner
This is an experimental recipe; definitely an interesting idea for a beer, especially since I LOVE smoked beers. As always, feel free to use this recipe in your homebrew and let me know how it turns out or if you have suggestions to improve the recipe! The trick here is to retain the color of the Pilsner while still using smoked malt. With such a delicate beer, I only used a slight bit of smoked malt to give the beer a hint of smokiness while retaining the pilsner qualities.
Boil Size: 6.21 gal
Boil Time: 90 min
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00
Pre Brewday:
1000ml Yeast Starter with Czech Pilsner Lager (Wyeast Labs #2278)
GRIST:
10.00 lb Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (2.0 SRM)
1.00 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM)
0.50 lb Smoked Malt (briess) (5.0 SRM)
MASH:
60 min Mash In 151.0 F
10 min Mash Out 168.0 F
Add water to achieve boil volume of 6.21 gal
Estimated pre-boil gravity is 1.057
BOIL INGREDIENTS:
Boil Amount Item Type
90 min 1.00 oz Saaz [4.00 %]
60 min 0.50 oz Saaz [4.00 %]
15 min 0.75 oz Saaz [4.00 %]
15 min 1.00 items Whirlfloc Tablet
10 min 1.00 tsp Yeast Nutrient
2 min 0.75 oz Saaz [4.00 %]
FERMENTATION:
Primary @48°
Smoked and Pilsner Malt in the Grain Mill
Bringing Wort up to Boil
Wort Chiller Run-off Water on a Cold Afternoon
I am interested in how much smoke flavor you get out of this recipe. I am planning a smoked helles for mid-2011 and any idea of how much I should put into it would be great.
HI Ernie, The smoked malt, per recipe, really needs to be proportional to the other flavors in the beer. So a stout would need much more smoked malt compared to a Pils or Helles. I used .5lb and it is enough so you know it is there with out being dominate or over powering the saaz.
Have you ever tried Schlenkerla helles?
It’s a helles lager with a very gentle flavour of smoke, made by using the equipment used for making their famously strongly smoked rauchbier (where they sue 100% smoke malt).
It’s really very good and has a great balance between the smoke flavor and aroma and the nuances of a good helles.
Hope this beer turns out great for you.
I recently made a weizen rauch and just bottled a smoked porter, both using about 38% smoked malt.
I think the smoke was just right in the weizen. The big flavours of banana and cloves in the yeast balanced nicely by the smoke. The porter, we’ll see, however I used a LOT of brown malt (not realising it’s not exactly the same stuff as was around in the 18th century!), so the big roast effect from that brown malt may compete with the smoke. So far, the samples tasted quite good.
Awesome Chuwy! I brewed a Tequila Soaked Vanilla bean Smoked Stout a couple months back and it was fantastic! Which I thought I had posted, but I guess not. I’ll have to get that recipe up shortly.
Sounds delicious…I have been on a Pilsner kick for going on 6 months. I just used 2278 for an imperial Pilsner that’s still Lagering. Phew…the first several days of fermentation resulted in a lot sulfur/rotten egg aromas.
I am planning on brewing a Grodziskie…a polish smoked wheat ale soon.
I just tasted this going into the secondary, and it is just where I want it to be flavor wise, but it is a hair darker then I wanted it to be. Although it is still only 5 SRM, well within the BJCP color range for a pilsner (3-6 SRM). I really stoked to finish lager this and get it carbonated!
Damn, images looks good… I prefer pilsner :)))
http://www.pivaratuzla.ba/proizvodiSlike/pilsner%20tz.jpg