bohemian pils

Bear · Post by **Bear** » Mon May 21, 2012 5:09 pm

i decided to wing for my next brew. i'm gonna shoot for a bohemian style pilsner. after a few pointers from joe, here's my ingredients list:

2 cans (6.6lbs) pilsen light extract
0.5lbs 60L crystal
0.5lbs vienna
0.5lbs carapils
1oz czech saaz - 60min
1oz czech saaz - 30min
1oz czech saaz - 5min
1pkg saflager s23 which i will probably make a starter with

i will probably do a primary at about 50degF for a week, secondary as low as the fridge will go for at least 2 weeks, then bottle and back into fridge for another 4 weeks give or take.

any other tips? anything here that seems way off base? any and all input is welcome and appreciated!

DrPaulsen · Post by **DrPaulsen** » Mon May 21, 2012 8:26 pm

Take them for what they're worth, but here are my thoughts.

1. The recipe looks good.

2. Use two packs of yeast and rehydrate them in 1 cup of 90-110F water.

3. Pitch cool (48F) and set the heater/fridge at 50-52F. Let it warm up on its own to 52F.

4. Pitch cool - even if it means waiting to pitch because your chiller won't go that low. Put it in the fridge and leave it overnight at 45F, if needed.

5. If you do let it rest overnight, consider making a starter for your two packs of rehydrated yeast while the main wort is cooling. Just use 1-2L of the wort, don't make a separate starter. Leave plenty of headspace in the starter vessel because it may get violent. Pitch the starter the next morning - it should be very active.

6. Oxygenate your wort the best you can just before pitching. If you have O2, I recommend purging the vessel's headspace for a 5 count and then shaking/rocking gently for a 30 count. Repeat this two more times and you should have around 14 ppm of O2. If you do not have O2, just rock/shake the vessel for 2-3 minutes, or use a mix-stir drill wand for 1 minute. This should get you close to 8 ppm. Please be careful if you have a glass carboy.

7. Slowly ramp up the fermentation temps as the airlock activity slows. I typically start around 50F and wind up near 65-70F after a few weeks. Let it hang out near 70F for 3-4 days. This will help keep the yeast from flocculating before cleaning up after themselves.

8. Either slowly ramp it back down, or else just crash cool it to near lagering temps. Leave it for a few days, then transfer to secondary for lagering.

9. Lager as close to freezing the beer as you can get. I shoot for 29F, but I suspect anything below 40F is fine, but it may take longer to mature. Let it rest for a few weeks.

10. Before bottling, give it a taste. Don't be afraid to fine it if it's too hazy or astringent. I use Polyclar and/or gelatin mostly. Also, use kettle finings (whirlfloc/irish moss). I can't prove this, but I believe that pulling proteins out of solution helps give a clean, crisp lager.

A good lager can take a lot of attention, but it's absolutely worth it.

Bear · Post by **Bear** » Tue May 22, 2012 3:07 pm

wow! that process is way more intense than anything in my books! i'll definately give it a shot though.

i'd have never considered slowly warming the primary. my only problem being my lagering refrigerator itself. i'm not sure it will get any lower than 50F, even on it's warmest setting. maybe i should leave it for 3-4 days at the warmest setting, then just unplug it and let it sit for a week or so, then take it out and leave it in the basement for another week or so. does that sound like a decent approximation?

i'd like to have it ready for a campout i'm going to the last weekend in july. so i'm thinking 2-3 weeks each of primary, secondary, and bottling. sound about right?

Bear · Post by **Bear** » Tue May 22, 2012 3:10 pm

one other thing: if i let the wort rest in the frige over night, should i refrigerate the starter?

DrPaulsen · Post by **DrPaulsen** » Tue May 22, 2012 3:28 pm

The process is largely taken from the Yeast book by Chris White and Jamil Zainasheff, with a few extras folded in based on mistakes I've made over the years.

My fermenting fridge won't go much below 50F, either, when it's over 75F outside. If you can't get down to lagering temps, don't worry about it -- just get it as cold as you can and/or fine it. The beer should have a cleaner, crisper, and creamier character after being lagered, but that doesn't mean it will be bad if you can't. Making sure you pitch a ton of active yeast, pitching cool, and aerating are probably 80% of the battle in making a good lager. I probably believe the same thing about making ales, but I haven't spent as much time formulating my thoughts to say for sure.

I typically plan six weeks for ales and eight weeks for lagers before they start getting really good, so I'd say you're in the right ballpark for an end-of-July camping trip. Also, don't forget to carbonate in a warm environment if you're going to bottle condition. Carbonating at 50F will take forever. If you're on a schedule, I would err on the side of extra time in the bottle (maybe 3-4 weeks). The yeast will scrub the beer a bit more while carbonating and you really want to make sure there's enough fizz to make the beer seem crisp and clean.

DrPaulsen · Post by **DrPaulsen** » Tue May 22, 2012 3:42 pm

Yes, let the starter work at pitching temps. That way you won't hit the yeast colony with a big temp shock at pitching. I find it incredibly convenient to just put the starter in the fridge next to my bucket of wort. And when I say "convenient", I mean to say "the lazy way of doing it". I suppose you could make the starter in advance and let it work at pitching temps, but that sounds like way too much work.

Bear wrote:one other thing: if i let the wort rest in the frige over night, should i refrigerate the starter?

Bear · Post by **Bear** » Tue May 22, 2012 11:03 pm

i'm sorry, what i meant to say was i don't think my frige will get any warmer than 50F even when set on the warmest temp. i had a beer bottle filled with water with a thermometer in it in the frige for about 36 hours on 1 (coming down(warmer) from a mid range setting) and the temp never got above 45F. (i've been taking the time to document the temps related to the various numbers on my frige dial) currently i'm trying to document the quarter of the wheel between 1 and 0.

silly refrigerator manufacturers. :-p

DrPaulsen · Post by **DrPaulsen** » Wed May 23, 2012 7:52 am

Oh, I see. Now that is a totally different issue. My concern with too low of a temp would be a sluggish or incomplete fermentation.

If you don't have a temp controller, you'll have to wing it. I would recommend putting a thermo-strip on the side of your fermentor and wrapping it in a blanket. The yeast will produce heat while fermenting the wort. With a little luck it will be just enough heat to get you up around 50F or a little higher. Check it regularly and see what happens. Another option would be to wire up a light bulb inside the fridge. By switching out different sized bulbs, you should be able to find one that produces enough heat to get you into the range you want. The downside, of course, is that your fridge will run almost non-stop, since you will technically be pushing it into the food "danger zone" (i.e. above 40F).

What temp is your basement? I don't know this for a fact, but it's possible that if you let it start out the fermentation for 3 or 4 days around 45F, so the yeast have passed their primary growth phase, then it would be safe to either unplug the fridge or put it in the basement. The bulk of the fermentation would occur at warmer temps, but as long as the growth phase is at a lower temp, I think you'll be okay. I've never tried this, but I think it would work better than just pitching at basement temps and staying there the whole time or just leaving it at 45F the whole time.

So, maybe try wrapping it in a blanket to warm it up for the first 3 or 4 days then either unplug the fridge or just put it in your basement and let it go to completion from there.

kjball · Post by **kjball** » Wed May 23, 2012 8:46 am

If you want, this is the temp controller i used to build mine. I know Randy used it too, in fact, i used his plans. Once you have this, and a box, you can build it for fairly cheap, especially if you have some scrap electrical supplies laying around. It seems to work fine for me. There was the same build in a recent issue of BYO.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/To-USA-110V-Dig ... 964wt_1163

Bear · Post by **Bear** » Wed May 23, 2012 6:58 pm

currently the temp of my basement is about 65F and i don't anticipate it going much over the low 70s even on the hottest days. the fridge is also in the basement.

so i'm thinking fridge at 45F for 3-4 days, unplug fridge and let sit for a week-ish, take out of fridge and let sit in basement for another week-ish, rack to secondary and lager at somewhere around freezing for about 3 weeks, bottle and condition until i go camping.

sound about right?

also, i'd love to build some kind of lagering box to fit more than 1 carboy in. i might just buy that temp controller after my next paycheck. any other plans for one would be awesome!

DrPaulsen · Post by **DrPaulsen** » Wed May 23, 2012 7:22 pm

Sounds like a good plan to me. Keep a close eye on the airlock, if it seems to be slowing down, unplug the fridge. Also, I recommend wrapping it in a blanket to get above 45F a bit.

I'm pretty sure BIY has one of those digital Ranco controllers, if you want to save some time. They cost a little bit more ($30 extra?), but they also require zero of your personal time to assemble. I use one on my keezer and am very happy with it.

Bear · Post by **Bear** » Wed May 23, 2012 8:44 pm

will do.

so i can wire the controller right into my fridge?

DrPaulsen · Post by **DrPaulsen** » Wed May 23, 2012 8:50 pm

Yes. It has two cords. Plug one end into the wall; plug the fridge into the other end. Read the manual & make sure it's in "cool" mode. You may have to open the cover and move a jumper, but it's very simple.

whitedj · Post by **whitedj** » Thu May 24, 2012 5:29 pm

I have the same temp controller on my kezzer, and have nothing bad to say about it. You also may want to ensure you get the 110V version.

johnnyik · Post by **johnnyik** » Fri May 25, 2012 8:07 pm

I've made a few lagers as well and Lee is right on in his methods. The key with lagers is the initial 5-7 days of cold fermentation. This inhibits the yeast from producing off flavors. I start around 45 and ramp to 50 over the first 1-2 days then hold at 50 for one week. Then bring the carboy onto my basement floor for 1-2 weeks (as long as it takes to finish). It is at this point that I keg and carbonate (for lagers I will add priming sugar and let them clean up any off flavors. I do not do this with ales, just add the CO2). After about a week I put the keg in the lagering fridge and drop temp to 36. Sit for a month and bottle. For bottle conditioning you can certainly do it exactly as Lee has described. Keep in mind that you may need to add fresh yeast at bottling time if you lagered very cold. A clean crisp pilsner in July....mmm!!