The big error was the accidental replacement of the intended base malt of Crisp Best 2-row with Weyermann Pilsner malt. That’s a big “Oopsie!”
One of our learned members posed that many of us would have difficulty in telling the difference in a blind test. I conjecture that in fact most of us could taste the difference.
To test this today I brewed the same recipe using the same process, but this time making sure I didn’t grab the wrong ingredients. Both were brewed on the same equipment, a Picobrew Zymatic, using the same process. The only minor change was that the Irish Moss had 15 minutes rather than 10. Also, I’m using the same yeast and will follow the same fermentation temperature profile. I’ll post the beer.xml for this recipe shortly.
Attached is a photo of the fouled-up beer with the hydrometer sample of today’s brew. Already there is an apparent difference in color and clarity.
Historic advice was that even slightly under modified malts like Pilsner needed a protein rest to achieve clarity. But today advice is that this leads to watery mouthfeel and poor head retention. Given this “serendipitous experiment” it appears that there is some truth in the older viewpoint.
What does your experience tell you? Let the debate begin!
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