Ingredients
Mash
- 4.5 kgBohemian floor-malted pilsner malt, milled coarse
- 25 Lvery soft water (under 50 ppm total hardness), treated with 2 ml lactic acid if your tap water is hard
Hops and yeast
- 60 gSaaz (Zatec) whole-leaf hops at the start of the boil
- 30 gSaaz with 30 minutes left
- 25 gSaaz with 5 minutes left
- 2 packetsCzech lager yeast, or a 2 L starter of a Pilsner Urquell-type strain
Directions
- Mash in at 52°C (125°F) with 14 L of water and hold 20 minutes. This protein rest suits under-modified Continental malt and gives the beer its dense, meringue-like foam.
- Pull a third of the thick mash into a second pot, bring it slowly to the boil, hold 15 minutes, then stir it back into the main mash to raise it to 63°C (145°F). Repeat with a second decoction to reach 72°C (160°F), and a third thin decoction to reach 76°C (170°F).
- Hold at 72°C (160°F) until iodine shows no starch, about 30 minutes, then lauter and sparge at 76°C (170°F) to collect roughly 26 L of wort.
- Boil 90 minutes, adding the three hop charges at 90, 30 and 5 minutes. Saaz is low in alpha acid, which is why the quantity looks enormous.
- Chill the wort fast to 9°C (50°F), aerate hard, and pitch the yeast. Ferment in an open or loosely covered vessel at 9–11 C for 10–12 days until the gravity is stable and the yeast forms a thick brown head.
- Rack cleanly off the yeast and lager at 1–2 C for at least 3 weeks, ideally 6. This cold sleep is what makes a pilsner soft; hurry it and you get a harsh, green beer.
- Carbonate to about 2.4 volumes and serve at 8°C (45°F), poured hard into a wet, upright mug to build 3–4 cm of wet, creamy foam.
Technique
- Josef Groll brewed the first golden lager in Plzen on 5 October 1842. The combination of pale English-style kilned malt, freakishly soft Plzen water, Saaz hops and Bavarian bottom-fermenting yeast created a beer nobody had seen before.
- Triple decoction is the traditional Czech step and it is not nostalgia: boiling part of the mash caramelises malt sugars and gives the bready depth that a single infusion mash cannot reproduce.
- Water is the hidden ingredient. Plzen water is almost distilled-soft, which is why the hop bitterness lands smooth rather than rasping.
Substitutions
- No time or equipment for decoction: do a single infusion at 65°C (150°F) for 60 minutes and accept a cleaner, thinner beer. Use German Tettnang if you cannot get Saaz.
Variations
- Hladinka, the standard pour with a third foam; snyt, a smaller pour with more foam; mliko, a glass of almost pure sweet foam drunk in one go.
- Tmave pivo, the dark Czech lager, using the same method with 400 g of dark Czech caramel malt added.
History
Bavarian brewer Josef Groll brewed the first pale lager in Plzeň on 5 October 1842, after citizens publicly dumped barrels of spoiled beer.
Frequently asked questions
What is Pilsner?
Pilsner is a wine & spirit from Czechia: golden hopped lager born in Plzeň, 1842; the original pils. Bavarian brewer Josef Groll brewed the first pale lager in Plzeň on 5 October 1842, after citizens publicly dumped barrels of spoiled beer.
How long does Pilsner take to make?
Pilsner takes 1 hr 30 min of preparation and 6 weeks (3 weeks of it cold lagering) of cooking. The recipe makes 20 litres (about 40 half-litre glasses). It is rated hard to make.
What can I substitute in Pilsner?
Yes, within limits. No time or equipment for decoction: do a single infusion at 65°C (150°F) for 60 minutes and accept a cleaner, thinner beer. Use German Tettnang if you cannot get Saaz.
What is the most important thing to get right in Pilsner?
Boil 90 minutes, adding the three hop charges at 90, 30 and 5 minutes. Saaz is low in alpha acid, which is why the quantity looks enormous.
