P^3 Pre-Prohibition Pilsner

[christo]

I decided to post this after one of our BJCP judges just gave me a silly grin and said "This is the best beer I've ever tasted!". Turned out nice. This will go on my standard rotation (when I get to a standard rotation).

Brewer: Christo
Beer: P^3
Style: American Pilsener
Type: All grain
Size: 5 gallons
Color: 3 HCU (~3 SRM)
Bitterness: 36 IBU
OG: 1.057
FG: 1.010
Alcohol: 6.1% v/v (4.8% w/w)

Grain:
2 lb. American 6-row
2 lb. Flaked corn
7 lb. American 2-row

Mash: 70% efficiency
152F
Boil: 75 minutes SG 1.046 6.25 gallons
IM at 15 min

Hops:
30g Cluster (6.4% AA, 60 min.)
28.4g Liberty (4.5% AA, 15 min.)
28.4g Liberty (aroma)

Yeast: 34/70 yeast cake from Dortmunder

Log: 20 days primary at 51F, 20 days secondary at 45F. Going to let it sit in keg awhile longer in tertiary.

Carbonation: med-high carbonation

Tasting:

After kegging: cluster hops rock! Wasn't sure about them, but I really like - yes, they are "catty", but also a wet hay and green pine and other indescribable herbs come through in both aroma and flavor that's interesting. . . and enjoyable. Beer is a pale yellow with large billowy head. Lots of corny sweetness with the hop nose. Flavor is corn sweet for 2 seconds followed by a balancing bitterness, and then goes to full lingering bitterness in the aftertaste. Med-light finish makes this a real thirst quencher and invites another pour. Whoa! At 6.1%, two's enough! I'll let this one age in the keg another several weeks and I'm sure it will improve even more.

At one month in keg: This has turned out to be a mighty fine light lager. Beautifully clear and golden. Terrific balance between malt, corn and hops (actually think I'll up the bitterness to 40 IBUs next time and some additional aroma hop). Cluster hop flavor/aroma has all but disappeared and mellowed into a noble-type.

[christo]

Well, the CAP got a 39 in our local contest and a 3rd place. Turned out nice though I didn't like my bottle conditioned beers (what I submitted to the competition) as much as my kegged beer. This definitely will become a annual summer quaffer.

[Steve Urquell]

Congrats man! I've found that the w-34 yeast lends itself well to beers with a little corn in them.

[Niedermier]

looks pretty damn tasty. If only I could find a place to ferment at 50f.

By the way, Christo, I missed getting my submission into the Bay Street Bash. I forgot about the deadline. I was actually at Beer Necessities in Alpharetta the day of the deadline which is how I realized that I forgot. Maybe next year.

[Common]

Awesome. I'm about to do a CAP now that my house is cold. Can't wait.

[Big_John]

I brewed a Classic American Pilsner about this time last year. I entered it in five major competitions between April and June 2009. The results:

1 Best of Show
3 Gold Medals (one from 1st round NHC)
1 Silver Medal (NHC finals)
1 Bronze Medal

All of these entries were from a single 6 gallon batch brewed on 12/8/2008.

The recipe used was Jeff Renner's very famous, "Your Father's Moustache". I brewed it with 20% corn meal using the traditional double mash method.

And on the seventh day, I rested!:D

[mr x]

This is the recipe?:

http://brewingtechniques.com/library/backissues/issue3.5/renner.html

[Big_John]

This is the recipe?:

http://brewingtechniques.com/library/backissues/issue3.5/renner.html

Yes, that's the one. I also have a pdf of Jeff's original article that was published in the 1999-2000 special edition of Zymurgy. Its about a six page article which covers the history of the style and a very detailed how-to on the recipe including multiple options for brewing this beer. I chose the hard way and followed even the smallest details as closely as I could.

Way back in late 1999 I picked up the Zymurgy issue at my LHBS. I had only three extract batches under my belt and I brewed this recipe as my second AG batch. I was not a member of any club at the time and mostly winging it from information I read in the common home brewing books. I did have a 10 gallon Polarware kettle w/FB, but not much more than that as far as equipment. I also acquired a fridge and a freezer so I had lagering capabilities. I was fascinated at the possibility of being able to recreate the historic CAP that my grandfather was probably drinking regularly shortly before the prohibition. Jeff's article had me hooked on the prospect and I was off to the races.

So, I brewed up that CAP and it turned out really, really well. So well that I took a bottle to the LHBS in San Diego where I was living at the time. The proprietor took it home to sample that evening. Next day he called me and urged me to join the famous QUAFF of San Diego. He said they had a competition coming up soon and I should enter this beer. I knew nothing about the clubs and even less about the competitions and almost nothing more than the very basics of brewing. So, I volunteered to be a steward to see what it was all about and entered my CAP. Here's the kicker! It took a first place with a score of 43 and narrowly missed best of show behind QUAFF's top three brewers! Peter Zien (now owns Ale Smith) was the club president at the time. There were some 327 entries in the America's Finest City Home Brew Competition. My CAP scored the highest of all. Holy shit! Neeless to say, I was stoked from that point forward and hooked on the style. I don't know why exactly, but many years went by before I brewed it again and this year was the first time I again entered it in a competition.

If anyone wants the pdf file from the Zymurgy article, PM me and I will email it to you. It's a fun and fascinating read whether you ever brew this beer or not. Jeff is a true Rennaisance man in every respect. He's also a really nice person. Not like me at all.:cool:

[mr x]

What yeast did you use?

[Big_John]

I used Wyeast 2007 Pilsen Lager and have had such good results I never saw a need to switch to anything else, although Renner provides some good alternatives that are supposed to perform equally as well.

[christo]

Yes, YFM is the "classic" CAP homebrew recipe. I wanted to use the dry lager yeast to see how it worked and I love Liberty hops for the more traditional flavor than Styrian Golding. I tried to keep basically the "usual" 80/20 malt to maize proportions.

Just got my evaluation sheets, and a National level judge gave me a 41 while a co-club member apparently didn't like as much and gave it a 37. Only ding was undercarbonated (I still haven't mastered counter-pressure bottle filling), but otherwise they gushed over it. It definitely will be on my brew cycle. Definitely a good one for 10 gallon batches.

[hubie]

If anyone wants the pdf file from the Zymurgy article, PM me and I will email it to you. It's a fun and fascinating read whether you ever brew this beer or not. Jeff is a true Rennaisance man in every respect. He's also a really nice person. Not like me at all.:cool:

I stumbled upon this article (http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/attachments/0000/1298/SOzym00-Pilsner.pdf). Fortunately it is part of the free download section (http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/pages/zymurgy/free-downloads) of the AHA website. Lots of great articles there.

I really want to brew these CAPs, but I have to wait for my converted freezer project to commence. I tried brewing one several years ago and just living with the temps I could get to, but I thought it turned out awful.

[christo]

That's a great article.

My Cream Ale, which is basically the same recipe, is strikingly lager-like where I fermented in the low-60's with S-05. Of course the keg went straight into the fridge from there so no esters have sneaked in. So you can definitely get close even without the lager temps.

I filled a couple of bottles that conditioned at room temp and they do show some fruitiness though.