Golden-Age Pre-Prohibition Pilsner
(5 gallons, partial mash)
Ingredients:
- 3 lbs. six-row lager malt
- 0.5 lb. carapils malt
- 1 lb. flaked maize
- 0.5 lb. flaked rye
- 3 lbs. unhopped extra light dry malt extract
- 1.5 oz. whole Tettnanger hops
- (4% alpha acid, 6 AAUs) for 60 min.
- 1 oz. whole Hallertauer hops
- (4% alpha acid, 4 AAUs) for 15 min.
- 1 qt. American lager yeast slurry (Wyeast 2035 or 2272)
- 7/8 cup corn sugar for priming
Step by Step:
Heat 1.5 gal. water to 138° F, mix in cracked malt, adding flakes to the top of the grist. The mash should settle at about 132° F. Hold 30 min. between 130° and 133° F. Add 1 gal. more water at 180° F to bring mash up to 152° F or so. Hold 60 min. Begin runoff and sparge with 3 gal. at 170° F.
Add dry malt extract and bring to a boil. Total boil is 60 min. Add Tettnanger hops and boil 45 min. Add Hallertauer hops, boil another 15 min. and remove from heat. Cool, add enough cold, pre-boiled water to make up 5.25 gal. When the whole volume cools to 65° F, pitch yeast slurry.
Let stand and begin to ferment at 60° to 65° F for two days, then move fermenter to a cool place (50° F) and continue fermentation for another two weeks. Rack to secondary, place in a cold, dark corner (36° to 38° F) to lager for four to six weeks. Bring up to room temperature for 24 hours, prime with corn sugar, and bottle. Lager in bottles at 38° to 40° F for six to eight weeks.
OG = 1.057
FG = 1.016
30 IBUs
Alternatives:
All-grain: Increase the pilsner malt to 7 lbs. and omit the dry malt extract. Mash temperatures will be the same, but increase the volume of water to 3 gal. to start, 2 gal. for the second addition, and 3.5 gal. for sparging. You will need to adjust your total boiling time to allow for evaporation and still maintain the proper hopping schedule.
Extract: Steep the carapils, flaked rye, and flaked maize in 2.5 gal. heated to 150° F for 30 min. Remove the grains, bring to a boil, and add 6 lbs. of dry malt extract (instead of only 3 lbs.). Continue as above. It is important to use the lightest extract you can get, or this recipe will end up somewhat dark for the style.
About the additional grains: The maize, or corn, is appropriate to pre-Prohibition recipes, but the rye is perhaps not. (But then, some breweries also used kidney beans and soybeans back then.) I like to use a little rye in this style because it adds a nutty, bready flavor and also a touch of sourness that cuts the sweetness of the corn.
Yeast: This is a recipe in which the yeast is crucial. I recommend strongly against using a dry yeast. This beer really must have no yeast-produced off-flavors, and those are often a problem with dry lager-yeast cultures.