East German Pilsner

[Brandon]

I want a clean base of pils malt, a hint of sweetness, some body and a distinct note of malt character. Something signature. So I'm inclined to keep the caramel to like CaraMunich 2 or 3 at 3-5%. Noticeable and distinct, but not overwhelming. I think Techbrau is right on in his thinking with this.

[wobdee]

Ya, makes sense. I take it this Pils likes a little harder water with more sulfate. What's your water target?

[Bryan R]

ALL the salt you can fit.

[Brandon]

[mpietropaoli]

wait, how did I miss this: why Saaz and not Mittlefruh or Tett?

Radeberger to me has a really prominent floral hop character, both in the aroma and mid-palette. Will Saaz give you more of that than traditional German varieties?

I actually think Radeberger's body may be slightly out of style (at least based on BJCP), as its much chewier than many of the others.

Again, my favorite that I've had, so I am fully tuned in to your pursuit!

[Brandon]

[Brandon]

For now I've dropped the Carahell and replaced the 60 minute hop addition with Perle. I'll work on water soon, but will target using my unmodified house water, just adjusted for pH. I'm on the fence about getting an RO system as my water is fairly decent as is. Just need to knock out some of the more important process issues (recipe, fermentation) before dialing in further.

The flavor profiles for the various Pilsners that I enjoy in Germany range from spicy to that more floral flavor that complements the crisp clean flavorful maltiness of German pilsners. I like them all, so will vary recipes between different hop types.

I started posting (see: viewforum.php?f=65) some of the breweries I enjoy when I visit Germany and will add notes as I research them more and we can post tasting notes to share the flavors we are picking up. Some are available in the US, sadly some are not. And unfortunately I'm not going to Germany this summer or I'd do some more specific flavor profiles. Next summer I will.

[mpietropaoli]

Slightly off-topic, but I heard somewhere that the RO systems for homes (and a lot of them in the grocery stores) generally, for our purposes, suck. Basically, unless spending thousands of dollars, the systems do not really do what they are supposed to do if the water is tested in a lab.

In addition, I've heard that drinking RO water is not great for maintaining our gut bacteria either.

Bad information?

[Brandon]

[Owenbräu]