European Pilsner
In 1922, American journalist and writer H. L. Mencken was touring Europe. Twenty years later he wrote, “Two days later, Torovsky and I actually started on a pilgrimage to Pilsen, the home of the best beer in the earth and hence one of the great shrines of the human race. There, Torovsky did some more whispering, and we were invited to visit the principal brewery as the guests of the management. Deep down in the earth, in a cellar both dark and cold, we were served some Pilsner beer that I recall with a glow to this day.”
The brewery Mencken visited was Plzensky Prazdroj, or Pilsner Urquell (the Original Source) in the more familiar German rendition. Whether PU is, indeed, the “best beer on earth” or not, it is certainly the most influential, and a particularly fine example of the importance of local forces in the development of a beer style.
“Pilsner” simply means a beer from Pilsen (Plzen), a city in Bohemia, the westernmost half of the Czech Republic. In 1842, a new brewery there was able to bring together a new malting process, the exceptional malting barleys of Bohemia and Moravia (the other half of the Czech Republic), the extraordinary Saaz hops of nearby Zatec, and the exceedingly soft local well water. The result was the first golden lager beer, a style that rapidly gained in popularity throughout Europe. Beer drinkers were beginning to use glass, rather than metal or stoneware, for their beer mugs, and the beer’s popularity was enhanced because it was pale and clear, unlike most beers. By the end of the century, PU was the largest brewery in Europe.
Today, some form of “Pilsner” is brewed in virtually every brewing nation, but the finest is still the original, virtually unchanged over 150 years. Pilsner Urquell is a deep gold, perhaps warmer in color than many imitators, with a dense white head. The beer is crystal clear, and the intense bitterness is balanced by a full-bodied maltiness. The aroma is a fabulous blend of malt and the wonderful Saaz hops, and the promise of the nose is fulfilled in the mouth. Truly an incredible beer.
The fine Moravian and Bohemian barleys are malted by traditional methods, and then mashed in a complex and lengthy triple decoction process, during which portions of the grist are boiled, then returned to the whole. The wort is then boiled for one hour longer than the usual 90 minutes, with three additions of Saaz hops, to an original gravity of 12° Plato (1.048).
Unusually for a lager beer, PU has its primary fermentation in open wooden vessels (40° F), then is transferred to closed fermenters for two-three months at about 33° F. Recent efforts have been made to modernize the brewery while retaining the unique character of the beer. Attempts to replace the open wooden vessels with stainless steel changed the beer so much that the brewery dropped the plan, although the lagering vessels are being replaced with metal tanks.
Much of the recent efforts at the brewery have been made to economize on labor, but also to produce a more stable product. The beer has never traveled well (and perhaps the brewery will at least send us the beer in brown bottles, rather than the green “Please, skunk me” bottles we now get), but occasional glimpses may be had here in North America in particularly well-treated samples. Of late, we can find PU on draught–which is definitely worth seeking out.
The only other “true” Pilsner is Gambrinus (now owned by PU), but I have never seen it in the US. Equally fine in many ways is another Bohemian beer from Ceske Budejovice (Budweis), slightly sweeter than PU, but otherwise very similar; unfortunately, the beer’s name, Budweiser Budvar, has obvious trademark problems in this country.
West of Bohemia, Pilsners have proven remarkably successful in Germany, particularly in the north. Here, the beers tend to be somewhat more pale than the original, and often much drier and more bitter. Pilsners (also known as Pils) have, in fact, become Germany’s most popular style and are produced by virtually every brewery. While some of the beers are very good, many are unremarkable, a state that seems to degenerate even more the farther the brewery is from the source — by the time they’ve crossed an ocean, the resemblance is pale indeed.
German Pilsners are, predictably, hopped with German varieties (Hallertauer, Tettnanger, etc.) rather than Czech. Some are brewed as a slightly lower gravity (1.042 to 1.047) and tend to be much more crisp and dry, so the perception is that they are more bitter.
An exceptional bitter and dry Pilsner is brewed by Holland’s Christoffel microbrewery, and is available here. A few good craft-brewery versions have appeared in the US. A personal favorite is Gartenbrau Special from Wisconsin’s Capital Brewery, and I have tasted fine Pilsners from Stoudt (Pennsylvania), Full Sail (Oregon), August Schell (Minnesota), and oddly, one contract-brewed for Jack Daniels. I have also had some particularly fine homebrewed versions and, in fact, these have been the closest to “true” Pilsner.
Much of what is done by the PU brewery to create its classic can be emulated at home, but this is not a beer that lends itself to shortcuts.
While homebrewers may not have access to the same malts used in Pilsen, it is possible to locate high-quality two-row lager malts. German and Belgian Pilsner malts are particularly fine, but successful beers can be brewed from the best North American malts (I’ve been particularly impressed with those from Great Western, Gambrinus, and Schreier). The complex triple decoction mash can be simplified (see box) or even eliminated, but in the latter case some caramel malt, honey malt, or aromatic malt is useful to replace the flavors and color generated when portions of the grist are boiled. German-style Pilsners can be brewed from decoction or step-infusion mashes and mashed at temperatures designed to produce a drier beer.
Saaz hops (loose or pellets) are readily available, although expensive. A little creative fudging might be in order, using a higher-alpha hop such as Northern Brewer, for early bittering additions, reserving the Saaz hops for middle and late additions. Pilsner Urquell is never dry-hopped, but the practice has become more common among hop-crazed homebrewers.
German-style Pils, as mentioned, can be hopped with German hops. Northern Brewer or Perle are definitely in order for bittering here, along with late additions of American clones such as Mt. Hood, Liberty, or Crystal. The bittering can be very aggressive in these beers, with an aim toward a crisp, dry finish and a delicate, flowery nose.
There are various sources for good Pilsner yeasts. Some reporters have claimed that the brewery uses a mixed strain, while others maintain this is merely a melange of mutations of the same strain. Whatever the truth, the pure single strains available seem to function very well. The adventurous may try open fermentation, although few of us have the “correct” wooden levels. Again, the German strains will be different, calling for highly attenuative varieties. Wyeast 2007 is a good example.
In order for the malt and hops to predominate, fermentation temperatures must be kept low, and a real Pilsner needs real lagering. Which means, for those of us not fortunate enough to own ice caves, some kind of refrigeration. While they undoubtedly exist somewhere, homebrewers patient enough to lager their beers for three months are mighty rare — six weeks seems to work very well.
Lager beers are enough, in my mind, to justify a kegging system. The usual homebrewers method of bottle-conditioning to achieve carbonation is tough to adapt to lager beers, where the yeast has had long weeks to settle out of the beer. Fresh yeast can be added, along with priming sugars, at bottling. Bottle-conditioned lagers seem a touch strange, but Christoffel is one commercial beer produced just this way. Years ago, Fred Eckhardt outlined a method for bottling lager beers that called for normal bottle-conditioning and then followed a procedure used for champagne bottles in which the bottles were inverted for several days. When all the yeast has settled in the neck near the cap, the bottle is aggressively chilled (virtually frozen), and the cap quickly removed. The yeast plug is sluggishly pushed out the neck and the bottle quickly recapped. There are also plenty of counter-pressure bottle fillers available these days so that bright beer can be bottled directly from kegs (particularly useful in impressing competition judges with your crystal-clear Pilsner).
Pilsner U-Betcha
(5 gallons)
• 8 lbs. Belgian Pilsner malt
• 0.5 lb. Belgian aromatic malt
• 0.5 lb. Belgian cara-pils malt
• 3.5 oz. Saaz hops (3.1% alpha acid)
• Brewers Resource Czech Lager yeast
OG=1.052; TG=1.012
Step by Step:
Mash in at 125° F for 15 minutes, raise to 154° F for 60 minutes. Sparge to 6.5 gals. and boil. Add 2.25 oz. hops and boil 45 minutes. Add 0.75 oz. hops and boil 25 minutes more. Add 0.5 oz. hops and boil 5 minutes more. Cool to pitching temperature and add 2 qt. starter of yeast. Ferment at 48° F for about two weeks, or until specific gravity is 1.020; lager for two months at 35° F.
Recipe courtesy of Martin Wilde, Portland, Oregon.
PU for You
(5 gallons)
Ingredients
• 4 lbs. Alexander’s pale malt syrup
• 2 lbs. Laaglander extra light DME
• 0.5 lb. Gambrinus honey malt
• 0.5 lb. Belgian cara-pils malt
• 2 lb. 2-row lager malt
• 3 oz. Saaz hops (3 to 3.5% alpha acid) for 75 min.
• 1.5 oz. Saaz hops for 30 min.
• Pilsner yeast
OG=1.050; TG=1.010
Step by Step
Steep the crushed malts in 1 gal. water at 150° F for 60 to 90 minutes, then sparge into kettle. Add malt extracts and boil as much wort as kettle will safely hold (2.5-3 gallons). Boil for 15 minutes, add 3 oz. hops, and boil 45 minutes more. Add 1.5 oz. hops and boil 30 minutes more. Add to pre-boiled water to bring volume to 5 gals., aerate thoroughly, and pitch 2 qt. Pilsner yeast starter when wort has lowered to 65° F. Allow wort to cool to 50° F and ferment for two weeks, or whenever specific gravity equals 1.020. Rack to secondary and lager for 60 to 120 days at 33° 35° F. Keg or bottle as described in the text.
