Czech Pils Recipe

Apr 26, 2017

Czech Pils (20 litres)

The town of Pilsen announced a brewing breakthrough in 1842 with the first clear light-coloured beer. However, it was not until the advent of refrigeration that Pilsner/Lager beer styles really gained popularity in Australia. Maxwell Cooper (Master Brewer and 4th generation Cooper) saw the importance of this type of beer and broke new ground at Coopers Brewery with the release of Gold Crown Lager in 1968. This became the first of many labels that Coopers have released in this style of beer. According to the BJCP style guidelines, category 2B, Bohemian Pilsener is a refreshing lager that is crisp yet complex and well-rounded.

Ingredients

1 x 1.7kg Thomas Cooper 86 Days Pilsner
2 x 500g Light Dry Malt
1 x 25g Saaz hops pellets
1 x Lager yeast of your choice and the kit yeast
1 x 250g Dextrose Corn Sugar or Carbonation Drops

Features:

Colour: Gold
Body: Medium
Bitterness: Medium
Approx. Alcohol Level: 5.2% ABV
Naturally Carbonated: Natural

Instructions:

STEP 1: Mix

Add the Saaz hop pellets to 500ml of boiled water and leave to infuse for about 15mins (this works well in a large coffee plunger or similar). Place the Light Dry Malt in a sanitised, well drained fermenter. Add 2 litres of hot water, immediately pick the fermenter up and swirl the contents until dissolved (about 15 secs) - this minimises lumps. Add the contents of the beer kit and the strained hop infusion then stir to dissolve. Add cold water up to the 18 litre mark and stir vigorously. Check the brew temperature and top up to the 20 litre mark with cold water (refrigerated if necessary) to get as close as possible to 24C and stir. Sprinkle the dry yeast from both sachets onto the brew and fit the lid.

STEP 2: Brew

Try to start the ferment at 24C and allow the brew temperature to drop down to 13C - 15C over the period of 12 to 24hrs. Fermentation has finished once the specific gravity is stable over 2 days.

STEP 3: Bottle

We recommend the use of PET bottles or reusable glass bottles designed for storing beer.

Priming

Bottle the brew with a priming rate of 8g per litre (2 carbonation drops per 750ml bottle)

STEP 4: Enjoy!

Allow to condition for at least 4 weeks in the bottle. This brew will benefit from bottle age. Expect the alcohol content to be around 5.2% ABV.