Hoppy pilsner

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This is my recipe for a hoppy west coast pilsner. Screwing with water profile and I think I got it where I want but looking for feedback from more experienced brewers. I'm looking for crispness of a pilsner but with some hop on the backend. Does this recipe look like a good plan?
I appreciate any feedback
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This looks more like a Cold IPA or IPL, but what's in a name?

You're definitely making an aggressive play with the Gypsum. Not sure I'd go that high without a maltier backbone to balance all that SO4...but, if it's crispness you want...

Good luck and please report back on the finished beer.
 
Wouldn't call that a pilsner. hops are wrong, pilsners are lagers.

It looks good though. I would drink it, i love the hop combination you have.
 
IMO, 64-ish IBU on a 1.051 beer is going to be a little out of balance. If hops are your jam, go for it. Were it mine I’d probably go from 1.5 to 1 ounce on the bittering hops. I’ve done a couple/few pre-prohibition style Pils. I looked at my last one, and it was right around 40 IBU and my plan was to take it to about 45-48. If I were going more hoppy, I’d probably go for about 52-55 IBU for my preferences.

Also, Citra is prolific for the IBUs calculated in my experience, I brewed a few beers with it last year. They were good, but a couple of them were out of balance and hop heavy.
 
Can you do a lager? Do you have the temperature control? You will get some of the crispness, but you will get more with a lager yeast like 34/70. 34/70 ferments clean as well.
I'm very happy with my latest 34/70 effort.
 
Thanks guys for the responses. The actual recipe is from morebeer, west coast pils. I doubled the buttering hops from a half to full ounce and added 8z od acidulated. This brought the ph down a bit. Going with 1/2 ounce of bittering brought IBU to 30's. Maybe go with .75oz and drop the sulfates down to 3:1 to CL
 
Dave Y said:
IMO, 64-ish IBU on a 1.051 beer is going to be a little out of balance. If hops are your jam, go for it. Were it mine I’d probably go from 1.5 to 1 ounce on the bittering hops. I’ve done a couple/few pre-prohibition style Pils. I looked at my last one, and it was right around 40 IBU and my plan was to take it to about 45-48. If I were going more hoppy, I’d probably go for about 52-55 IBU for my preferences.

Also, Citra is prolific for the IBUs calculated in my experience, I brewed a few beers with it last year. They were good, but a couple of them were out of balance and hop heavy.
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You are right, i tripled the amount. My bad, needs to be 1 once max
 
Has nothing to do with a Pilsner, it's just a pretty basic Pale Ale without much color or Blonde Ale with more hops. But you do you. :)
 
I like the idea and I make Cold IPA's myself.

I would lower the IBU's down to @ 40, cut the gypsum by 1/3. I would not back off on the hops, just move them around. I would even bump the whirlpool up a bit to increase the hop flavor. Citra and Mosaic are a really good and reliable blend. I would also swap out the US05 for 34/70 and ferment @ 65F.

Here's a copy of my my Cold IPA recipe for reference if your interested, it just won a gold in Milwaukee last weekend:

https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/1485064/coldest-ipa-ever-
 
If i ordered a pilsner and got that I would think the bartender made a mistake. Ive brewed IPAs using pilsner malt or Munich but still called them a IPA. Might be a good beer but the name is wrong. I would repost the title IPA with pilsner malt.
 
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Your recipe is for a fine looking west coast IPA my guy- a pilsner would require lager yeast- you could also use lager yeasts at higher temps to get a "Cold IPA"... with this yeast, you could ferment around 60 degrees and get very little esters and have a very dry ale- but you won't get a pils.
 
as others have said:
Lager yeast
vastly reduce the 60 min addition
SO4 needs work

Just remember that you can run an ale yeast towards the bottom of its temp range(or even below it) and it comes out of the fermenter with a flavor profile.

Your hop schedule is kinda odd in my mind. West coasts generally have 15-0 min additions with a bittering and sometimes a whirlpool addition. also hops on a west coast go in post fermentation to avoid additional haze production from the yeast.

This is a my modern west coast that i am gonna brew once it gets warmer. I have a whirlpool addition on this one.
https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/embed/1524873

This is a rye pale ale that would be in the ball park hops wise. You could add a dryhop and call that an IPA(imo)
https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/embed/1501049

This is my golden lager. its very good and fast. you could up the hops and it would fit the bill.
https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/embed/1427656

Just my 2cents
 
coming back to this post. I have a lot of Pilsner Malt and a lot of cascade and centenial. I'm not planning to go as hoppy as the OP. Maybe about 35IBU. I will pitch it to a lager yeast cake. Thoughts ?
edit: probably brew this with some extra pale instead of the Pilsner Malt. Either way it will be a light touch of hops. More about using up the hops
 
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Brew Cat said:
coming back to this post. I have a lot of Pilsner Malt and a lot of cascade and centenial. I'm not planning to go as hoppy as the OP. Maybe about 35IBU. I will pitch it to a lager yeast cake. Thoughts ?
edit: probably brew this with some extra pale instead of the Pilsner Malt. Either way it will be a light touch of hops. More about using up the hops
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Two of my favorite hops, should make a nice pale ale
 
Brew Cat said:
coming back to this post. I have a lot of Pilsner Malt and a lot of cascade and centenial. I'm not planning to go as hoppy as the OP. Maybe about 35IBU. I will pitch it to a lager yeast cake. Thoughts ?
edit: probably brew this with some extra pale instead of the Pilsner Malt. Either way it will be a light touch of hops. More about using up the hops
Click to expand...
If you had a shitload of Saaz, that would be very tasty, but nothing wrong with that at all.
 
Brew Cat said:
coming back to this post. I have a lot of Pilsner Malt and a lot of cascade and centenial. I'm not planning to go as hoppy as the OP. Maybe about 35IBU. I will pitch it to a lager yeast cake. Thoughts ?
edit: probably brew this with some extra pale instead of the Pilsner Malt. Either way it will be a light touch of hops. More about using up the hops
Click to expand...
Minbari said:
Two of my favorite hops, should make a nice pale ale
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Just did a nice Pale with Cascade and Centennial and Cluster
https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/1527436/first-communion
 
well that's it it does make a nice pale ale and have used Pilsner when out of 2-row. I never use crystal in my Pilsner and IMO its not a pale ale without crystal. I have a few lbs of cascade citra and chinook. and not as much noble hops for pilsners. Ill use the Pilsner up in a couple more European style Pilsner a Saison and a little in my heffe. The C hops are Nitro sealed so I guess they will last.
edit: I think a pilsner is a pale beer but a pale ale its not besides Im using a lager yeast
 
Brew Cat said:
coming back to this post. I have a lot of Pilsner Malt and a lot of cascade and centenial. I'm not planning to go as hoppy as the OP. Maybe about 35IBU. I will pitch it to a lager yeast cake. Thoughts ?
edit: probably brew this with some extra pale instead of the Pilsner Malt. Either way it will be a light touch of hops. More about using up the hops
Click to expand...
What's your yeast strain? Most of the lager yeasts will be pretty happy at the upper end of their range. I use a lot of S-23, 34/70 and Apex Munich and all of those would do fine fermented about 65 degrees. That would express some esters to enhance the hop profile. If you're thinking a single malt, the Pale Ale malt should work great. If using Pilsner, I'd add some sort of Cara-malts in the 20-40 range for a little more character. Hard to go wrong, though. The hop combo is great, pretty much any way you use it. :)
 
J A said:
What's your yeast strain? Most of the lager yeasts will be pretty happy at the upper end of their range. I use a lot of S-23, 34/70 and Apex Munich and all of those would do fine fermented about 65 degrees. That would express some esters to enhance the hop profile. If you're thinking a single malt, the Pale Ale malt should work great. If using Pilsner, I'd add some sort of Cara-malts in the 20-40 range for a little more character. Hard to go wrong, though. The hop combo is great, pretty much any way you use it. :)
Click to expand...
well I have plenty of ale yeast so I could just sub the the Pilsner for the pale malt but I have pale ale malt so I can make plenty of my regular pale ales. But what I was trying to ask is has anyone tasted a European style lager using American hops? I know we can but is it worth it. I'm sure I can get a drinkable beer but worried it would end up not quite a pale ale and not quite a pilsner. Dumb idea I guess
 
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