This collaborative Big Brew Day 2023 homebrew recipe with Imperial Yeast is an easy-drinking yet firmly bitter Pilsner-style beer for those months where the weather just can’t make up its dang mind!
Showcasing Weyermann Pilsner malt in the grist and Imperial Yeast L09 Que Bueno lager yeast in the fermenter, the recipe for Shoulder Season Pils yields a delicious riff on the Pilsner style with a cracker-y bread crumb malt foundation. The beer is bittered and flavored with classic German and Czech hops (Magnum and Saaz respectively) for a medium-high bitterness and spicy, grassy/earthy flavor. Just to be safe, since this recipe leans so heavily on Pilsner malt it wouldn’t be a bad idea to boil your wort for 75 or even 90 minutes to help prevent any DMS precursors from forming. If you do a longer boil, be sure to account for that in your brewing software as far as volume of wort run-off you collect, and don’t start your hop additions until the 60-minute mark.
Talk about wacky weather: In the span of one season, we brewed this fittingly named beer during a blizzard, kegged it two weeks later during a record-breaking hot spring day, and enjoyed our first sips from lagering a couple of weeks after that during a snow-rain mix thunderstorm. Go home, weather, you’re drunk!
Don’t have lager capability? This beer will ferment fine in the lower 60s. It might pick up some low esters, but will still turn out a wonderful beer for backyard fires, days on the porch, or – you know – maybe shoveling snow?
Shoulder Season Pils
For five gallons
OG: 1.054
FG: 1.010
ABV: 5.9%
IBU: 34
Malt
- 10 lbs Weyermann Pilsner Malt (93%)
- 4.2 oz Acidulated Malt (2.5%)
- 2.5 oz Melanoidin Malt (1.5%)
Hops
- .73 oz Magnum (12%aa) – 60 min for 30 IBU (not 0.07 oz)
- 1.68 oz Saaz (3.75%aa) – 5 min for 4 IBU
Yeast
Process
Mash grains at 150F for 60 minutes.
Run off wort into boil kettle.
Boil for 60-90 minutes based on prefence and DMS concerns (see note above), adding hops per recipe.
Chill wort to 50-52F and oxygenate. Pitch Imperial Yeast L09 Que Bueno.
Ferment at 53F. When fermentation is about 60% complete, increase temperature to 60-62F and hold until fermentation is complete. Allow the beer to condition at this temperature for a few more to help the yeast clean itself up and prevent diacetyl off-flavors.
Cold crash beer for two days and keg to carbonate. Allow the beer to lager at fridge temperature for a few weeks to a couple of months, depending on your will power.