I’m getting married in August, and of course I’ve planned to brew a range of beers for the wedding. I already have a big Imperial Stout ready, and it will probably be served together with dessert. It has been keg-aging for over a year, and it was tasting really nice a couple of weeks ago when I had a small sample. Yesterday I brewed the first batch of the ‘lighter’ beers: a German Pilsner. I’m also planning to make a Belgian Blond, American Pale Ale, American IPA, and a beer brewed with one of my recently developed hybrid lager yeasts.

I haven’t brewed for a while, since we are still renovating our brewing space, but everything went surprisingly smoothly: I was done in 5 hours and managed to hit all the numbers. I aimed for a hoppy and crisp Pilsner, in the style of Firestone Walker’s amazing Pivo Pils. The malt bill consisted of Pilsner malt and a hint of Cara-pils, and the original gravity was 1.048. For hops, I used Herkules at 90 minutes and Spalter at 30 minutes and flame-out (total IBU around 40-45). I will be dry-hopping with a slight amount of Saphir after the fermentation has slowed down. I’m fermenting with Fermentis’ W34/70, since I didn’t feel like making a huge yeast starter. I’ve had good success with it in the past, so it shouldn’t be a problem. I’m starting at 10C, but will be raising the fermentation temperature to 12C after a couple of days of fermentation. Hopefully everything goes well, and the wedding guests will be able to enjoy a clean, dry and crisp pilsner on a warm and beautiful August day!

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