Pilsner sub for 2-row?

[Dwayne_Delaney]

What would be the affects of substituting Pilsner malt for 2-row in a recipe?? I've got a full bag of Pilsner malt and I am running low on 2-row.

[kbhale]

This is my 2cents. You get the benefits of Pilsner malt if brewed as a single malt or mixed with lite crystal malts 40 or less or very little of the lighter roasted / specialty malts. If you use it to make dark ambers, reds, browns, stouts and ports you won't notice any difference from 2

[JohnD]

Looks like experiment time to me!! Make a batch of something you made with 2 row and sub an equal amount of pilsner malt. I'd be willing to be a guinea pig for the sake of science and test the results..

[Chris Alvey]

I just did a wheat using Pilsner and White wheat ... I had never really used pilsner either. I'll report back.

Doing a Kolsch next with all pils.

[Dwayne_Delaney]

Thanks for the input guys. I'm trying to decide between an Irish Red or a Dunkel Hefe-weizen with Pilsner instead of the usual two-row. The Irish Red is popular with the wife, the Dunkel Hefe is something that I tried at Gerst Haus last week and enjoyed.

I'll be out of town all next week for work, so unfortunately I won't be able to make the X-mas meeting. I'll raise a glass of Blushing Monk or 2005 Bourbon Stout to you all when I visit Founders Brewery Taproom in Grand Rapids Wednesday.

[JohnD]

Dwayne, if you get to Founders make sure you have a Dirty Bastard on tap. Great Scottish ale. See ya in January.

[madmacaw]

This may be a bit late, but it is worth pointing out:

Although you would end up getting a higher color value (but allowable for Czech styles), using pale ale malt in the production of Pilsners has advantages over that of using Pisner malt. Pilsner malt is produced with lower modification and is kilned at a lower temperature for a shorter duration. The first results in less gravity points to be extracted from the malt and the second does not serve to degrade the precursors for DMS formation in the kettle (known as SMM) as completely as a higher kilned malt.

Pale malt on the other hand will yield more gravity points per pound and will has a lower potential to cause DMS formation during a good rolling boil. The only negative is the higher color value... but unless you are competing, who gives a damn!

An option would be to use Belgian Pils malt from Dingeman's. It is more highly modified than it's German counterparts but still remains in the color value specified for Pils malts.

Eric Watson

[Dwayne_Delaney]

Thank you very much for the info. I bought the bag of Pilsner malt thinking that that was the best choice for most lagers and wanted to try out my temperature-controlled freezer by brewing some lagers. I have only brewed one so far, a Marzen, and I wasn't too impressed with my results, but I'm going to give it another try soon. Since Im not overly concerned with a small diference in the color of my beers, that bag of Pilsner will probably be my last.