Beer Forum

I'm trying to decide what style to brew for my next brew session. My base malt is Pilsner and I have a Cal Ale and a British ale wyeast smack pack. I'm thinking a british ale has anybody tried making a british ale using Pilsner as the base malt

It'll make beer, but probably won't win any medals. The esters from the yeast and the grainy cereal from the pils malt don't go together in any style. English yeast need the toasty biscuity english malt to fit well in the style guidelines.

I'd make a pseudo-pils or helles with the Pils malt and the Cal Ale yeast if that's what I found in my cupboard and I wanted to brew.

I've had English-style beers brewed with German pils as the base - skip it. The flavors were too melanoidin-focussed for the styles brewed.

Thanks for the input guys, looks like a trip to the LHB for some Saison yeast is in order. I'll make that instead.

I've found it interesting that all of Troeg's beers are made with pilsner as the base malt. They make absolutely wonderful beers. Here's their website, http://www.troegs.com/our_brews/pale_ale.aspx scroll through all of the beers they make as they are very forthcoming with ingredients and etc. Great for trying to clone them.

Great to know about Troegs. It makes sense they'd use German malts as the German brewing traditions run deep in PA. Nugget Nectar is a just a killer beer.