NZ Pilsener Malt

[Paul Broome]

Who's using this malt and what do you think of it ?

What differences if any, are you picking up with NZ Pils from say, Weyermann or English ?

Would you continue to use it, based on price or results ?

Cheers.

Paul.

[Mark]

I've used it a bit, with mixed results. It's quite grassy, lacks the more intense German malt flavours or the nuttiness of MO. For me it seems to suit light lagers, but struggles with heavy hop additions, especially NZ hops - the beer becomes way too green and grassy (same with high grav beers I've made with it). I've got a sack which I plan on using this summer for lawnmower quaffers, can't wait!

[Paul Broome]

Mark, I have to agree totally with your observations.  This was the kind of comment I was looking for.

I have a pilsener style beer thats been bottled for a few months and was quite harsh from the start and did not seem to carry the hops. I wouldn't call it heavily hopped but it has a decent amount.

It has finally mellowed out after something like 6 months in cold storage and has lost almost all that harshness now. Its seems better ballanced now and I'm finally happy with it.  I have another lighter style pilsener which I toned the hops down a bit, this is drionking very well after 5 weeks at lager temps.

I intend using a little "other" malt addition with this pils malt from now on, to lift the malt profile just a tad.

Not sure what.  I don't want crystal in there, maybe a small addition of Munich, or simply just Carapils for body.  I'm talking about a simple grain bill here, I wouldn't hestitate to use it in a more complex grain bill.

[Mark]

Glad I could help! It's a shame the malt doesn't seem to work as well, especially as it ticks a lot of boxes (NZ made, cheap etc). It just seems to lack something and the beers fall slightly short. I'm hoping to perfect light lager with it though, maybe some rice to lighten the body, a 60 minute boil to retain a small amount of DMS and just-more-than-a-hint of kiwi hop aroma.

[Paul Broome]

personally I would be looking to add something, rather than lighten with rice.

[jt]

caramalt and / or carapils judging from the Hoprocker threads ?

[Paul Broome]

oh cool, I will check those out.

[jt]

Yea, there's several discussions on hoprocker, it came up again recently too.

[jt]

Yep, it's good for my hoppy sub-1040 NZ Draughts, been using it for 3+ years.
Also tried it in a few other styles which I enjoyed, but I don't know how true to form they were  - not that it was an issue for me

I keep meaning to try something else, had a yen for some Golden Promise after trying some other North Welly ales but I'm a bit undecided on what to do ...

[Paul Broome]

care to share your NZ Draught recipe, here or PM me ?

[jt]

Last one was
3kg malteurop 500g dark crystal, 10g black
26 litre boil with
10g super alpha @ 60
Then @ 20 7g Pacifica 14g cascade 7 g motueka
@ 10 min double that
@ 1 min double that again and same for the dry hop
Diluted to 25 liters and 1031 in the fermenter
Credit to joking for the inspiration and hop combination

Darker version adds about 200g pale and regular chocolate and 50g black in place of pale malt

Not everyones cuppa and not strictly an NZ Draught, but ....

[Paul Broome]

Awesome, thanks.
Paul.

[JoKing]

It's really good stuff. Underrated actually.