Bohemian Pilsner Recipes

Last month I had the opportunity enter the Pilsner Urquell Master Homebrewer Competition in Washington DC. I'm happy to report that my entry, Ticket to Prague, placed third out of 32 total entries and that while I won't be taking an all expenses paid trip to Prague, I did win a fancy bronze 3rd place plaque. The event was very well organized and was a lot of fun.

Vaclav Berka, brewmaster at Pilsner Urquell (only the sixth person to hold that title since 1842) in the Czech Republic was among the event's five judges. You might say that if anyone knows what an authentic Bohemian Pilsner should look, smell, and taste like, it would be him.

Despite what the competition scoring system suggested (70% Accuracy to BJCP style, 15% Cleanliness, 15% Artistic impression), it seemed to me that the judges were ultimately looking for the winning beer to be as  similar as possible to Pilsner Urquell in all aspects. The judges had glasses of Pilsner Urquell at the judging table in order to compare it to each of the homebrewed entries. 

After the event I got to thinking about what the top placing recipes looked like. Did they share common elements? Common techniques? For example, how many of the top entries were decocted or used floor malted Bohemian Pilsner malt. I also wondered whether a look at the recipes could reveal any surprises such as extracts or unusual techniques and ingredients.

I set out to try and get recipe information from the brewers who placed in the top six of the Washington DC competition. I managed to get recipe information for four of the top six placing beerss in the competition. Below is a table that compares the recipes at a high level.

A look at 4 of the top 6 DC Pilsner Urquell Master Homebrewer Comp recipes

Brewer	Base Malt	Other Malts	Yeast(s)	Hops	#Decoctions	Water	Boil Time	OG	IBU
A(1st place)	Weyermann Floor Malted Bohemian Pilsner	Melanoiden (2.3%)	Wyeast Urquell Lager 2001 Wyeast 2782 - Staro Prague Lager	FW-Saaz@100min Saaz@80min Saaz@25min	2  (20min boil)	60/40 distilled/filtered tap	100 min	1.050	42
B(2nd place)	Weyermann  Floor Malted Bohemian Pilsner 100%	none	Wyeast Urquell Lager 2001	Bittering:Saaz Finish:Saaz,Sterling	3  (10min boil)	n/a	n/a
C(3rd place)	Weyermann Floor Malted Bohemian Pilsner 100%	none	Wyeast Urquell Lager 2001	FWH Saaz@120min Saaz@80mins 7 IBU Saaz@25min	2  (15min boil)	100% distilled w/mineral additions ~25ppm Calcium	120min	1.050	41
D	Weyermann Floor Malted Bohemian Pilsner	1.2% acid malt	Wyeast Urquell Lager 2001	Bittering:Saaz Finish:Saaz	3  (10min boil)	66/34 distilled/filtered tap	90min	1.050	42

All four were all-grain recipes that started with a base of Weyermann Bohemian Pilsner malt, employed at least two decoctions, used the Urquell Lager strain, and relied on Saaz hops for all or most of the hopping. Furthermore, all four entries were kegged and force carbonated. Three of the four were confirmed to have targeted around 1.050 OG with about 40 IBUs of Saaz hops and used softened water by means of dilution or the use of distilled exclusively with mineral additions (brewer "B" may have as well, but I don't have the data). No surprises here, the recipes reflect what most brewers think of as a classic Bohemian Pilsner recipe.

The first place recipe stands out from the other three in its use of a small percentage of melanoiden malt as well as its use of a secondary lager strain (Wyeast 2782).

Conclusion

Its tough to say how much of a factor recipe really plays in a competition like this. Brewer experience, sound brewing practices, and access to specialized equipment (i.e. temperature control, kegging equipment, and yeast culture growth equipment) play as big of a role in making a good lager as recipe does. This is a very small sample of recipes and doesn't reflect how many of the other non-top 6 beers used recipes similar/dissimilar to these. There are many aspects of the recipes that I didn't take the time to compare such as pitching rate, lagering times/temps, and fermenattion temperatures; each of which could play a big role in the quality of the finished beer.

Decoction is a widely debated subject among brewers. Many believe the characteristics it imparts can be sufficiently mimicked by other means. Bohemian Pilsner is a style that historically relies heavily on decoction and its malty yet not sweet, melanoiden-rich product. Is it a coincidence that all four of these beers were decocted? As Mike Tonsmeire, brewer of one of the top six recipes and author of the blog The Mad Fermentationist wrote to me in the email about the competition "it is always hard to tell if the people who are better brewers go to the extra lengths (special malt, decoctions, water adjustments etc...) or if those things are actually what contributed to the better beer".

What is clear is that in the DC branch of the competition, the top three beers as selected by Vaklav Berka employed at least two decoctions and made use of many of the classic techniques and ingredients that are associated with the Bohemian Pilsner style.

There are still two more brewers who placed in the DC top six that I have not yet obtained recipe information from. I am going to continue to try and get this information and will post an update if/when I do. 

A special thanks to the three brewers who placed in the top six and shared recipe information with me. Also, a big congratulations to Aaron Hermes for his win.

Finally, since there were no big recipe surprises in the DC branch of the competition, I think its necessary to share one from the New York branch. The recipe of the first place brewer in New York used no decoctions and included rye malt.

Related Links:

• Washington Post: Czech It Out: A homebrew pilsner like Urquell’s
• Desjardin Brewing: The Bigass Silver Key
• The Mad Fermenationist: Homebrewed Czech Pilsner vs Urquell