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10 lbs of pils

Wildrover

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Hello All,

I just received ten pounds of pils from a homebrew store where I have traditionally ordered my stuff.  Truth is, over the last year or so the quality of the service has been steadily decreasing, I won't name names but I will tell you that it is located in the Midwest.  Anyway, as evidence, I ordered 10lbs of pils to have.  I live in North Dakota and no where near a homebrew store so I have to get stuff online.  I order in semi-bulk, (e.g. 10lbs here and there) to keep on hand.  Well, I ordered ten lbs of pils that I did not want milled but sure enough, it arrived crushed. 

I'm wondering how long it will keep and if time is of the essence, what can I do with it?  there is a local health food store here that has a small amount of homebrew stuff, including just about every dry yeast you can think of.  I have a lot of extra hops too, specifically, 2oz of palisades I'd like to use and the health food store usually has a fair amount of SAAZ and Hallertauer.  If anybody can suggest something, I'm more than willing to give it a shot.  It's not really lagering season yet which is why I'm not biting the bullet and making a pils.  I thought about a blonde ale but its still a little warm here (highs in the 90's expected this week while my house brewery is holding steady at 68). 

thanks for any and all help

WR
 
I suggest turning it into a learning experience.  Make a SMaSh.  10 lbs. of pils mashed with no specialty grains and one hop variety.  With the Saaz hops, you should be able to make a very refreshing Blonde Ale.  I think the Blonde Ale idea is great.
 
Thanks, I think I've just about decided the blonde ale is what I'm going to do.  I'm not a huge fan of those but I am a huge fan of having three different kinds of beers of tap (a light beer (as in color), an amber(ish) and a dark) if I make it well, I will drink it.  It just may take a little longer than some of the other beers that I'm a bigger fan of. 

Making blondes are good because they test your ability given how delicate they can be.  Good to do those every once in a while to make sure your chops are still good

WR
 
Pils malt, Saaz hops, and an ultra clean yeast gets close to a Czech Pils..........SMaSH and an ale knock-off.  See how close you can get? 

Nottingham dry works down to 57F, and is fairly clean below 63F.
 
How do people feel about S-05 for a dry yeast for this beer?  My issue is more the heat in the brewery, it will be a little bit of a battle keeping it close to 65.  Any recommendations for a hop schedule? 
 
I've made ale with pils grain and I wasn't that impressed.  As long as it is well sealed the crushed grain should last for a few months anyway. It's up to you, but I'd say wait until lager season.

You say you're no where near a homebrew store. What about health food stores? Often they have a little alcove of homebrewing supplies and are willing to add items to their order for you.  That's how I  get my 55# sacks of uncrushed malt. Sometimes I have to wait a couple weeks for them to do an order, but I end up saving ten dollars or more per bag compared to going to the homebrew shop.
 
Maine,

You are right, I have a small health food shop here in town who does have a small amount of homebrew supplies.  I also order my big bags of malt from them, for a steal too, I recently got a 50lb bag of marris otter for all of 50 bucks!!  They have a new guy managing that portion of the store and he's taking some time coming up to speed.  I went in yesterday looking for some dry yeast thinking they had a good supply of notty or s-05 and regrettably he didn't have either.  He did have the belgian dry yeast from Fermentis (S or T-58?),  I'm actually thinking about using the pils to make a strong blonde with that yeast.  I've never made one and its still warm enough here that I can let the yeast rise a bit and maybe get soemthing that's really interesting.  We'll see....

WR
 
That T-58 is good for a dry Belgian yeast.  Good luck whatever you do.
 
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