Black rock pilsner blond.

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jphil123

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I thought to share my experiences with this relatively cheap kit on this forum. If it is nice, it would mean great value for money. This is my second attempt at brewing a lager, and my 10th brew in total. As such, still relatively inexperienced, so would welcome your feedback.

I recently brewed a Brewferm Pils with Saflager W34/70 yeast and DME in a room where I turned off the heating, and found out temperature to remain pretty stable around 12*C. That beer is still too young, but already pretty nice to drink after two weeks conditioning (surprisingly).

I choose to replace the suggested 1kg of sugar by 1kg of DME and brewed to 23 litres. My intention was to brew 20 litres, but when taking the OG it came out higher than expected, so I topped it up to 23 litres and a more 'lager-like' OG of 1.043. I probably overshoot a little again, as I was aiming at 1.044, but hey.

I re-hydrated the Saflager W34/70 yeast at the suggested 23*C for 20 minutes and added to the wort which was 24*C. Just before closing the lid, I noticed the supplied (ale) yeast only measured 5g and decided to pitch this in as well. Not sure if that was a wise, spontaneous decision, but time will tell.

It fermented very well at 12*C and dropped to 1.012 after 7 days (which according to the kit is the FG when using malt extract). The sample tasted very flat, so decided to increase the amount for dry-hopping compared to the 12.5g of Saaz I used for the Brewferm Pils to 50g (in muslin bag). All activity stopped after 12 days, and tried to give the brew a diacetyl rest by bringing the fermenter back to room temperature. Interesting to note, the airlock became active again for about 12 hours. I guess that was the kit-yeast (ale) kicking in. By now, 14 days in the fermentation, the SG stands at 1.010 so I assume it is ready to bottle this weekend.

I'm trying to get my head around the following, and would welcome advice/opinions:
- As I over-pitched by using both sachets of yeast, would I need to rack this into an intermediary FV before the bottling bucket to avoid a yeasty beer?
- With more residual yeast (potentially) in the beer, would I need to adjust the amount of priming sugar?
- As the FG is a little below the expected gravity, should I adjust the amount of priming sugar upwards to carbonate this brew?

Thanks

Will keep you updated about this brew, but would welcome any feedback on the above.

update #1: bottled last Sunday (02/02), primed with 135g dextrose. So this should end up around 4.7%. It looked very cloudy when bottled, almost like a hefeweizen. Hope this will settle to a compact deposit.

Update #2: Just opened a bottle (07/02) to check on carbonation; good, persistent head with some lacing on the glass. So, moved to the cold room to condition. It has cleared a little, but still looks like a wheat/weizen/wit beer. Taste is okay, not as clean as I would have hoped it to be, but then it is way too young. Hope it will get more dry over the next month or two. If I were to brew this again, I would certainly add double the amount of Saaz for dry-hopping.

Update #3: (13/02). After about ten days cold conditioning, still cloudy but perhaps slightly more clear. Taste, however, has definitely got more clean and crisp. Promising.

Update #4: (21/02). Starting to clear, but yeast not very compacted and easy to disturb. Taste is getting more dry, crisp and really enjoyable/sessionable. Major problem: let girlfriend have a sip and that was the last I tasted of it. Will have to monitor the number of bottles I have from now on.
 
update #5 (plus comparison tasting): a month in the bottle now. Great carbonation and getting fairly clear. I tried a Brewferm Pils (brewed 2 weeks before) and a Coopers European Lager (brewed 2 weeks after this one) as a comparison. That is not a fair challenge, especially for the Coopers which is still way too young. Still, for the moment, the BlackRock pils wins hands down for me. The body, length and hop-notes are just nicely balanced. The Brewferm simply lacks body and bitterness. The Coopers is also less hoppy and tasted more dull. I know, this is by no means a fair comparison, but for the moment I think I will try the Blackrock again next winter and not the other two. As such, I would recommend this kit.

For further reference:
- All three kits have been fermented at 12-16*c (the Brewferm & Blackrock closer to 12 and the Coopers closer to 16*C).
- For the Coopers I used the kit-yeast. The Brewferm had only Saflager W34/70 and the Blackrock both (Saflager and kit yeast).
- I dry-hopped all of them with Saaz pellets, only 12.5g for the Brewferm, 50g for the Blackrock and approx 70g for the Coopers (also with some Wakatu as I ran out of Saaz) after 7 days primary fermentation.
- I brewed each kit with Amber DME and primed with dextrose.
 
update #6 (16/03): six week bottle anniversary test. Due to the Amber DME, the colour is not quite as light as you would expect for a lager, but I would say it is golden. It has cleared further and the yeast is pretty compact by now. The carbonation means you have to pour gently at a steep angle, but in the taste I think the carb is about right for a refreshing kind of beer. In the nose there not much hops left, but on the palette it ends with a subtle hoppy note. Nothing extreme, just giving it a pleasant end. The taste is getting drier, but still more smooth than clean/crisp. I actually like it the way it is now, my girlfriend preferred it two weeks ago (hurrah, more left for me!).

Okay, I won't bore you with further updates on this seemingly unpopular kit, but I will highly likely brew this kit again next winter with Saflager (or other lager) yeast. I may want to try light DME and just slightly increase the amount of hops to say 75g.

Oh, and hide it better so my girlfriend doesn't spontaneously decides to sample my brew when I am not home :)
 
Any more updates on this? Me and my brother in law are in competition to stick up enough for the summer drinking months and were in the hunt for a good pilsener :)
 
Any more updates on this? Me and my brother in law are in competition to stick up enough for the summer drinking months and were in the hunt for a good pilsener :)

I'm trying to hold on to my last bottles, but did a taste test with some friends of the three pilseners I brewed (Brewferm, Coopers and Blackrock) a couple of weeks back. Blackrock won. Fuller bodied and more balance (for a lager). This is the kit I will brew again next winter (or so much sooner when I can control the fermentation temp).
 
That's good to know, my coopers pilsener has turned out well enough for me to throw a 2nd one on before the summer weather might hit,

Might have to grab a black rock in case we have a normal uk summer :)
 
With the caveat of the not entirely fair comparison, I thought it may be useful to share the final comparison tasting between the Brewferm, BlackRock and Coopers (see above for brew/time differences). After 6 months, the Blackrock is no longer in the lead, the Coopers is by now the richest tasting beer. Nothing wrong with the Blackrock, just tasting a little more plain.

Having said that, I think it tasted better about 2 months ago, at least as good at the Coopers tastes today (but that is always difficult to compare).

So, will I brew the Blackrock again next winter? Very likely, as patience is not my key strength. And some Coopers European along side, to last well into summer :)
 
Anyone done this recently?
I had a delivery today and got some Sorachi hops,was thinking of maybe 30g dry hop to the pilsner, i think they will be quite peppery.
Or maybe the Pale Ale??
Cheers

DSC_0567.jpg
 
This has fermented out within three days :shock:
The only other brew that's ever done this was a Coopers IPA,guess they both have a nutrient in the yeast?
I only added 1kg of brew enhancer and a hop tea with Nelson Sauvin (20g ) if anyone's interested.Need a rest from my Hop bombs.
Cheers
 
£4 Single can Blackrock Blond Pilsner kit from our trip to the home brew shop in Aldershot as it was out of date in January 2016 it is now 3/09/16. Using the kit and a 1kg beer enhancer this time it is a Pilsner one so it should go well with this kit. Made the kit to 23l and pitched at 26c checked the OG with my refractometer. It came up as Brix 10 which when I use the adjustment table and the temp at 26c this should be 1042 according to the northern brewer website. Also using the hydrometer to see if it matches - it does! Taste at pitch is very light, very little malt, smooth and sweet with a slight hoppy taste. Added some Tettnanger hops 30g to dry hop it. Moved to bottling bucket 17/09/16. FG around 1012. Not much hop flavour but quite smooth with a little bit of grass. Hopefully when carbonated it will add something to this beer.

Now drinking this beer and I am impressed. Clear, smooth and a bit fruity. Better than a standard lager but not an Ale, good one finger head that lasts and good but not overly carbonated, this is a winner. I normally do AG now but occasionally, to lift up my stocks and to try and stop me drinking my AG before it is fully conditioned, make the Coopers APA kit which is a wonderful base for testing hops with dry hopping. Now that go to kit has a serious rival. I have not had a great time with Blackrock kits the American IPA was too chemically bitter tasting and the Wheat beer just tasted weird, but this one is lovely.
 
Just cracked my first bottle of NZ blonde Pilsner made in December used all light spray malt with this kit and a saflager s 23 yeast. I put a Coopers Mexican Cerveza straight back on the yeast after racking. Very nice pint indeed ticks all the boxs for a thirst quencher. Now what will i do next time to improve it. i will make it to 20ltr and dry hop with 25g of a chosen lager hop this should take it from a very nice 7/10 to around 8.5/10. will def make again as a every day slurper. Trying a Sundew dry hopped with Falconers Flight next made early jan
 
Just cracked my first bottle of NZ blonde Pilsner made in December used all light spray malt with this kit and a saflager s 23 yeast. I put a Coopers Mexican Cerveza straight back on the yeast after racking. Very nice pint indeed ticks all the boxs for a thirst quencher. Now what will i do next time to improve it. i will make it to 20ltr and dry hop with 25g of a chosen lager hop this should take it from a very nice 7/10 to around 8.5/10. will def make again as a every day slurper. Trying a Sundew dry hopped with Falconers Flight next made early jan

I threw 100g of Falconers Flight pellets into my Cooper's European Lager with spraymalt.
To begin with i was moaning that the hops were too much for the malt,after the recommended time (10-12 weeks) it was fantastic, good luck 👍
 
I threw 100g of Falconers Flight pellets into my Cooper's European Lager with spraymalt.
To begin with i was moaning that the hops were too much for the malt,after the recommended time (10-12 weeks) it was fantastic, good luck 👍

Just cracked the Sundew (thats my 2 pints before dinner ) Nice golden colour, holding head, nice carbonation, nice flavour, again i will make to 20ltr next time and increase the dry hop from 30g to 50g. This Sundew went onto a saflager s 23 yeast after brewing an Oktoberfest, Again a nice summer beer slightly more ale type than the NZ Blonde but very acceptable. Will be sound for late spring early Summer slurping. Leaving my Munich helles to reach perfection.
 
Just cracked the Sundew (thats my 2 pints before dinner ) Nice golden colour, holding head, nice carbonation, nice flavour, again i will make to 20ltr next time and increase the dry hop from 30g to 50g. This Sundew went onto a saflager s 23 yeast after brewing an Oktoberfest, Again a nice summer beer slightly more ale type than the NZ Blonde but very acceptable. Will be sound for late spring early Summer slurping. Leaving my Munich helles to reach perfection.

Yep,sounds like me,the hops keep rising 😉
 
Yep,sounds like me,the hops keep rising 😉

I am not a heavy hop lover i like malty beers, but in summer refreshers i like to know there around , but not dominating, 50g is my limit on these type beers,:thumb:
 

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