Malt Spotlight: French Pilsen Base Malt
July 30, 2025
Similar to our North American grown Pilsen malt, our imported French Pilsen is distinguished by the terroir of the Champagne region of France. Its subtle flavor, character, and color make it suitable for any style, but it is a perfect base for lighter style beers.
“There’s so many different malts out there… but if you really want to pinpoint what that style is you have to use the appropriate grain for it.”
– Mike Pallen, Mikerphone Brewing
Pilsen General Description
Malteurop French Pilsen is a 2-row spring barley grown in the renowned Champagne region of France. The terroir of the region is influenced by a unique microclimate that combines the Atlantic Ocean and the rolling countryside, imparting its own unique subtleties to the barley grown there.
Our French Pilsen is a naturally low-protein malt with an enzyme package that allows it to deliver a high amount of extract. It can easily be used as 100-percent of the grist in lighter-style beers. But it also has the appropriate diastatic power to combine it with specialty malts.
Its growing region and character make MMC French Pilsen perfect for brewers that want to recreate historic styles with a distinct French heritage.
Flavor and Aroma Contributions
Our French Pilsen isn’t meant to impart an overbearing amount of malt flavor. It imparts a subtle malty character that is mild on the palate. The flavor is often described as light and crackery.
Used as a significant portion of the grist, MMC French Pilsen allows room for other ingredients to shine in the spotlight. It provides a mild malt character that can combine with the appropriate hops to build true to style historical beers, but can just as easily amplify the other elements of your recipe.
Color and Appearance Considerations
The primary function of French Pilsen is to supply your beers the enzymatic package necessary to create the extract for any beer style you want without imparting much color. When used as the sole malt in the grist, Pilsen’s 1.7 to 2.2 Lovibond finishes pale straw yellow to light golden in color.
Because the color is so subtle, Pilsen can be used with other malts to keep beers on the lighter side, while picking up the desired color characteristics of those other specialty malts.
Primary Usage for French Pilsen
French Pilsen is a base malt that provides the appropriate diastatic power to break down its own starches, as well as those of other malts, into simpler fermentable sugars in the mash. It is naturally low in protein and is modified in a manner that gives it a bit of old-world character. This makes it particularly effective in producing your best, true-to-style French heritage recipe, such as a bière de garde or rustic farmhouse ale.
French Pilsen delivers on quality and consistency, providing the necessary enzymes, protein levels, and FAN levels for a healthy fermentation, maximizing your extract.
With its subtle flavor and ability to impart crisp, light finishing characteristics, MMC French Pilsen is an obvious choice for creating a true-to-style French Pilsner.
These same qualities make it a perfect choice in a wide range of beers, though its strength is in recipes on the lighter side. It is commonly used in lighter lager styles, frequently in IPAs and Pale Ales, in addition to North American craft interpretations of traditional French farmhouse styles, such as a French saison.
With a healthy dose of diastatic power, MMC French Pilsen has the ability to work with any other base or specialty malts, allowing you full creativity of style.
“We use regional malt from this area of Europe and we use French hops in the beer. [We’re] trying to get that kind of regional character.”
– Andy Ruhland, Bad Weather Brewing
What brewers are saying about MMC French Pilsen Base Malt
Malteurop French Pilsen base malt can easily be the malt that sits in the shadows. Its light, cracker-like maltiness allows for other malts and hops to grasp the limelight.
So why opt for French Pilsen? Many brewers choose it to achieve the subtle characteristics that the terroir of Champagne imparts upon the malt, making a French Pilsner or French Saison distinctly French.
“There’s so many different malts out there and you can get stuck in using the same ones to provide efficiency, but if you really want to pinpoint what that style is you have to use the appropriate grain for it,” said Mike Pallen, owner at Mikerphone Brewing in Elk Grove Village, Illinois, who has brewed with Malteurop’s French Pilsen.
“And so we’re continually looking at ways to start playing with Malteurop’s unique opportunities and taking that from ground zero and building the beer around it.”
As Mike said, you have to use what is appropriate for certain styles if you’re looking for accuracy. That holds especially true for styles such as French Pilsner and French Saison, which embody the terroir of the malt grown in the Champagne region.
Andy Ruhland, head brewer at Bad Weather Brewing Company in St. Paul, Minnesota, agrees. If you truly want to recreate a regional style, it’s best to use ingredients from that region.
“We use regional malt from this area of Europe and we use French hops in the beer,” he said of their French Pilsner. [“We’re] trying to get that kind of regional character.”
With the unique microclimate of the Champagne region, MMC French Pilsen embodies the character of the region that simply cannot be replicated elsewhere. It will help you create your best French heritage styles or add that something special to any beer you create.
French Pilsen Base Malt Typical Analysis
Premium grains from field to flavor.
About Malteurop Malting Company (MMC)
Malteurop Malting Company (MMC) is based in North America—specializing in growing and producing quality malts for the beer, whiskey, and food processing industries. With local farms and Malthouses spread across the United States, Canada, and Mexico, Malteurop’s commitment to excellence is fully ingrained into every batch it produces, ensuring businesses of any size can create the finest beverages and food products on the planet.
Visit www.malteuropmaltingco.com to learn how we can support your malting needs.
Contact us at customersuccess@malteurop.com or (844) 546-MALT (6258) for questions or to place your order.
Malting is our passion. Quality is our promise.