The lightest of our two-row base malts, Malteurop Pilsen malt imparts a sweet and subtle malt flavor and a straw yellow to light golden color. Pilsen is the perfect base for lighter beer styles.

 

By: Living a Stout Life

“I do not have a silo, so I get to see everything that comes out of the bag. The quality and consistency of the kernel size is pretty uniform. I believe that helps with consistent crush going into the mash tun and that helps with my extraction.”
– Mike Stone, Jackrabbit Brewing Co., West Sacramento, Calif.

Pilsen General Description

Pilsen is our lightest, most subtle base malt. Modification of this malt is such that it mimics traditional Pilsen malts for color and flavor, while maintaining the benefits of modern day malting standards for high efficiency. This lends old-world character to what is a clean, smooth malt.

 

Malteurop Pilsen maintains an impressive 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 necessary diastatic power to provide a canvas that is perfect for specialty malts.

 

Flavor and Aroma Contributions

Our Pilsen isn’t meant to impart a lot of malt character. Just the opposite. It provides a smooth, subtle malt sweetness, which often comes across as similar to white-bread or light cracker characteristics.

 

Used as a significant portion of the grist, MMC Pilsen lets other ingredients dance on top and shine. It provides just a subtle hint of sweetness that helps to amplify the other elements of your recipe.

 

Color and Appearance Considerations

The primary function of Pilsen is to give 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 1.6 to 2.0 Lovibond finishes straw yellow to light golden in color.

 

Because it 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 Pilsen

As a base malt, Pilsen provides the necessary diastatic power to break down its own starches, as well as those of other malts, into simpler fermentable sugars in the mash. It is modified in a manner that gives it a bit of old-world character, so you can make your best, true-to-style Pilsner or add a bit of old-world character to other styles.

 

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 Pilsen is an obvious choice for creating its namesake style: Pilsner.

 

These same qualities make it a great choice in a wide range of beers, though it shines when creating recipes on the lighter side of the spectrum. It is commonly used in nearly any lager style, frequently in IPAs and Pale Ales, as well as some Belgian beer styles.

 

With a diastatic power in the 140°L to 155°L range, MMC Pilsen has the ability to work with any other base or specialty malts to create almost any beer style you choose.

“We use quite a bit of Pilsen in our recipes. From lagers to very light in color IPAs. It’s light, crisp, and makes us happy. Our lighter in color beers have never been better. It’s a very nice consistent, quality malt. I can’t say much more than that.”
– Daniel Machado, Brethren Brewing in Manteca, Calif.

What brewers are saying about MMC Pilsen Base Malt

Malteurop Pilsen base malt can certainly be the star of the show, but doesn’t do so by hogging the spotlight. Its light, cracker-like malt sweetness can co-star alongside some subtle noble hops for a light, clean, crisp pilsner.

 

A supporting role suits MMC Pilsen just as well. Its subtle characteristics provide a light body with enough enzymatic punch to elevate other malts and hops to stardom. 

 

A lighter-colored, crisp lager or IPA, puts hops front and center, allowing them to tap their way across your tongue. Or if you want certain malts or even yeasts to come out of the shadows, Pilsen can do that too. Think of styles like Belgian tripel, saison, Dunkel, Kölsch, Bock, the possibilities are nearly endless.

 

Daniel Machado, owner of Brethren Brewing in Manteca, Calif., uses MMC Pilsen base malt in many styles.

 

“We use quite a bit of Pilsen in our recipes. From lagers to very light in color IPAs. It’s light, crisp, and makes us happy. Our lighter in color beers have never been better,” he says.

 

“It’s a very nice consistent quality malt. I can’t say much more than that.”

 

And that’s what Malteurop strives for. It’s not a matter of trying to reinvent the wheel when it comes to malt, it’s a matter of giving you the best malt we can to make your brew day go as planned.

 

“Malt should not be something that somebody has to worry about. That’s our job as maltsters. We produce something consistent and to specification every time and take that off of your plate,” says Joel Grosser, Malteurop Director of Operations for North America.

 

Mike Stone, head brewer at Jackrabbit Brewing Co. in West Sacramento, Calif., agrees, “I’ve found that I do get quite a bit more extraction [than from some other Pilsen malts]. The kernels themselves, just when you’re looking at the grain, it visibly looks better [to me] than a lot of the competitors. It’s not super husky.

 

“I do not have a silo, so everything goes in through the mill. So I get to see everything that comes out of the bag. The quality and consistency of the kernel size is pretty uniform. I believe that helps with consistent crush going into the mash tun and that helps with my extraction. I get better extraction.”

 

MMC Pilsen provides the performance you need, the subtlety you desire, and the consistency you demand. Nothing more, nothing less.

 

Premium grains from field to flavor.

 

Pilsen Base Malt Typical Analysis

 

Check out our full line of malts for your base malt and specialty malt needs.

 

 

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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.