Whats CAP?

[Martin the fish]

I've seen this on loads of people's signatures and have no idea what it is?

[steve_flack]

Classic American Pilsner.

[Martin the fish]

Aha!
Whats a classic american pilsner like?
I wouldn't mind brewing a lager but i've yet to find one outside of germany that i remotely like.

[steve_flack]

I've tried Aleman's a few times and it's very nice. AFAIK there are no commercial examples so pretty much you have to make your own to find out.

[Aleman]

Aha!
Whats a classic american pilsner like?
I wouldn't mind brewing a lager but i've yet to find one outside of germany that i remotely like.

Well there are in effect two sub styles Post Prohibition (Bleuuuuuurrrrrrgggggghhhhhh!) and Pre Prohibition, these are the beers that the German Immigrants to the US would have been brewing once they adapted their brewing techniques to use Local US Ingredients (Like US 6 Row Barley which had high levels of protein). Using a standard brewing technique with this would have produced cloudy beer, so the idea was to dilute the nitrogen by using a proportion of Corn or Rice (Up to 30%) You can do this using Flaked maize or Flaked rice, but traditionally it was done using a cereal mash (And I've posted ad nauseam on that subject )

Hopping wise, well Cluster was traditional, and then that would be followed up with noble hops for flavour and aroma.

I've thrown the Flaked wheat in here for Head retention but its not essential.



This one uses Polenta so would need to be cereal mashed, but replacing that with flaked maize and doing a single infusion mash at 64C would work out fine.

[Martin the fish]

It will be impossible for me currently to ferment at less than 18C. Aren't lagers supposed to be fermented cool?
I wouldn't mind trying one before i brewed one. Probably impossible here too.
I would love to have a lager i enjoyed though. It was 32C here today and having a cold-ish Porter with my dinner wasn't half as great as a really cold tasty lager would've been.

Love that Pro-Mash thing. How cool is that?

[mysterio]

It will be impossible for me currently to ferment at less than 18C. Aren't lagers supposed to be fermented cool?

Aye, they need to be fermented around 10C and then 'lagered' at close to freezing to taste authentic. Lagers take a while to make and there's a bit of a knack to it but they are very rewarding.

As far as temperature control goes, I don't know about NZ but perfectly serviceable old fridges are quite easy to come by here for cheap/free. These can be easily converted with a thermostat. I've even brewed one in a bucket of water with ice in it before.

[Martin the fish]

I'm prepared to convert a fridge but at the moment i have other 'shinier' things i want to spend my time/money on. Like a bigger volume AG set-up, some corni's, beer engine's etc.

[Aleman]

Isn't Budweiser a Classic American Pilsner?

Bleuuuuuurrrrrrgggggghhhhhh!

Bud would come into the category of American Light Lager rather than a CAP, although as it is made with 6 row and 30% rice . . . . . . .

[ECR]

What's the difference between two-row and six-row barley, please? Obviously (from earlier posts) has an effect on the nitrogen level, but is it something to do with the way it's grown - or what?

Thanks

[Aleman]

Traditional 2 row barley has two rows of barley seeds (one on either side of the stem)

6 row has . . . . . Three rows either side.

Was developed for higher yields IIRC . . . its not a superior brewing barley

[ECR]

Thank you! Every day's a school day

[bconnery]

But they call it a pilsner, it's American and surely it has been around long enough to be considered a classic...if it walks like a duck etc etc

But if it is a goose it doesn't matter how much you call it a duck...

Or perhaps it's a lame duck

[Barley Water]

I'm sure that Daab is trying to stir it up with his posting about Bud being classic American pilsner however I'll take the bait and provide my definition of a CAP:

A Classic American Pilsner (CAP) is a beer concieved by imigrant German brewers who used the local ingredients to produce a pilsner very much like they made in the old country. The difference between a Light American Pilsner and a CAP is that a CAP tastes good, has character and can actually be consumed at reasonable serving temperatures. A typical Light American Pilsner will taste good only at freezing temperatures. The other sure give away that you are drinking a CAP is that you can actually smell and taste the hops while that will not be the case with the Light American Pilsner. In summary, a Light American Pilsner is a CAP that has been f###ed up by using cheap ingreadients, very little hops and next to no lagering.

[Barley Water]

No I can't, in fact (and this is sad) I am not aware of any CAP's commercially available over here either. I know that there are some brewpubs that make the stuff but sadly in Dallas, I have never run into any examples (not that Dallas is a great brewpub town 'cause it aint). Currently, if you want this style of beer, you need to make it yourself.

Besides liking the taste, the other reason I am interested in the style is because one of my great grandfathers was one of those imigrant German brewers so in some respects, I am carring on the family tradition. In some ways the style is very like your own Porter. Before the homebrewers started making it, it was a dead style but a couple hundred years ago it was all the rage. With any luck, maybe we can influence a large micro to start producing a good example.