I was wondering if there's a way to make American 2-row resemble the graininess of pilsner. I've taken 2-row and added some biscuit malt or pale ale malt to nudge my 2-row a bit closer to Marris Otter. Is there a similar trick to approximate pilsner?
Topic substitution grain homebrew
Category Mac
The only real difference between pale and pils malt is about 1L of color. The flavor is actually pretty similar. The best thing to do is to experiment with different pale malts to see if on brand is closer to what you want. In terms of what you've got right now, an all pale malt mash will taste remarkably similar to an all pils malt mash. I've done the same beer with both and it's nearly impossible to tell the difference. Using specialty grains in either will hide any difference.
There is this guy on homebrewtalk which describes the difference very good
Compared to Pilsner, regular 2-row tastes pretty bland. 2-Row is basically flavor neutral, like Budweiser or something... Pilsener has a more malty flavor like say Becks, or Stella ??
Hard to describe, but taste a good European or Chezh Pilsener and the malt you're tasting is Pilsener Malt. Now taste some non-craft American beer and you're most likely tasting 2-row.
Flowers and spice are the hop flavors we're looking for in a pilsner so adding that would nudge it in the pilsner direction. You can also try a different yeast which is specifig for pilsner e.g. Czech Pils yeast.
You could also try adding some pilsner malt in to the mix which is quite pale and strongly flavored. It is also known as "lager malt"
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