The Light on Beer: Brewing a Pilsner in Winter

Last month I brewed a Marzen on MLK Day which I'm calling Martin's Marzen. Yesterday I brewed a lager for the second time. It's a German pilsner based upon the recipe from Randy Mosher's Radical Brewing titled Polka Dot Pilsener, with a few variations. Let me explain.

For one, I split the difference between Mr. Mosher's all-grain recipe and his extract version and put together a partial mash, and instead of a general pale liquid malt extract, I included 3.3 lbs of Briess Pilsen Light LME. Second, I used a variety of high alpha hops known as Magnum. It's a German hops cultivar, so I thought that was good enough, and I didn't have 3-4 oz of Saaz on hand, though I still used Saaz for bittering hops and was lucky enough to have a relatively high alpha acids crop for the variety, walking tall at 6.5% AA (Saaz usually provides about half that). Hallertau Mittelfruh was used for aroma through a hop stand. Third, I repitched a harvested slurry (2nd generation) from dry yeast, Saflager W-34/70 Bohemian Lager Yeast.

There were no hiccups in my roughly 4-hour brew day. I mashed for an hour and cooled the kettle down in the snow, bringing the beer down to a nice 62 degrees Fahrenheit, and even further by topping off with water from the tap, pitching the yeast at a chilly 52 degrees.

The plan is to leave the beer in the primary for 3-4 days at an ambient temperature of 56, then bring it to the top of the steps for a dicaetyl rest for a few more at room temperature, then return it to the basement floor for another two weeks (3 total). I'll bottle condition the entire 5 gallons, let it sit at room temperature for 2 weeks, then return to the basement, putting a handful of the bottles in the mini fridge to cold condition for a week or two before I try it. Then rest can age comfortably in the cold basement until I'm ready, or they are, one of the two. See the recipe and pictures below:

Derek's Polka Dot Pilsener - German Pilsner (Pils) (2A)
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Batch Size - 5.25 gallons
Boil Size   3 gallons
Boil Time   45.000 min
Efficiency 70%
OG          1.046 sg
FG          1.009 sg
ABV         4.9%
Bitterness 40.0 IBU (Tinseth)
Color       3.1 srm (Morey)

Fermentables
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Name                         Type     Amount    Mashed Late Yield Color
Briess - 2 Row Brewers Malt Grain    5.000 lb Yes     No    80%    1.8 srm
Briess LME - Pilsen Light    Extract 3.300 lb No      No    78%    2.0 srm
Total grain: 8.300 lb

Hops
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Name                   Alpha Amount    Use    Time        Form    IBU
Magnum                 12.9% 0.400 oz Boil   45.000 min Pellet 17.7
Saaz (Czech Republic) 6.5%   1.000 oz Boil   45.000 min Pellet 22.3
Hallertau              5.4%   0.500 oz Aroma 15.000 min Pellet 0.0

Yeasts
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Name                       Type Form Amount    Stage
Saflager W-34/70 Bohemian Ale - Repitched slurry, 2nd generation