Here is my current PU clone grain bill:
- 8.5 lbs Weyermann Pils
- 1.5 lbs Red X
- 3 oz Melanoidin
I'm running it into Beersmith adjusting the specialty malts to get around 5.5 SRM which is what I've been informed the color of Pilsner Urquell is at. I haven't seen any homebrew single infusion PU imitations utilize Red X and since the flavor is closer to Munich but the lovibond is closer to Dark Munich, I'm using Red X mostly for color control. So, with what you said about Melanoidin and dark munich in mind I just readjusted it to this:
- 8.5 lbs Weyermann Pils
- 1 lb Red X
- 12 oz Dark Munich
- 2 oz Melanoidin
What do you think?
Also, I hear you about taste testing and agree about taking blind tasting with a grain of salt. Actually, I just took the tasting portion of the Cicerone test last week, and.... I came in very confident and left devastated. I almost aced the beer style section no problem, but the off flavor and quality assessment I felt about as secure as running into a drunk schizophrenic hobo who's trying to convince you that he rides in spaceships. Ironically enough, one of the untreated samples was a Pilsner Urquell that I thought was oxidized and one sample that had trans-2-nonenal came off to my palate as lightstruck and the diacetyl sample I wrote off as Acetic. I was very surprised that I bombed the off flavors, as I have 2 years experience working as a brewer on a 20bbl microbrewery and my boss who's got a Cicerone, educated and tested me, intensely, about off flavors.
I love brulosophy's exbeeriments, however, I imagine that the physics of a homebrew sized system just doesn't translate to a large brewery. In fact, I wonder if the only way to get the decoction color that PU has is by brewing it on a similar scale, since they use 170bbl mash tuns on direct flame which has a much more intense heat and pressure that's not possible in tiny batches.