How to Brew a Pilsner at Home: Recipe, Ingredients and Lager Schedule

A good pilsner is the hardest easy beer there is. The recipe is short: pale malt, a noble hop, soft water and a clean lager yeast. What makes it great is control: water chemistry, a cold, steady fermentation and patience at the end. This guide gives you a complete 5 gallon recipe and walks through every step, from water to glass.

If you want the background first, see pilsner vs lager. Short version: every pilsner is a lager, and it is the pale, hop-forward one.

The recipe: Czech-style pilsner

Step 1: Build soft water

Plzeň's water is famously soft, and it is the reason a Czech pilsner can carry 30 to 35 IBU without tasting harsh. Hard or alkaline tap water gives a coarse, lingering bitterness. The easiest way to get it right is to start from reverse osmosis (RO) or distilled water and add a little back.

• For about 7.5 gallons of RO water (mash and sparge combined): 2.5 g calcium chloride and 2.5 g gypsum. That gives roughly 45 ppm calcium, 45 ppm chloride and 50 ppm sulfate.
• If you use tap water, remove chlorine and chloramine with one Campden tablet, and dilute with RO if your water is hard.

Our water chemistry guide explains each mineral and how to adjust your own water.

Step 2: Mash

You have two good options:

• Single infusion (simplest): mash at 149°F (65°C) for 75 minutes for a dry, crisp finish, then raise to 168°F (76°C) for a 10 minute mash-out.
• Step mash (fuller, more traditional): 144°F (62°C) for 30 minutes, then 158°F (70°C) for 30 minutes, then mash-out at 168°F. The first rest makes the beer fermentable; the second builds body and foam. See step mashing explained.

Check mash pH about 15 minutes in, on a sample cooled to room temperature. Aim for 5.2 to 5.4. A pale grist in soft water usually sits a little higher, so add a few millilitres of lactic acid, or replace 2% of the grist with acidulated malt. See our mash pH guide.

Traditional Czech brewers use decoction mashing, boiling part of the mash and returning it. It adds a little malt depth, but a good step mash gets you most of the way. See is decoction mashing worth it?

A step mash is where an electric system earns its keep. A controller with a recirculating pump, as on the Unibräu or BräuPro, moves between rests on its own and holds each one within a degree.

Step 3: Boil for 90 minutes

Pilsner malt carries more of a compound that turns into DMS, which tastes like cooked corn. Boil for 90 minutes with the lid off so it steams away, and keep a rolling boil. Add the Saaz at 60, 20 and 5 minutes before the end.

Step 4: Chill fast and cold

Chill as quickly as you can: DMS keeps forming while the wort is hot, and a fast chill gives a better cold break and clearer beer. A counterflow wort chiller gets most of the way in one pass. In summer your tap water may only get the wort to 60 to 65°F. That is fine: run it into the fermenter, let the jacket or fermentation fridge bring it down to 48°F, and pitch then.

Step 5: Oxygenate and pitch plenty of yeast

Lagers need about twice as much yeast as an ale of the same strength, plus more oxygen, because cold yeast work slowly.

• Yeast: two packets of dry lager yeast for 5 gallons, or a 2 L starter of liquid yeast. See how to make a yeast starter.
• Oxygen: aim for 10 to 12 ppm. Shaking only reaches about 8. A stone on pure oxygen gets there in a minute or two, and our carbonation stone doubles as an oxygenation stone. See why yeast need oxygen.
• Pitch cold, at 48 to 50°F. Pitching warm and cooling down later gives more esters.

Step 6: Ferment and lager

Stage	Temperature	How long	What to look for
Primary fermentation	48 to 52°F (9 to 11°C)	10 to 14 days	Gravity around 1.018 to 1.020, about three quarters done
Diacetyl rest	Raise to 60 to 65°F (16 to 18°C)	2 to 3 days	Gravity reaches 1.010 to 1.012 and holds; no butterscotch in a warm sample
Cool down	Drop 4 to 5°F a day	4 to 6 days	Or crash straight down if you are not harvesting yeast
Lagering	32 to 34°F (0 to 1°C)	3 to 5 weeks	Sulfur fades, the beer drops bright

Skipping the diacetyl rest is the most common way to spoil a pilsner: a pale, delicate beer shows any butteriness. See our diacetyl rest guide and the full lagering guide.

Holding 33°F for a month is the hard part at home. A fermentation fridge works for one batch. A jacketed Unitank with a glycol chiller holds every stage within a degree, and you can ferment, lager, carbonate and serve from the same tank.

The faster way: pressure-ferment it

If you have a pressure-rated fermenter, you can ferment this recipe warmer, at 60 to 65°F under 10 to 15 psi, set with a spunding valve. The pressure keeps the yeast from producing fruity esters, fermentation finishes in about a week, and the beer carbonates itself as it finishes. Then cold-crash and lager for one to two weeks. You can be drinking in about three weeks instead of six to eight. See our pressure fermentation guide.

Step 7: Carbonate and serve

Pilsner is lively: carbonate to about 2.5 to 2.7 volumes of CO₂. In a keg at 38°F that is roughly 11 to 13 psi for a week, or a day or two with a carbonation stone. Serve at 40 to 45°F in a clean, tall glass with a proper head.

Your timeline

When	Traditional	Pressure-fermented
Day 1	Brew day	Brew day
Days 2 to 14	Primary at 48 to 52°F	Ferment at 60 to 65°F under pressure (about a week)
Days 12 to 17	Diacetyl rest, then cool down	Cold crash
Weeks 3 to 7	Lager at 32 to 34°F	Lager 1 to 2 weeks, carbonated in the tank
Ready to drink	About 6 to 8 weeks	About 3 weeks

Troubleshooting

Problem	Likely cause	Fix
Butterscotch or slick mouthfeel	Diacetyl	Warm to 60 to 65°F for a few days; always do the rest
Rotten egg or struck match	Sulfur from lager yeast	Time. It fades during lagering
Cooked corn	DMS	90 minute boil, lid off, fast chill
Green apple	Acetaldehyde, beer pulled too early	Longer diacetyl rest and lagering
Harsh, lingering bitterness	Hard or alkaline water, high mash pH	Soft water, mash pH 5.2 to 5.4
Fruity, ale-like	Fermented too warm, or too little yeast	Pitch cold, pitch more, hold 48 to 52°F
Hazy	Chill haze, not enough time cold	Longer lagering; a fining agent if needed

Frequently asked questions

What are the ingredients in pilsner?

Pale pilsner malt, noble hops (Saaz for a Czech pilsner; Hallertau, Tettnang or Spalt for a German pils), soft water and a clean lager yeast. Many recipes add a little Carapils for body and head.

What temperature do you ferment a pilsner at?

48 to 52°F (9 to 11°C) for primary fermentation, then 60 to 65°F for a two to three day diacetyl rest, then 32 to 34°F to lager. Under pressure you can ferment at 60 to 65°F instead.

How long does it take to brew a pilsner?

About six to eight weeks from brew day to glass the traditional way, or about three weeks pressure-fermented.

Can I brew a pilsner without temperature control?

Not a good one. Lager yeast at room temperature makes a fruity, ale-like beer. If you have no way to hold 50°F, brew a kölsch or cream ale instead, which ferment cooler than most ales but work at 58 to 62°F.

What is the difference between a Czech and a German pilsner?

A Czech pilsner is a little darker and fuller, with a softer, rounder bitterness from Saaz. A German pils is paler, drier and crisper, with a sharper bitter finish. Our pilsner vs lager guide compares all three kinds.