Make it at home
Ingredients
- 4kg German Pilsner malt
- 300g CaraPils malt
- 30g Saaz hops (60-minute boil)
- 20g Hallertau Mittelfruh hops (15-minute boil)
- 15g Saaz hops (flame-out)
- 1 packet Saflager W-34/70 lager yeast
- Brewing salts to adjust water for a Pilsen profile (low calcium, very low bicarbonate)
- Equipment: 30L mash tun, kettle, fermenter, temperature-controlled chamber, sanitiser
Method
- Mash crushed malts at 65C for 75 minutes in 12 litres of brewing water. Sparge with 18 litres of 75C water until you collect about 25 litres of wort.
- Bring wort to a vigorous boil. Add Saaz at the start of the 60-minute boil.
- Add Hallertau at the 45-minute mark (15 minutes from end). Add final Saaz at flame-out.
- Chill rapidly to 10C using an immersion chiller or ice bath.
- Transfer to a sanitised fermenter, pitch yeast, ferment at 10C to 12C for 14 days until gravity is stable.
- Cold-crash at 1C for 2 weeks (lagering); this is the Pilsner-defining step. Skipping it gives a young, harsh beer.
- Bottle or keg with priming sugar at 4.5 vol CO2. Condition cold for another 2 weeks before drinking.
Tip from the editors. Lagering is the single non-negotiable step; without 2 to 4 weeks of cold conditioning you have a German Helles, not a Dutch Pilsner.
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Where to eat kaapse pils
Kaapse Pils in Rotterdam
Kaapse Brouwers ★ 4.7
Rotterdam's flagship craft brewery, brewing bold ales from session pils to imperial stouts at Keilestraat with the Kaapse Kaap taproom on Katendrecht.
More places to eat in Rotterdam
Not on this list, but among the highest we score in this city. Every one is in our guide with its address, hours and what to order.
- Parkheuvel Tasting menu, our score 4.9
- Fred Tasting menu, our score 4.8
- Markthal Rotterdam Market, our score 4.8
- Ter Marsch and Co Late Night Burgers, our score 4.8
- Proeflokaal Reijngoud Belgian, our score 4.7
- Tres Vegetarian, our score 4.7
More cities are in research. Want kaapse pils covered somewhere specific? Tell us where you want to eat.