Popcorn Pilsner

I'm not kidding... I was reading where a guy used 2 pounds of popped popcorn in a mash, and produced a CAP (Classic American Pilsner), a type of beer made by most breweries before Prohibition. 9 pounds pilsner, 2 pounds popped corn.

Consensus of those who have brewed it state it's got the nice CAP taste profile without using the flaked corn from the brew store.

A pilsner is basically just pilsner malt (usually 6-row if you are being strict to style) and noble Germanic hops and a nice lager yeast.

In early America, German immigrants began brewing the same beer, the cold crisp style took the beer drinkers by storm. Which is why this style dominates the commercial beer landscape, even today.

Because of American's dislike for the heavier, maltier tastes of pure German beers, American brewers turned to corn and rice to create an American Pilsner which was lighter and more effervescent.

Corn is my favorite to use to recreate this style. I was first introduced to it in an article in Brewing Techniques in Jan, 1994.

I made my first CAP that same year, which was received with joy. It's a damned hard style to make, but I have figured out a way to mimic the style using Ale yeast and long lager times in the beer cooler. I'd use an lager yeast except it produces awful flavors if fermented above 55 degrees.