Brü It Yourself | Going Coastal West Coast Pils

Author: Will Lovell

Like most homebrewers, a vast majority of the beers I make are brewed at my home and served from my taps. However, as we often say at Brülosophy, the best thing about homebrewing is the community, and something I’ve had the pleasure of doing a few times is assisting other brewers.

My friend and fellow homebrewer, Curt Himes, is in the Navy and had recently been stationed at a base in the craft beer mecca of San Diego, CA. We’d already made plans to visit them over the New Years holiday, and seeing as he’d just returned from a tour, we thought it’d be fun to design a novel recipe and brew it together.

IPA was certainly an attractive option, but we ended up settling on the not-really-a-style style of West Coast Pils, as the melding of crisp drinkability with hop pungency appealed to Curt, who would be the one drinking this beer. Of course, I love West Coast Pils and used the knowledge I’ve gained from my experience with this style to help develop the recipe. which relied on mostly Pilsner malt and a heavy hopping rate.

| Making Going Coastal West Coast Pils |

While the hopping for this recipe was modeled largely after an IPA, we opted to rely on Pilsner malt as the main base malt as well as a popular lager yeast strain. Once we were settled, we made our way to the incredible Home Brew Mart with our amazing assistant (Curt’s daughter) to pick up the ingredients.

Going Coastal West Coast Pils

We brewed this batch on Curt’s 120v BrewZilla unit and started by heating up the strike water, which was adjusted to the desired mineral profile.

While waiting on the water to warm up, we weighed out and milled the grains.

With the water appropriately heated, we incorporated the grains then set the controller to maintain the target mash temperature.

During the mash rest, we prepared the kettle hop additions.

When the mash was complete, the grains were removed and sparged before we proceeded with the boil, during which hops were added at the times listed in the recipe.

Once the 60 minute boil was finished, we quickly chilled the wort then transferred it to a sanitized fermenter.

A refractometer reading showed the wort was at 1.050 OG.

At this point, Curt pitched 3 sachets of Saflager W-34/70 into the wort before placing it in his chamber controlled to 66°F/19°F.

After 3 days, Curt added the dry hops then let the beer sit for 5 days before taking a refractometer reading indicating fermentation was complete.

At this point, the beer was transferred to a sanitized keg that was placed on gas in Curt’s kegerator. After a week of conditioning, it was carbonated and ready to drink.

| IMPRESSIONS |

As wonderful as beer is on its own, what makes it even better are the people you drink and brew it with. The opportunity to brew a batch during a visit with a good friend last year served as both a welcome home for Curt and a fun way to ring in the new year. While West Coast Pils is yet to be officially recognized as a style by the BJCP, it does seem to be growing in popularity, and I enjoy it quite a bit.

Sadly, I’d already made my way bank home to San Antonio, TX by the time this batch of Going Coast West Coast Pils was ready to drink, but you better believe I heard from Curt about it. He described it having a light body with a smooth mouthfeel and overflowing with a medley of tangerine, citrus, and mango hop notes. Overall, Curt felt Going Coastal was an excellent beer that he was proud to share with friends and will brew again.

It’s atypical for us to share a story about a beer we never actually had the chance to try, but I opted to do so in this case to emphasize yet again the fact homebrewing is about so much more than beer. It’s about community, engaging in an arguably meaningless activity in a way that facilitates something meaningful. There’s no denying that the craft beer industry is struggling right now, but one thing we’ll never lose is the ability to come together and make something delicious, which is precisely what Curt and I did.

If you have thoughts about this recipe or experience making something similar, please feel free to share in the comments section below!

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