Deep Dive on Brewing Italian Pilsners

History, Techniques and Recipes

If you were to lighty dry hop a classic German pilsner and call it an Italian Pilsner, you would not be incorrect, but there is a little more to the style than dry hops. From the classic Birrifico Italiano Tipopils that started this style, to beers that were inspired by Tipopils like Firestone Walker’s Pivo Pils, to today’s emerging American interpretations, there is a lot of ground to cover. A surprisingly delicious assortment of beers fall under the category of Italian pilsner and we’ll talk about them all. Their common thread is that they feature more hop flavor than most traditional pilsner varieties, while maintaining that classic dry, crisp snappiness that is the hallmark of any pilsner beer.

History

In the mid-1990s, Agostino Arioli founded his brewery, Birrificio Italiano, in the Como region of the Italian province of Lombardy, near the sleek and fashionable city of Milan. Having been trained in the classical German style, but being heavily Influenced by the dry hopped cask ales of England, Arioli created a rather unique beer, a pilsner that was very lightly dry hopped, called Tipopils, or “kind of pils.” Arioli was trying to create a beer like Jever, the Southern German Pils, but perhaps due to his cask ale leanings and surrounded by the cuisine of Italy, he ended up with something else entirely – the Italian Pilsner. 

Other Italian brewers influenced by Tipopils, and nearby, famed centers of Italian cuisine, followed suit, and before you know it this more-flavorful pilsner became widespread in Italy, foretelling the explosion of dry-hopped pilsners almost two decades earlier, and helping cement the hallmarks and reputation of Italian Pilsner.

Italian Pilsner is a pale beer and can have a very light haze, owing to the pair of dry hop additions that this beer gets, and lands 4% and 5.4% abv. It often features a somewhat more flavorful malt character, without the decoction used by Czech brewers, due to the use of Mediterranean grown barley varietals. Most critically, the beer is dry-hopped using only traditional German or Czech hops or new varieties that resemble traditional ones to give a very pronounced traditional European hop character.

This beer became a sensation among brewers in the know, almost a cult favorite. It is not surprising that many have compared it to Italian cuisine, flavorful and sophisticated, given the regions that surround the two godfathers of the Italian Pilsner style.

Fast forward a couple decades to 2013 and Matt Brynildson, brewmaster at Firestone Walker, was inspired by Tipopils to create Pivo Pils. Pivo Pils has gained a strong following over the years for being a bright, hop forward lager, but one that still retained the trademark crispness and bready malt flavor of a pilsner.

Today, modern American versions are starting to blur the line between hoppy lager/IPL and Italian pilsner. They are more aggressively dry hopped, sometimes with a slightly higher ABV to help provide malt balance, but the best of these are still distinctly dry and crisp, the hallmark of any pilsner. In my opinion, these are well worth seeking out and I interpret these as being sort of an extension of the original Italian pilsner, which is arguably an extension of German pilsner. It’s interesting to see how a seemingly simple pilsner beer can evolve and morph over time in the hands of different creative brewers.

Recipe Building

Starting with the grain bill, most, if not all of your malt should be of the pilsner variety. For a more authentic version, use Italian-grown pilsner malts, with Weyermann’s Eraclea Malt likely being the most accessible for homebrewers in most parts of the world. Some brewers blend some of the Eraclea with a domestic American pilsner malt, since the Eraclea has a pretty strong malt flavor for a pilsner malt, more so than even the Weyermann Barke Pils, and American pilsner malt is known for lighter flavor and higher conversion. A new and exciting variety that seems like a great fit for Italian Pilsner is Rahr’s North Star Pils. You can also use other European pilsner malt for your base, particularly German or Czech varieties.

A very small amount (1-2%) of caramunich (what Tipopils uses), carafoam (what Pivo uses), carahell, carapils or even a more subtle munich or vienna is also fine, but not necessary. 100% pilsner malt is entirely acceptable and a good base for this style.

From there, you’ll want to think about mash pH. According to Jeff Alworth, Agostino Arioli is obsessive about pH at every step of the brewing process, deeming it an essential part of achieving the flavorful profile of his pilsner, and he begins by targeting a 5.1 starting fermentation pH, adjusting the pH with acid as necessary at every pH check. You can get to the post-boil target of 5.1 pH by nailing a mash pH in the range of 5.2-5.4. I usually use acidulated malt to lower my pH, but lactic acid or phosphoric acid additions are fine for mash pH adjustment too.

A step mash is ideal for these beers, and if you select a somewhat undermodified pilsner malt or want to enhance the foam in the beer, then a protein rest might be appropriate as one of the steps. A good protein rest can happen for 10-15 minutes at about 122°F/50°C. Otherwise, I usually use a similar step mash as I would for my German pilsners. I mash in at 144°F/62°C and rest for 40 minutes, jump up to 160°F/71°C and rest for 40 minutes and finally go to 170°F/77°C and rest for 10 minutes. Single infusion mashes aren’t uncommon in the American varieties of these beers, particularly when using American pilsner malt. I would target 148°F/64-65°C for a single infusion mash on this beer.

In terms of hop selection, using traditional German or Czech varieties, or newer varieties with similar flavor profiles, are a necessary part of the Italian Pilsner style. Tipopils uses German Northern Brewer and Perle varieties to bitter, Spalter at flameout and then Saphir and Spalter in the dry hop. Pivo uses Spalter and Tradition in the boil, with Saphir both in the boil and the dry hop. Tim Adams of Oxbow Brewing Company, who makes what might be the highest regarded American-made version of Italian Pilsner insists that if you can taste the presence of modern IPA hops then it “immediately and definitively disqualifies a beer from being an authentic Italian-style pils.”

Feel free to play around though, Tettnanger and Saaz is a wonderful combination that I’ve had great results with personally, and Hallertau Mittelfruh is always an excellent hop for any European or American pilsner. More modern American interpretations go a step further, using descendants of noble hops and/or newer varieties of German (and neighboring country) hops. Hallertau Blanc and Hull Melon are two hops I’ve tasted working very effectively in some American versions, but if you want to stay true to the beautifully-balanced Italian Pilsner style, use these hops in a restrained manner so as not to end up with an American style “India Pale Lager” (IPL). With more hops being used in this pilsner style than in German or Czech versions, it can be important to use a higher alpha acid (but regionally appropriate and clean) bittering hop such as German Magnum, to prevent too high a volume of hops being used and making the finished beer too grassy and vegetal. This is especially important if you’re using a heavier dry hop load, like many of the American versions use.

Where the classic Italian pilsner beers really deviate from those German and Czech varieties, is in adding more late hops and just a dose of dry hopping, with the Tipopils adding those dry hops at two stages of the fermentation. If there is one “secret move” in making Italian Pilsner, it’s adding a small addition of one of the recommended hop varieties as dry hops at the start of fermentation in order to achieve biotransformation. This technique may also contribute to the slight haziness of the style, which is a permitted but not necessary characteristic.

I prefer a dry hop addition of around 6g per 5 gallon at the beginning of the primary fermentation, and about double that for dry hopping added post-fermentation during the lagering phase. If you want to get more aggressive, like some of the newer American versions, you can double or even triple those numbers and even combine them into a single dry hop after the primary fermentation. 

Use a clean lager yeast strain such as Fermentis 34/70 (liquid equivalents are WLP830, WY2124, L13 and OYL106). Other clean lager strains would be appropriate as well, the goal being to avoid fermentation character conflicting with the malt base and especially the hop flavors. Italian Pilsners do not exhibit any sulfur or diacetyl character, which may be appropriate and are present in some examples of German and Czech pilsners, respectively. Fermentation temperatures can go a little higher than your standard pilsner; they can accommodate the primary dry hop load a little better. Shoot for a range of 52-56°F/11-13°C during the fermentation and ferment for a similar length of time as other pilsners, usually 10-14 days before the beer has reached full attenuation. I like to lean on the younger side for the Italian variety, because the higher primary temperature means it finishes fermenting faster, but also because I have hops in the primary and I want to transfer them off as soon as the beer is ready. As long as you have a healthy pitch of yeast and consistent temperature control, you should be able to achieve final gravity on the earlier side of that timeline as well. Always make sure to do a basic diacetyl test before moving on to the secondary fermentation.

For the lagering phase, dropping by 3-4°F/2°C per day works fine. You can stop at day three or four, rest for 4-6 days before continuing your drop to as near freezing temps as you are comfortable with, before lagering an additional 1-3 weeks. Due to the additional hop flavor from late additions and dry hops, I don’t lager these beers as long as I do for my German or Czech versions, but they still benefit from some lagering time.

Tipopils is unfiltered and it has a touch of a hazy appearance. Pivo Pils, on the other hand, is very finely filtered, allowing it to have a bright, brilliant clarity. I find this to be a personal preference, but do realize that unfiltered versions can be hazy. Cold lagering should clear these up fairly well, even the heavily dry hopped American interpretations usually just have a slight haze to them.

For carbonation, I’d suggest 2.4-2.8 volumes. I like them closer to the upper end of that spectrum, similar to my German pilsners, nice and spritzy. It accentuates the dryness of these beers, but when you’re using quality pilsner malt as your base, you still get a good grainy base malt flavor underneath.

Recipes

I’ve provided full recipes or links for five different versions of Italian Pilsner below and they really cover the spectrum of beers within this style. We start with the modern American interpretation from Westbound & Down Brewing in Idaho Springs, Colorado. We then move into Chino’s more classically-oriented recipe. Weyermann also provided their Mediterranean version, with some unique hops that are utilized to what is closer to a German pils. Next, I’ve provided a link to the recipe for the beer that created this style. And finally, a link to a very interesting newer version from a well respected European beer author.

Westbound & Down Italian Pils

The first time I had this beer it tasted more like what I’d call a hoppy American pilsner than a subtle Italian pilsner. But labels, especially such nuanced classifications like this one, should stand far behind enjoyment and taste. And damn was this a tasty beer. I later reviewed this with another judge for Beer and Brewing Magazine and we got a lot of diesel, dankness and wet grass. It was really a great showcase of hops, and if you’d told me at the time that these were all Czech and German derived hops, I’d have bet against that. I grab a 4-pack of this beer whenever I come across it, Westbound releases these in pretty small batches that are scooped up quite quickly. The beer is always fresh and somehow incredibly bold in hop flavor yet drinkable enough to knock back a few without palate fatigue.

In talking with head brewer Jake Gardner, he believes that Italian pils, like all pilsner beer, needs to be on and off the palate quickly. You have to achieve that at a minimum or the beer is not a pilsner. For his beer, he looked to traditional German pilsner design, but then started moving from noble hops to “noble-adjacent”; hops that are derived from noble hops. He backtracked from your typical 30-40 IBU German pilsner, drawing up about 15 IBUs in the whirlpool before deciding on about 23 IBUs between his two bittering charges. The beer is also dry hopped, to the tune of 1.5lbs/bbl, a staggering number compared to the original Tipopils, but an amount that Jake feels is pretty light for his hop forward brewery (Westbound is known for having one of the best IPA programs in Colorado, focusing heavily on west coast style IPAs). And true to form, the beer is snappy and sessionable, yet bold and aggressive. Jake was kind enough to share the recipe below. I’ve added some of the unique pieces of information that he gave me about the recipe to the notes section in the recipe as well.

Chino’s Italian Pils Recipe

Chino relates that he first had his first taste of Italian Pilsner at an event at New York City’s Eataly food hall, where the all-star ‘Birreria Brothers’ (Sam Caligione of Dogfish Head, Leo DeVencenzo of Birra del Borgo and Teo Musso of Baladin) presented a collab version of Italian Pilsner side by side with Tipopils. He believes that we tend to forget most beers we drink but that we are each granted only a few rare beer moments where the streams of time, place, and flavor cross in a magical way. When that moment comes, that beer carries in your memory for years past the last sip. For him, those beers represented one of those moments, and his recipe is inspired by that experience. Note that this is a smaller batch size, you can scale it up pretty easily with modern beer software such as Brewfather or Beersmith. Also note that the final gravity should be between 1.010-1.012, the recipe software makes some conservative assumptions on the fermentability of a stepped mash beer.

Weyermann Nr.17 Eraclea Mediterranean Pilsner

Weyermann is the company responsible for so many of the delicious malt varieties that I’ve recommended in all of the pilsner articles. Their Italian pilsner malt, Eraclea, is featured prominently in this recipe, providing a rich, full body. The two hop varieties, Aurora and Bobek, give the beer fine floral notes of lavender and violet, as well as hints of blackcurrant-like dark berries. Overall, this pilsner is spritzy, effervescent and refreshing. Weyermann suggests pairing this beer with a mild fish such as pike or perch, baked in an almond crushed. Paella or risotto is also quite suitable for this beer.

Birrificio Italiano Tipopils (subscription required)

Beer and Brewing published this recipe in 2020. It came directly from the brewer, Agostino Arioli. It’s nearly identical to the recipe published in Jeff Alworth’s The Secrets of Master Brewers, so much so that I could see the subtle differences being due to hop crops or grain analysis year to year. If you really want to see how this recipe has evolved, noted German beer writer Horst Dornbusch published the original 1996 version of Tipopils in BYO.

Birra Venezia (subscription required)

Horst Dornbusch also published this Italian pils recipe recently in BYO. While not a beer I have personally tried, it uses two brand new hops, Diamant and Aurum, which I’ve tried in a pair of single hopped kellerpils at a local brewery. I can say they fit the profile of German noble hops, albeit with their own unique flavors. They’re worth a try in this recipe, other Italian pilsner recipes, or German style pilsners.