home brewing a pilsener with limited options

S-04 is an ale yeast and a fruity one at that...it definitely won't make a good lager. Use the pils malt, definitely not the chocolate! In addition, to make a pilsner, you'll need to have temp control to ferment at 45-48 F for several weeks, then cold condition (lager) it at 35F for several months.

---------->Denny

Is this malt extract or malted grain? If it's extract that's going to make a beer around 4.5-5.5 % ABV, if it's malted grain the quantity depends on how efficinet your mashing and sparging is.

There are two things that determine how much bitterness your hops imparts to your wort, the Alpha Acid (AA) content of the hops and how long you boil it for. Typically Hallertau pellets will have an AA of around 4.2% (this can vary greatly though), a boil for 60 minutes in a 23 litre (5 gal) batch will give you around 33 IBU's, this doesn't mean you have to boil all 23 litres though. If you can't find out the AA content of your hops then just use an average, after all homebrewing is all about variety :)

As Denny said, S-04 is an ale yeast, you want to get your hands on some lager yeast, there are plenty of onsline shops that you can use.

Yes!

I hope that helps.

I'll try to get some lager yeast. A friend can send me some dry yest througth the mail. Any recommendation for a dry lager yeast for a pilsener? Searching the web I've just found the Saflager S-23. Is it good? Can I find a better dry lager yeast for a pilsener?

Great help! Thanks!

I use s-23 all the time (I'm drinking a Czech pils made with it right now), it should give you good results but better can be achieved with some of the liquid cultures.

I've had trerrible luck with that yeast, although others have reported that it works well for them The same company, DCL, has an S-189 dry lager yeast that's much better, IMO. Remember, though, that you MUST ferment in the 45-55F range!

---------->Denny