Base malt for pseudo-lager?

Hi everyone, long-time lurker popping his head up with a question. I've quite a few BIAB ale brews under my belt now and fancy trying a pseudo-lager. I'm a bit confused regarding base malt choices, Pilsner? Maris otter? Extra pale? It'd be a big help hearing what others recommend, any tips appreciated. Cheers guys.

[Dennis King]

Not a great lager brewer myself but I would go for the Pilsner.

[Dennis King]

Hi and welcome by the way.

Depends what type of lager you're wanting to brew really. I quite like a lot of Vienna in a lager, kind of a Octoberfest vibe.

I've had good results with plain old lager malt too.

Vienna is much easier to handle (highly modified) but if you can cool quick and boil for 90 mins, extra pale and pilsner/lager are the better choice for an almost-lager.

Try brewing a Kolsch that's a pseudo lager.

Try brewing a Kolsch that's a pseudo lager.

Having used both Wyeast and White Labs Kölsch yeasts, I can heartily recommmend the White Labs one - it's cleaner and subtly fruity. The Wyeast one seemed to give off more extreme esters imo, more suited to a wheat beer.

I've got a clone of Rogue's Dead Guy (a pseudo-Helles Bock) in the fermentation fridge at the moment. Base of Vienna and Munich smelled very toasty, bready on brewday. It was fermented with US-05(I think Pacman is similar) at 16c for a week and now moved up to 18c to finish. I really like the original, so I'm looking forward to trying this one.

Thanks for the advice everyone. Think I'll spring for a sack of Extra Pale and some Saaz/US-05 for starters. Does a lowish mash temp of ~65°C sound about right?

Yes, mash on the low side as you want lager to be dry.

Cheers.