How to Brew a Czech Dark Lager | Brewtools B40 | EP43
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- Опубліковано 14 бер 2022
- This week I’m brewing a Czech Dark Lager on my Brewtools B40. Czech Dark Lagers are rich and malty and the best ones have a super interesting and complex flavor profile.
Like most styles the secret here is balance. Czech Dark Lagers can be toasty, chocolatey, fruity, and even a little hoppy - but only in balance.
And even though the parameters are fairly wide ranging, some choices are pretty much automatic. The water is soft, the malt is pilsner, some kind of crystal, and something roasted, the hops are Saaz, and the yeast is a super clean fermenting lager yeast.
Now let’s make some beer.
GEAR THAT I USE
Doing some shopping for your brewery? Here’s a list of things I recommend checking out.
BREWTOOLS
B40 Pro 110: bit.ly/3FIAScy
B40 Pro 240: bit.ly/3sStBzf
B80 Pro: bit.ly/3fwWKNy
F40: bit.ly/3UhvTnh
F80: bit.ly/3zyAmdp
4 Valve Starter Pack: bit.ly/3T0fwdy
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Trubinator S: bit.ly/3U1VMrB
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Trubinator L: bit.ly/3DnOwiA
3” CIP Adapter: bit.ly/3WnhaJk
CIP Ball: bit.ly/3WqzEbL
BREWERY
(All you need to get started is a recipe kit and a kitchen!)
1 Gallon Beer Kit: amzn.to/3DqNdzo
1 Gallon Cider Kit: amzn.to/3Wuwlka
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SS BrewTech BME Chronical: bit.ly/3vj1Jna
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PH Meter: amzn.to/3FEVsKN
Grain Scale: amzn.to/3T0qC2j
MaltZilla Grain Mill: bit.ly/3sUwZd6
Anvil Bucket Fermenter: bit.ly/3d0qyeE
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NukaTap Faucet: bit.ly/3tuf1Qb
NukaTap Flow Control Faucet: bit.ly/34Tzgwk
Tilt Hydrometer: bit.ly/3efmLNj
PRODUCTION
(All you need to get started is your PHONE!)
Epidemic Sound (MUSIC): bit.ly/3TSJf9L
Canon M50: amzn.to/3NtFN2O
SmallRig M50 Cage: amzn.to/3h9YFI0
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Some of the links above are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I’ll earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.🤘🏼🍻
References:
www.bjcp.org/style/2015/3/3D/...
beerandbrewing.com/make-your-...
howtobrew.com/book/section-3/t... - Навчання та стиль
Visiting U Fleků was a pretty life changing moment for me, dark czech lager quickly became one of my all time favorites. Great looking beer Dan, good luck in competition!
Sounds dreamy! Thanks dude!
I have been twice U Fleku..my fav pub!
Let me know what you think about step mashing and what you're brewing for NHC!
Great points about step mashing! I totally think that certain styles still benefit from step mashing!
Great video. I do tend to step mash at times, but I usually shorten the steps so that I don't add too much time.
Hell yeah! That looks amazing! You made another one that I have to put on my to brew list!
Thanks man! Highly recommend this recipe!
Great video. Loved the shot of your sight glass when you added the roasted malts.
Thanks! Stoked you liked it 🙌🏼🍻
Dan the man !! You’ve done it again . Awesome job , great description, on the process and ingredients too !! I love your equipment , clean and your brewing area organized . 👍
Thank you! 🙌🏼🍻
Cheers for putting the recipe on Brewfather. Will give this one a go soon.
Good to see you still on the grind!
🤘🏼
I made one at home recently after visiting prague for work, one of my favourite lagers for sure. Yours looks like it was delicious too
Great content as always!
Nailed it! That looked amazing.
I love step mashes. Great for getting all the goodness out of your grains.
🙏🏼🙌🏼🍻
I've had one of these on tap for a few months now, fantastic style and delicious! My recipe wound up being a little dark-caramel/crystal heavy, but it certainly drinks nice!
Great video with a great looking beer. Good luck in the comp if you submit it. Love the glass.
Thanks dude!
Found this channel when checking general Brewtools videos. This is right up my alley, calm, informative and nicely edited. You have a new follower, looking forward to checking out what you have done previously. Keep up the good work!
Thank you stoked you found the channel! 🍻
You had me sniffing my screen!🤣
It looks amazing.
😂🙌🏼 Thanks!
Cudos from a fellow step-masher. Thats a pretty good looking beer!
Looks and sound like a great beer. Good Luck if you decide to enter it.
Loved the video mate!
Thanks Dr!
Good explanation on why to step mash - recently stepped mashed a Kolsch.
Thanks! I made a kolsch recently too 🤘🏼🍻
Hi ya Dan just an after thought on one of your videos. Try a reverse mash program on your Kolsch recipe. Have done both low temp step up but high temp down is by far my fav. Hit all the zones finishing at 43 deg C then sparge at 77 degs C. Called tour mash program gives and very fermentable wort. You could do one of your music mix but in reverse if the brew day go's to air.
good luck in the competition!
Thank you sir!
Looks utterly delicious!! Regarding a step mash, it really is a legitimate technique but as you said it depends heavily on the malt modification. Most European breweries will do a step mash of some kind, but from my understanding they are using less-modified malts. Also its a surefire way to get a light body with great head retention - as it looks like you did - I need to do more step mashes, so thanks for the inspiration! Good luck at NHC and let us know how it goes!
Thank you! What I’m learning is you can easily make a full bodied beer no matter what mash temp or schedule you use. It all started with a Brulosophy exbeeriment and then I started trying my own tests to verify their results. Sounds crazy and I didn’t believe it at first but residual sugar and body seem like two distinct functions where body is driven more my the water profile than anything else. I can’t find the brewery right now but I actually read in craft beer in brewing that breweries are even step mashing NEIPAS 🤯 Which I guess when you think about it, all those adjuncts can definitely benefits from improved liquefaction and you can just favor the alpha range. I’m gonna try it out and I’ll post the results
@@HopsANDgnarly I 100% agree with you here based on my own brews. I recently brewed a pilsner using a step mash and a balanced water profile and the resulting beer definitely veers more towards the water profile body wise and not thin and watery at all. Bonus points from the step mash are that it does have some great head without the addition of any carapils/carafoam or other supposedly head boosting grains.
That Brewtools is a gorgeous looking system! Lager come out nice also!
It really is! Thanks dude!
@@HopsANDgnarly btw what lens are you using? That is such a nice crisp close up with a gorgeously creamy depth of field!!
@@NikitaVorontsov It's all about the bokeh! lol
@@NikitaVorontsov I shoot almost exclusively with a canon 1.4 50mm with a speed booster on my crappy mirrorless. Someday I’ll get a real camera lol but the lens is incredible
@@HopsANDgnarly daamn you’re somewhat convincing me to get the Sony 50mm 1.4 now, been using the sigma 16mm 1.4 but it’s just too wide for those up close shots
Recently switched from step mashing to overnight mashing. Doughing at 77C which brings it down to around 72C. Cover everything up and let it sit over night (18hrs). Next day I pull the bag and sparge. No burning of fingers and easy brew day experience. Step mashing still is superior flavor wise…I think 🤔 All the best for the competition. Thanks for putting out this great content.
I almost mentioned overnight mashing! I’d like to try it out. Seems like good breweries either use a step mash or overnight. Thanks for watching! 🍻
@@HopsANDgnarly Would like to see your take on it here. Going forward I plan to introduce some sour malt in the overnights. Hypothese is to boost efficiency with the longer steeping.
It's really nice! I always wonder that after 30 min how much starch left in the worth, and if zero or really small amount then does it worth to make a 70 celsius step and plus 30 min.? 🤷♂ I dont know, maybe I need more iodin test during mashing.
What mash ph do you shoot for in a dark lager like this? Awesome video!
Tried your recipe didn't have everything as been in NZ, changed out the yeast for WLP820 and mostly Gladfield malts have to say is a new Def New Fav
That’s awesome I’m stoked it worked out well for you 🙌🏼🍻
Step mash >>i don't do them for non-lagered beers and i don't typically do a protein rest, however, I like to do a modified hochkurz mash with an added glycoprotein rest around 162-163 for 30 min.
Love the style choice! I feel like the hopping might need to go up a little more. Some later addition of hops at maybe 10 or 5 and FO. And are you flying out for a NHC? There's a possibility I'll be there with beer
Thanks my dude! No I’ll probably just submit from here and hope for the best. I’d love to go sometime in a different city
I am a new BT user (haven't brewed yet), you seem to be doing full volume no sparge. In the video, you recirculated the wort once you raised the basket. Are you doing a sort of Vorlauf or is this to rinse the grain to improve efficiency? Is this during mashing out, before or while getting to a boil. Full of questions 😅
I will be doing full volume no sparge also and I am interested in your experience (if that is indeed what you are doing).
Yep I go full volume when making smaller batches because of the dead space under the basket. And you're right on - going for a vorlauf and it really seems to help with efficiency, especially when raising the temp for mash out. I have quite a few grain to glass videos on the B40 that I hope will help you out and I encourage you to join the BT FB group if you haven't yet.
How long would you say it takes to clean everything with this system at the end of a brew?
How long total did the dark grains mash for?
Can you link the recipe to the brewfather recipe? Was looking for the water profile you used.
No problem! I used the built in dark lager profile share.brewfather.app/XnE2OeXUd6eHsr
Hey do you have the recipe for this! I’d love to brew this for my next brew! Thanks for your great content.
Yep here’s a link share.brewfather.app/XnE2OeXUd6eHsr
Thanks! Looking forward to brewing this for my wife and I soon :).
Why all those different salts added to RO water? Wouldn't you normally just use a little gypsum and chalk?
I guess you could but there are 6 ions that I control for with BrewFather and I do it for every batch of beer
In your reasons for doing a step-mash - Aren't all those reasons just as true doing a single infusion mash and just having a longer mash?
What benefit does the 'step' portion add? Why mash at the lower temp at all if those enzymes aren't needed?
They’re more counter arguments to those that say step mashes aren’t valuable because modern grain is fully modified. Except the last one. The main reason is to make full use of the enzymes to convert the mash. There’s this idea that you either need beta or alpha and what I’ve found is even if you want more complex sugars it’s still beneficial to leverage beta amalayse to convert a portion of the wort and leverage alpha for the majority.
You also make a good point. A long mash like an overnight mash can certainly help maximize wort potential as well.
I only see it as a legit tactic if you want to precisely adjust your final gravity and attenuation or use a lot of wheat. Since most homebrewer brew a beer once and go on with the next recipe, the extra time is not important.
also for example a Czech premium pale lager needs a lot of body, and a beta amylase rest can ruin the beer and make it too thin and too boozy
Somehow this spread through the homebrew world but it’s not actually true. If you want body make sure your water profile is correct and you can leave plenty of residual sweetness just by changing the timing of the steps. You can do 20 min at 60 and 40 min at 70 for example. But you need plenty of maltose for healthy fermentation no matter what. Also keep in mind that beta amylase is working in your mash at basically any mash temp. It’s not like it turns off when you hit the alpha range.
I mean this all in a super friendly way. Happy to keep discussing if it stays chill 🤙🏼🍻
I am lucky in that we have a Slovakian restaurant about 10 minutes away with a patio overlooking a giant green space. They have awesome food and always have pilsner urquell and budvar on tap, including czech dark lager offerings. So good!
I am getting more and more convinced of the benefits of step mashing since moving to ebiab (brewzilla), as I do find that there is a large improvement in efficiency with a step mash for me. It definitely helps having a programmable system making the process so easy.
Oh man that sounds incredible! You’re absolutely right - being able to program it in makes it painless
Please post your recipe in the description in future videos, it gives you more credability and shows you want to share your knowledge
Thanks for your feedback! It’s linked somewhere down in these comments and I’ll consider it for next time
@@HopsANDgnarly Yes I realize the link is down in the comments and I appreciate that. When I view your videos and other homebrew videos I look at the recipe in the description and have it in front of me while I watch and later when I need to check it again and refer to it, the recipe is easier to find. It is so easy to find the recipe down there in the description. I really appreciate your work and all the effort you put in your brews and videos, the production is amazing. Keep up the great work!
Don't listen to the step mash deniers. While single infusion is great, remember the enzymes are doing the work. You will make a better beer holding those enzymes at their peak working temp (and Ph). Find the balance between your Beta and Alpha rest times for a given beer and you will have a lot more control over your final product.
Thank you! Hard to understand why everyone wants to do the minimum
How long did you lager it for?
3 weeks when I did this tasting
Does anyone know what FG to expect with this recipe?
It finished at 1.014 for me 🍻
Music?
All the music comes from Epidemic Sounds bit.ly/3TSJf9L
Hazels?
Exactly!
... a narodilo se flekovský!
Díky!
shirtless putin catching rays?
Yep. Bad timing. And honestly I wasn’t impressed. Have you had it?
@@HopsANDgnarly Never had it. Just saw it and thought you might be in CO
@@iliffavenuebrewhouse6496 Yep I live in boulder county
@@HopsANDgnarly PRTY