I brewed this with mangrove Jack's m84 and it worked a treat. It was at the 5 month mark that it really started to shine. Before that it was just overly malty. Will definitely be brewing this again.
my personal open ferment method is to open the lid so that it's not sealed, but still have it covering to not allow things to drop in. Once fermentation stops being strong enough to protect from oxygen I fully seal again.
Nicely done! It looks and sounds absolutely delicious. I work at a place called Farm Club in Northern Michigan, and we brew a few batches of Czech Dark Lager throughout the year. It is easily one of my favorite beer styles. The side pull really makes it special. Cheers and thank you!
I haven't done many decoctions, (maybe 5 ever) but they always turned out at least 'pretty good' for me. Versus not doing decoctions and having a lager turn out 'fine'. I do enjoy the process and I recognize your comment that there may be a placebo effect going on, which I am fine with :). I actually haven't made a lager in a long time now, opting for a cream ale or blonde when a light fizzy beer was warranted. I was actually planning to get back in the lager game with a kveik and melanoidin. But now you have me thinking about a decoction again... I have done 'open fermented' ales. You can look into probably doing a lager the same way where you lightly put your lid on the fermenter or put a sanitized towel over it. I'm not brave enough for a real 'open' ferm. As for the changing the shape of the fermenter, that is nothing I have worked with so it may be my open fermentations in a bucket were not 'proper', I could not tell any difference in the final products.
I really think the decoction is worth the effort. Even if it just makes me enjoy the beer more, I suppose that is the whole point though. I will probably try something similar for open fermentation, I've done it with weissbier before and its not too difficult, but you have to pay attention.
Outstanding job Steve! I did a Doppelbock a few years ago that had a double decoction mash. I agree that it fundamentally changes the character of the end product. There’s is this certain flavor that just can’t be replaced any other way.
it's interesting, but if you pull a third of the mash volume, you will consistently hit (assuming you start in the mid 120's F like I do) 143-146F, and then 155-158F. I decoct between the protein rest and the Beta rest, and then again for the alpha rest (I don't do a mashout, I lauter and start heating the wort immediately while I sparge with hot water). I find that as long as you raise the decoction to boil over roughly 5 minutes, It mostly converts (because it is so thick) and you don't need to hold it at a sach rest. I also don't generally boil it for long (10 minutes for a pale beer and 15 for a dark beer). If you boil the decoction too long (without adding water to it), you lose too much volume/thermal mass and you don't raise the main mash temp enough (probably what happened when you boiled it for 30 minutes). Using decoctions (along with a cereal cooker), my family's always been heavy unmalted adjunct users (like 60-75% of the grain bill) and always get good extract (we also didn't grow barley, so our homemade malt was always wheat and rye).
Great video! Ever thought about decanting your yeast starter before the pitch? Chill it, drop out the yeast, and pour off the yeastless wort before pitching the rest.
I don't generally go through that effort. I just dont want to waste yeast and I've never found there to be any tangible impact on the beer by adding the whole thing.
Great job Steve. This is on my list next to brew now. But I still implore you to visit the Munich Dunkel again with your new gear. It's been 4yrs and I can only see one attempt. I know you can do it way better now. Anyway Prost and have a great festive year's end.
Thanks for this Steve. I’m not a massive fan of dark beers but this one has me drooling. My main point of concern in this video is the “thing” that appears on your couch at exactly 25mins into the video. Do you have a chicken by any chance or did you stash the new addition there while filming(zero judgment here. I’ve done way worse 😂)
One of the best brews man, really appreciate the na zdraví and hladinka 😅 and using the proper tap to get the beer the way it should. My mouth is watering 🤤 Cheers 🍺
My favourite homebrew beer of the year is a czech dark. I used chocolate wheat malt in the grist, pressure fermented with Voss Kviek... probably sacrilege. The 30 day lagering time is absolutely worth it above everyting else. Nazdravi.
I recently brewed a München Dunkel after brewing a Dunkelweizen. For the MD I added the dark malts only for the last 30 minutes of the mash while with the DW they were in from the beginning. IMO the MD turned out a lot better, the DW tasted extremely malty while the MD had some really nice subtle flavours that you would not be able to pick out from the other beer. Congrats on your child!
Hello Steve! First of all, thank you for your videos. No one goes into as much detail- you certainly have the heart of a teacher! Question for you: I always brew with the water that comes directly out of my tap, without adding anything to it. What is the point in changing the water profile to achieve very specific ppm levels of certain chemicals? Have these specific water profiles already been determined as the “optimum” balance for a particular brew or has your own research brought you to these numbers as how to best make each ingredient shine? Thank you!
If you tweak the water profile you can really shape the flavor and mouthfeel of the beer. It shows more on some beers (like this one) than others. I usually make my own profiles based on what I want to get out of the beer and then use a calculator to help me get the specific numbers
I did exactly this before I even watched your video a while ago, and you're absolutely right. This is the best lager ever! Thanks for your great video! Cheers!
Helll yeahhhh !!! Let’s go!! CDLs are easily my favourite style. So happy to see this pop up in my sub box. I don’t know why it’s so hard to find, they’re delicious!
Sounds fabulous Steve. I'm definitely an advocate for letting time do its magical thing with lagers. I'm going to brew another Helles in the next month or so and store it until summer if I can resist it. The last one really benefited from that long conditioning. I'm keen to try your recipe though. I've decocted once but willing to put in the effort again.
Always great to see people taking on the tmave "style" (ugh I hate that word as Czech brewers don't think in terms of a strictly defined taxonomy of "style"). A couple of quick things though, until about the 1890s "tmave" was largely a top-fermented beer, and was often referred to as "Prager Dunkel", and after the bottom-fermenting revolution was known as a "porter" - I think there is a clear relationship from Prager Dunkel to Tmave through Porter. Being originally more of a Prague thing, their water is harder than Plzen's insanely soft water, though nowhere near as hard as Dublin or London for sure.
Looks delicious, good job. I watch your channel religiously. I've learned a lot from your videos. Currently have an all grain brown ale firing off in my cheap fermonster.
I have a Czech dark lager on the docket after the Munich dunkel this week. Definitely one of my favorite styles as well, and a trip to Prague made me appreciate it even more. Mangrove Jacks has M84 which is supposed to be a bohemian lager yeast, so that is what I’m planning on using. na zdraví!
Great video and congratulations on the baby news. I love my Lukr tap as well! For open fermenting I use a Fermzilla Allrounder, (in my fermentation fridge) which is relatively wide and place a shower cap over its opening for the first few days. After then I attach its normal lid. This keeps it clean and relatively open. I have done this for years now and it works well.
This one looks and sounds amazing, I was planning a Vienna to start 2024 with but I think im going to change that to this. The Lukr is sick, great pour.
Great job! I haven't brewed in a long time and am going to get back into it. I have been interested in open fermentation since I found out years ago that Sierra Nevada open ferments their Bigfoot Barleywine and Kellerweis. I for one will baby step it of course coming back into the game (Pale Ales, ordinary bitters ect.) but in my mind I am going to get a maple syrup evaporator pan and use it to open ferment. May just do a bucket open ferment at first. I'm actually planning on a little clean room and have at it. It is something I have thought about for years and I'm not getting any younger.
Great to see how proud you are of this one! Looks fantastic and convinced me to also try making one the proper way. Would love a video on the side pull tap. Are they easy to set up? Congratulations on the baby too! Hope parenthood is treating both of you well
I'm glad you enjoyed the video, this was so much fun to make. It was an outstanding beer to come home from the hospital too. I'll throw a link to the Lukr faucet in the video description, but this was easy enough to just attach to my kegerator shank. Plug and play.
Re: open fermentation. I was thinking about splitting a batch into two bucket-style fermenters, thus getting that 1:1 width to height ratio. Extra cleaning but might work, and it’d fit in my fermentation chamber. I’m not sure whether the walls of the vessel being high matters too (for gas exchange) or if it’s mostly wort-depth that matters.
looks like an amazing beer and from the tasting part of the video as you described it sounds pretty close if not spot on to the czech dark lager from samsons . it is a very beautiful beer . i had a recipe that i was going to use for this style but i didnt have munich so i was actually going to use victory. but... maybe i should wait and use the munich afterall. my wife finally agreed to letting me have a chest freezer so i can do more actual traditional lager beers which im stoked. she thinks lagering a beer from 1-3 months ect is dumb but she has no ideas what lagering this long brings to the table . no worries ill wait patiently while she has her wine. id rather wait then drink a bottle of grapes. have a good day! ps. congrats to the the new addition in your life.
Glad you enjoyed the video! I would recommend skipping the victory malt, that can adda dry astringent roastiness to beers sometimes that might be out of place here. Best of luck!
I'm looking how to do it without a temperature control electric brewkettle.. Without one I think you would be better off mashing in a coolerton. Using the heated mash to bring up the temperature of the main mash instead of doing it electrically. Using the rest in the decoction vessel to brown up.
If you're doing the decoction old school, my biggest advice is pull more decoction than you think you need, The calculations always seem to have me undershooting my target temps.
Thanks for another excellent Video! You might want to investigate the claim around Weyermann Floor-Malted Bohemian Pilsner Malt being under modified. To me, it has too high of a Kolbach S/T to be considered under modified. Mecca Grade makes an excellent truly under-modified malt called Gateway. Best wishes.
I have “open fermented” a saison by just covering my fermenter with a cloth, the same way i do my kombucha. Not fully open to the elements but keeps bugs and anything else from falling in
Since you're on a decoction kick lately, I'd be interested to see you tackle a herrmann mash on a hefeweizen, dunkelweizen, or Weizenbock. Supposedly, it ups the banana ester production by 120%.
It wouldn't be easier to pull out decoction in the middle of beta rest in main kettle? It will change something? For me is easier to first hold it in Grainfather and pull out decoction during beta rest, heat and boil directly. Cheers!
Maybe if you're doing a single decoction, Unless you held a really long beta rest or a really short decoction I don't know if there would be enough time to do two decoctions.
Small update on my three beers, this time without the Jazz (Jazz has completely turned into my beer music :D ). My taste-tester (my father) has approved all three and found them all delicious and very much enjoyed his Fathers Day present. Irish Red is nice nearly dark with clear red tinge when you look through it though getting any sort of foam on top was a struggle, first flavor you get is nice touch of toffee. Belgian Abbey ale is with good thick head that stays a good while, the beer itself is good tasting though when trying to get to the actual beer, the foam was quite sour. Need to check my recipe for the pH. And finally the Smoke Beer, aroma and initial flavor vise the smokiness is non-existant, but as you keep on drinking you start to notice something different in the flavor and by the time you finish the pint, you can taste small amount of smoke and it leaves your mouth a bit dry, encouraging for a second drink. Can't wait for December so I can offer a set of these for them as Christmas present (I need to think something different for my Muslim colleagues)
Hey dude, great video. Would love to give the recipe a go, double concoction a bit intimidating though. Also still trying to set up my fermentation chamber (the freezer I bought is too small for my fermenter 🤦)
Awesome video! One of my favorite beers and I haven’t brewed one. Tree House’s Nomad is the best I’ve found of this style. Also, I don’t think I’ll be able to do a decoction mash. Any recommendation if I can’t? 152-154 for 60 min then through in the roasted malt during the mash out?
I've had Nomad a few times and I really enjoy that beer! If you can step mash with 3-5% melanoidin malt you should get similar results. If you are limited to single temperature, your plan will work fine as well.
Good one! On the topic of yeast, I’ve been reading some things about Fermentis S-23 which claim it is well suited to Czech/Bohemian styles. Have you had any experience with that yeast?
bro did u name ur kid after a beer? u should :D Come Brett, Prune, Porter and Amber we must hurry to school! Do not forget your special bröther, New Zealand Pilsner. Even if he is your brother from another mother Im still his dad just as rad.
Pouring the beer from the faucet does not introduce air to the beer. The faucet has a restrictor that makes the co2 come out of solution forming the fine foam. The process is the same with a hand pump as it has a sparkler that makes the co2 come out of solution forming the fine foam. Nitrogen systems has a 5-hole restrictor that the nitrogen forces the beer thru and the co2 comes out of solution forming the fine foam. Hand pumps and nitrogen faucets create the cascade effect. The only time air is introduced is on the spile port on the casks to allow the pump to work properly. Thay now introduce low pressure co2 instead of air to make the cask ales last longer.
Trying my hand at this recipe next weekend. Only planning on doing a single decoction though. You think I should do it between the beta and alpha, or between the alpha and the mash out?? I’d love to send you some once it’s all done!
Brewed this up today. Ended up doing the double decoction, figured wth. Was quite the experience, and wort looked and smelled amazing. We’ll see ~2 months from now.
Great video! I will try brewing this in a day soon. However I want to scale the recipe to 50 liters in the fermenter. I understand how to scale the ingredients but how about scaling the volume of the decoctions? My brewing software tells me I will have a total mash volume 52,3 liters (water and malt) if this can be used for anything. Thanks!
Good luck! The decoction volume will scale with the recipe as well. The rule of thumb is one-third your total mash volume is the decoction, but I usually end up a bit short of my target temps with that rule, so adding an extra 10% or so should help out with that.
@@TheApartmentBrewer thanks a lot - it all makes sense. In the meantime I also found a formula which takes into account the needed change in temp and the total mash volume. Would you say I can also use the suggested mash temperatures and process with the shown decoctions also for a pale Czech lager?
The same mash schedule should work just as well for other styles of Czech lager. Although they more traditionally use triple decoction schedules. But two is plenty still.
would it be a dumb idea if i used bohemian floor malted DARK with munich malt ? in a czech dark? ive looked online and i cant find anyone thats using the dark floor malted. seems everyone is using regular floor malted
I add the whole thing because I don't want to waste any yeast. By the time the whole thing is fermented it really doesn't change things in terms of dilution, and I've never gotten negative flavor impacts.
I'm not an expert when it comes to fermentation in low temperature and I'm wondering how different will that beer be if I will use w34/70 and ferment it in around 10-14C
If you use 34/70 it will most likely attenuate further, leaving you with a drier beer. 34/70 doesn't really care about the temperature. The beer certainly will still be good, but you'd probably get more roast that way with less sweetness to back it up.
Why do you make a starter using two packets of yeast? I thought the point of starters was to create more yeast so you didn’t have to buy multiple packs. Props on the decoction mash. That’s a labor of love.
I make starters not just to pitch a lot of yeast but also to vitalize and wake up the yeast. Even if I'm only getting maybe 100-200B more cells out of the starter, the point is the yeast is not coming out of a semi dormant state in the package.
Where do you come up with these Gems?! I had some Czech Pilsner grains available, so I brewed up a 10 batch today. I just had to use 34/70. I hope it’s close. Cheers 🍻
Even though Schwarzbier is very light on the roast character, Czech dark lager is even lighter and softer while still keeping that color. Big differences in mouthfeel, yeast flavor and final gravity too.
Beerwise, they usually refer to the same thing. Within the Czech Republic there are two major regions that are older than the country itself, Bohemia and Moravia. So technically a bohemian lager refers to the region of Bohemia, but most of the time they are interchangeable
I brewed this with mangrove Jack's m84 and it worked a treat. It was at the 5 month mark that it really started to shine. Before that it was just overly malty.
Will definitely be brewing this again.
Looking forward to hearing about the competition results on this one..
I drank through the whole thing already!
my personal open ferment method is to open the lid so that it's not sealed, but still have it covering to not allow things to drop in. Once fermentation stops being strong enough to protect from oxygen I fully seal again.
Great method!
That looks like one amazing beer! Thank you for the support, and importantly for inspiring us all.
Cheers guys!
Nicely done! It looks and sounds absolutely delicious. I work at a place called Farm Club in Northern Michigan, and we brew a few batches of Czech Dark Lager throughout the year. It is easily one of my favorite beer styles. The side pull really makes it special. Cheers and thank you!
Small world! I live in Cadillac and every time i go to Traverse, I stop by Farm Club. They make the best beer! Silver Spruce is great too.
Small world!! Farm club rocks
That is really cool! Thanks for sharing!
Brewing this now on my Foundry. Cheers brother.
Best of luck!
I haven't done many decoctions, (maybe 5 ever) but they always turned out at least 'pretty good' for me. Versus not doing decoctions and having a lager turn out 'fine'. I do enjoy the process and I recognize your comment that there may be a placebo effect going on, which I am fine with :). I actually haven't made a lager in a long time now, opting for a cream ale or blonde when a light fizzy beer was warranted. I was actually planning to get back in the lager game with a kveik and melanoidin. But now you have me thinking about a decoction again...
I have done 'open fermented' ales. You can look into probably doing a lager the same way where you lightly put your lid on the fermenter or put a sanitized towel over it. I'm not brave enough for a real 'open' ferm. As for the changing the shape of the fermenter, that is nothing I have worked with so it may be my open fermentations in a bucket were not 'proper', I could not tell any difference in the final products.
Decoction adds something that is subtle but noticeably improved flavor
I really think the decoction is worth the effort. Even if it just makes me enjoy the beer more, I suppose that is the whole point though. I will probably try something similar for open fermentation, I've done it with weissbier before and its not too difficult, but you have to pay attention.
I have now brewed this and it is a fantastic beer. I hit all numbers precisely.
Love how excited you are for this one! Dark lagers are a must try anytime I see them on the menu
They really are a great subset of styles. Cheers!
I’m glad it kept you done diacetyl. In Czech beers that’s what makes the difference! Well done!!
Yeah, it's a delicate balance with that but something that counterintuitively is supposed to be there! Cheers!
Outstanding job Steve! I did a Doppelbock a few years ago that had a double decoction mash. I agree that it fundamentally changes the character of the end product. There’s is this certain flavor that just can’t be replaced any other way.
That makes me really want to do another doppelbock. It is a very distinct but hard to describe flavor - worth the effort every time.
it's interesting, but if you pull a third of the mash volume, you will consistently hit (assuming you start in the mid 120's F like I do) 143-146F, and then 155-158F. I decoct between the protein rest and the Beta rest, and then again for the alpha rest (I don't do a mashout, I lauter and start heating the wort immediately while I sparge with hot water). I find that as long as you raise the decoction to boil over roughly 5 minutes, It mostly converts (because it is so thick) and you don't need to hold it at a sach rest. I also don't generally boil it for long (10 minutes for a pale beer and 15 for a dark beer). If you boil the decoction too long (without adding water to it), you lose too much volume/thermal mass and you don't raise the main mash temp enough (probably what happened when you boiled it for 30 minutes).
Using decoctions (along with a cereal cooker), my family's always been heavy unmalted adjunct users (like 60-75% of the grain bill) and always get good extract (we also didn't grow barley, so our homemade malt was always wheat and rye).
I hope that you serve your father this one! Looks delicious
Worth the wait
Any chance you’ll submit to a competition??
I would have if I didn't drink the whole thing already lol
Great video! Ever thought about decanting your yeast starter before the pitch? Chill it, drop out the yeast, and pour off the yeastless wort before pitching the rest.
I don't generally go through that effort. I just dont want to waste yeast and I've never found there to be any tangible impact on the beer by adding the whole thing.
Just purchased the ClawHammer system and this beer will definitely be on the list to brew!
I hope you enjoy it!
Great job Steve. This is on my list next to brew now. But I still implore you to visit the Munich Dunkel again with your new gear. It's been 4yrs and I can only see one attempt. I know you can do it way better now. Anyway Prost and have a great festive year's end.
That's one I really do need to do again!
Thanks for this Steve. I’m not a massive fan of dark beers but this one has me drooling.
My main point of concern in this video is the “thing” that appears on your couch at exactly 25mins into the video.
Do you have a chicken by any chance or did you stash the new addition there while filming(zero judgment here. I’ve done way worse 😂)
Complimenti 🍻🍻🍻
One of the best brews man, really appreciate the na zdraví and hladinka 😅 and using the proper tap to get the beer the way it should. My mouth is watering 🤤 Cheers 🍺
Glad you enjoyed the video so much! The little things make it so much more fun
This is great. I just tapped my own Czech dark lager on my lukr faucet!
Thanks!
Thank you!
This is the exact type of beer that made me want to try home brewing, if I can't find it I'll make it. Thanks so much!
Thats one of the best things about homebrewing!
My favourite homebrew beer of the year is a czech dark. I used chocolate wheat malt in the grist, pressure fermented with Voss Kviek... probably sacrilege. The 30 day lagering time is absolutely worth it above everyting else. Nazdravi.
Some ingredients perhaps are out of style, but if the beer is great and you enjoy it then its a success! Na zdravi!
I recently brewed a München Dunkel after brewing a Dunkelweizen. For the MD I added the dark malts only for the last 30 minutes of the mash while with the DW they were in from the beginning. IMO the MD turned out a lot better, the DW tasted extremely malty while the MD had some really nice subtle flavours that you would not be able to pick out from the other beer.
Congrats on your child!
Adding the dark grains at the end makes a big difference, and its something Czech brewers have been doing for a very long time!
Hello Steve! First of all, thank you for your videos. No one goes into as much detail- you certainly have the heart of a teacher!
Question for you: I always brew with the water that comes directly out of my tap, without adding anything to it. What is the point in changing the water profile to achieve very specific ppm levels of certain chemicals? Have these specific water profiles already been determined as the “optimum” balance for a particular brew or has your own research brought you to these numbers as how to best make each ingredient shine?
Thank you!
If you tweak the water profile you can really shape the flavor and mouthfeel of the beer. It shows more on some beers (like this one) than others. I usually make my own profiles based on what I want to get out of the beer and then use a calculator to help me get the specific numbers
Fantastic looking beer. Will definitely have to try making this one - including the decoction
I made this last weekend along with a blueberry blonde and your Amber ale. They're bubbling away now. Can't wait!
If you are ever in the Tampa area, check out Grand Central Brewhouse in St Pete. Some of the best Czech beers you will find in the states.
Sounds like a plan!
Another great video. Be interesting to see how a non-lagered pressure fermented version would stack up against that one. Maybe one for next year! 😊
Congrats to the newborn!
Thank you!
Man I am always jelous of the view you have from your balcony
The beer looked awesome too
Glad you enjoyed it!
I did exactly this before I even watched your video a while ago, and you're absolutely right. This is the best lager ever!
Thanks for your great video! Cheers!
I was in Czechia this year and I fell in love with this style! Can’t wait to brew it at home. Thanks for the good content as always.
Helll yeahhhh !!! Let’s go!! CDLs are easily my favourite style. So happy to see this pop up in my sub box. I don’t know why it’s so hard to find, they’re delicious!
I'm glad you have the same enthusiasm I do for the beer style! So much fun to make!
So stoked for you man I know you've been searching for this beer Congratulations!
Beer Nirvana!
Now I want one of them side pour taps!
It makes a huge difference and was absolutely worth it!
Bathtub is a great open fermentation vessel. Just ask Martin lol
I have an unused bathtub but I don't think I'd risk sewer gas mixing in
Haha that was an awesome video! I don't think I'll be trying that method though!
I had Budvar's dark pilsner for the first time recently and I actually prefer it over their regular Czech pilsner. Soooo good!
That is a beer I really want to try sometime!
Sounds fabulous Steve. I'm definitely an advocate for letting time do its magical thing with lagers. I'm going to brew another Helles in the next month or so and store it until summer if I can resist it. The last one really benefited from that long conditioning. I'm keen to try your recipe though. I've decocted once but willing to put in the effort again.
Long lagering is never bad for beer! Cheers!
Definitely want to try this recipe. I may have a problem finding yeast here in Australia where I live. But still worth a shot
I hope it works out for you!
I'm definitely going to try this recipe. Great video, thanks, Apartment Brewer!
My pleasure! I hope you enjoy it!
Always great to see people taking on the tmave "style" (ugh I hate that word as Czech brewers don't think in terms of a strictly defined taxonomy of "style"). A couple of quick things though, until about the 1890s "tmave" was largely a top-fermented beer, and was often referred to as "Prager Dunkel", and after the bottom-fermenting revolution was known as a "porter" - I think there is a clear relationship from Prager Dunkel to Tmave through Porter. Being originally more of a Prague thing, their water is harder than Plzen's insanely soft water, though nowhere near as hard as Dublin or London for sure.
Very interesting info!
Looks delicious, good job. I watch your channel religiously. I've learned a lot from your videos. Currently have an all grain brown ale firing off in my cheap fermonster.
Sounds delicious! There aren't enough brown ales out there.
Steve, this dark lager looks amazing. I will have to give it a try in cloning it sometime!
I hope you do, it was such an amazing beer. Cheers!
Nice video! I don't mind decoration mashing but I definitely don't want to be doing it every brew day! This brew looks and sounds great!
Agreed! It's a once in a while kind of thing for me too. Cheers!
We need a video on how you got and set up the Lukr faucet!
It was so easy, I linked it in the description, it was a simple plug and play with the US shank adaptor.
Congratulations on a great brew. I love tmave pivot. Also congratulations on your new addition to the family
Thank you!
I have a Czech dark lager on the docket after the Munich dunkel this week. Definitely one of my favorite styles as well, and a trip to Prague made me appreciate it even more. Mangrove Jacks has M84 which is supposed to be a bohemian lager yeast, so that is what I’m planning on using. na zdraví!
Dunkel is such a great style, I’ve got one on tap now. Good luck!
it looks very delicious.......amazing job Steve......cheers
Great video and congratulations on the baby news. I love my Lukr tap as well! For open fermenting I use a Fermzilla Allrounder, (in my fermentation fridge) which is relatively wide and place a shower cap over its opening for the first few days. After then I attach its normal lid. This keeps it clean and relatively open. I have done this for years now and it works well.
Thank you! Maybe I'll try just leaving the lid off in the fermentation chamber next time. I guess that theoretically should work.
This one looks and sounds amazing, I was planning a Vienna to start 2024 with but I think im going to change that to this. The Lukr is sick, great pour.
Thank you!
Well done Steve! You've convinced me to brew this one next, keep up the great content 👍
Glad you enjoyed it! Its a great beer style!
Looks absolutely sensational Steve! Well done and thanks for bringing us such an excellent video as always!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Great video by the way
Great job!
I haven't brewed in a long time and am going to get back into it. I have been interested in open fermentation since I found out years ago that Sierra Nevada open ferments their Bigfoot Barleywine and Kellerweis.
I for one will baby step it of course coming back into the game (Pale Ales, ordinary bitters ect.) but in my mind I am going to get a maple syrup evaporator pan and use it to open ferment. May just do a bucket open ferment at first. I'm actually planning on a little clean room and have at it. It is something I have thought about for years and I'm not getting any younger.
That is a very interesting approach, I think as long as it was kept reasonably sanitary that type of vessel would work. Best of luck!
love your videos so much mate! you're an absolute legend. thanks!
Haha I'm glad you love them, cheers!
Ah man really jelly you have that on draft !!
Also really want one of those.sode pour taps, but yikes they are pricey !
They're not cheap by any means, but its worth it if you brew a lot of Czech beers!
Outstanding job! Bravo and cheers 🍺
Thank you! This was lots of fun to make!
Ok time for the fusion dance. Now you could parti-gyle a decoction mash.....;)
I will punish myself with this some time, but man thats gonna be a lot of work haha
Great to see how proud you are of this one! Looks fantastic and convinced me to also try making one the proper way. Would love a video on the side pull tap. Are they easy to set up? Congratulations on the baby too! Hope parenthood is treating both of you well
I'm glad you enjoyed the video, this was so much fun to make. It was an outstanding beer to come home from the hospital too. I'll throw a link to the Lukr faucet in the video description, but this was easy enough to just attach to my kegerator shank. Plug and play.
Looks awesome!!! I love dark lagers so it would make sense to brew one of these! Cheers 🍻
I'd love to see you do this one too! They're great for fall/winter
You should have shown how you extracted the yeast 😊
Re: open fermentation. I was thinking about splitting a batch into two bucket-style fermenters, thus getting that 1:1 width to height ratio. Extra cleaning but might work, and it’d fit in my fermentation chamber. I’m not sure whether the walls of the vessel being high matters too (for gas exchange) or if it’s mostly wort-depth that matters.
I don't know if the fermenter shape really makes a difference at the homebrew scale, but if you do this please let me know if it did!
you have such a pro setup, im so happy that no one can see my totally ghetto setup lol
looks like an amazing beer and from the tasting part of the video as you described it sounds pretty close if not spot on to the czech dark lager from samsons . it is a very beautiful beer . i had a recipe that i was going to use for this style but i didnt have munich so i was actually going to use victory. but... maybe i should wait and use the munich afterall. my wife finally agreed to letting me have a chest freezer so i can do more actual traditional lager beers which im stoked. she thinks lagering a beer from 1-3 months ect is dumb but she has no ideas what lagering this long brings to the table . no worries ill wait patiently while she has her wine. id rather wait then drink a bottle of grapes. have a good day! ps. congrats to the the new addition in your life.
Glad you enjoyed the video! I would recommend skipping the victory malt, that can adda dry astringent roastiness to beers sometimes that might be out of place here. Best of luck!
I have been drewling over a Lukr faucet for years but they are a bit pricey so I will probably keep drewling.
I'm looking how to do it without a temperature control electric brewkettle.. Without one I think you would be better off mashing in a coolerton. Using the heated mash to bring up the temperature of the main mash instead of doing it electrically. Using the rest in the decoction vessel to brown up.
If you're doing the decoction old school, my biggest advice is pull more decoction than you think you need, The calculations always seem to have me undershooting my target temps.
Did you "Czech" in with Andy from Tanglefoot in Texas, he is brewing up some amazing Czech lagers?
I personally really enjoyed the Treehouse version of a czech dark lager called Nomad.
Thats a great beer I also enjoy!
Thanks for another excellent Video! You might want to investigate the claim around Weyermann Floor-Malted Bohemian Pilsner Malt being under modified. To me, it has too high of a Kolbach S/T to be considered under modified. Mecca Grade makes an excellent truly under-modified malt called Gateway. Best wishes.
I'l have to check it out next time. Cheers!
I have “open fermented” a saison by just covering my fermenter with a cloth, the same way i do my kombucha. Not fully open to the elements but keeps bugs and anything else from falling in
I think that would work fine, I've done that with a hefeweizen a few times
Since you're on a decoction kick lately, I'd be interested to see you tackle a herrmann mash on a hefeweizen, dunkelweizen, or Weizenbock. Supposedly, it ups the banana ester production by 120%.
Wow, thats pretty interesting. A long time ago I did a decoction mashed hefeweizen, but man that was a ridiculous amount of work
Nice! I have to try this one! By the way, was someone @24:55 raising their hand to order one of these?
It wouldn't be easier to pull out decoction in the middle of beta rest in main kettle? It will change something? For me is easier to first hold it in Grainfather and pull out decoction during beta rest, heat and boil directly. Cheers!
Maybe if you're doing a single decoction, Unless you held a really long beta rest or a really short decoction I don't know if there would be enough time to do two decoctions.
Nice looking watch collection I've been spotting in your videos. Would love to know what you're wearing during the pour + tasting!
That's a glycine combat sub!
@@TheApartmentBrewer very nice! Thanks for sharing. I love all the videos, incredible free content we are all lucky to have
@@TTweten77 really glad you enjoy them!!
what about using a grow tent to open ferment. It is closed off.
Small update on my three beers, this time without the Jazz (Jazz has completely turned into my beer music :D ). My taste-tester (my father) has approved all three and found them all delicious and very much enjoyed his Fathers Day present. Irish Red is nice nearly dark with clear red tinge when you look through it though getting any sort of foam on top was a struggle, first flavor you get is nice touch of toffee. Belgian Abbey ale is with good thick head that stays a good while, the beer itself is good tasting though when trying to get to the actual beer, the foam was quite sour. Need to check my recipe for the pH. And finally the Smoke Beer, aroma and initial flavor vise the smokiness is non-existant, but as you keep on drinking you start to notice something different in the flavor and by the time you finish the pint, you can taste small amount of smoke and it leaves your mouth a bit dry, encouraging for a second drink. Can't wait for December so I can offer a set of these for them as Christmas present (I need to think something different for my Muslim colleagues)
Sounds like some successful brews!
Great video. I'm putting this recipe on my TBB list.
i have to say it, with the years you started to morph into first officer william t riker =) ay ay captain!
12:23 dad bod detected
Local brewshop wasn't carrying barke, so went with Munich II, think that should be fine?
That should be perfectly fine.
Hey dude, great video. Would love to give the recipe a go, double concoction a bit intimidating though. Also still trying to set up my fermentation chamber (the freezer I bought is too small for my fermenter 🤦)
Hope you can make it some day!
Awesome video! One of my favorite beers and I haven’t brewed one. Tree House’s Nomad is the best I’ve found of this style. Also, I don’t think I’ll be able to do a decoction mash. Any recommendation if I can’t? 152-154 for 60 min then through in the roasted malt during the mash out?
I've had Nomad a few times and I really enjoy that beer! If you can step mash with 3-5% melanoidin malt you should get similar results. If you are limited to single temperature, your plan will work fine as well.
@@TheApartmentBrewerthank you! 3-5% and take this out of the base malt amount? Also what do you think for a step mash?
Same mash schedule I used if you can step mash. Up to you on how you want to integrate the melanoidin malt, this style is reasonably flexible
Good one!
On the topic of yeast, I’ve been reading some things about Fermentis S-23 which claim it is well suited to Czech/Bohemian styles. Have you had any experience with that yeast?
That one _should_ get the job done without attenuating too much. haven't brewed with it in a very long time though.
bro did u name ur kid after a beer? u should :D
Come Brett, Prune, Porter and Amber we must hurry to school! Do not forget your special bröther, New Zealand Pilsner. Even if he is your brother from another mother Im still his dad just as rad.
How do you carbonate? Naturally like the traditional way?
Pouring the beer from the faucet does not introduce air to the beer. The faucet has a restrictor that makes the co2 come out of solution forming the fine foam. The process is the same with a hand pump as it has a sparkler that makes the co2 come out of solution forming the fine foam. Nitrogen systems has a 5-hole restrictor that the nitrogen forces the beer thru and the co2 comes out of solution forming the fine foam. Hand pumps and nitrogen faucets create the cascade effect. The only time air is introduced is on the spile port on the casks to allow the pump to work properly. Thay now introduce low pressure co2 instead of air to make the cask ales last longer.
Thanks for the info, although I did say that the screen knocks CO2 out, and it mixes with air in the process.
24:59 did you guys spot him? the mini brewer is there
her
Trying my hand at this recipe next weekend. Only planning on doing a single decoction though. You think I should do it between the beta and alpha, or between the alpha and the mash out??
I’d love to send you some once it’s all done!
If you're taking the single decoction route, I'd recommend doing it between alpha and mashout
Brewed this up today. Ended up doing the double decoction, figured wth. Was quite the experience, and wort looked and smelled amazing. We’ll see ~2 months from now.
One day I'll do a decoction.... One day...
Just try it once!
Great video! I will try brewing this in a day soon. However I want to scale the recipe to 50 liters in the fermenter. I understand how to scale the ingredients but how about scaling the volume of the decoctions?
My brewing software tells me I will have a total mash volume 52,3 liters (water and malt) if this can be used for anything.
Thanks!
Good luck! The decoction volume will scale with the recipe as well. The rule of thumb is one-third your total mash volume is the decoction, but I usually end up a bit short of my target temps with that rule, so adding an extra 10% or so should help out with that.
@@TheApartmentBrewer thanks a lot - it all makes sense. In the meantime I also found a formula which takes into account the needed change in temp and the total mash volume.
Would you say I can also use the suggested mash temperatures and process with the shown decoctions also for a pale Czech lager?
The same mash schedule should work just as well for other styles of Czech lager. Although they more traditionally use triple decoction schedules. But two is plenty still.
would it be a dumb idea if i used bohemian floor malted DARK with munich malt ? in a czech dark? ive looked online and i cant find anyone thats using the dark floor malted. seems everyone is using regular floor malted
Great vid! How come so comfortable with not crashing and decanting your starter? Why ‘dilute’ it with 2L of random beer…roughly 10%?
Also, any tips on amount of melanoidin malt that could be added to the bill to get around the decoctions?
I add the whole thing because I don't want to waste any yeast. By the time the whole thing is fermented it really doesn't change things in terms of dilution, and I've never gotten negative flavor impacts.
As far as melanoidin malt, try 3-5% melanoidin malt and use a step mash hitting the same temperature steps. Should get you close.
I'm not an expert when it comes to fermentation in low temperature and I'm wondering how different will that beer be if I will use w34/70 and ferment it in around 10-14C
If you use 34/70 it will most likely attenuate further, leaving you with a drier beer. 34/70 doesn't really care about the temperature. The beer certainly will still be good, but you'd probably get more roast that way with less sweetness to back it up.
Why do you make a starter using two packets of yeast? I thought the point of starters was to create more yeast so you didn’t have to buy multiple packs. Props on the decoction mash. That’s a labor of love.
I make starters not just to pitch a lot of yeast but also to vitalize and wake up the yeast. Even if I'm only getting maybe 100-200B more cells out of the starter, the point is the yeast is not coming out of a semi dormant state in the package.
Where do you come up with these Gems?! I had some Czech Pilsner grains available, so I brewed up a 10 batch today. I just had to use 34/70. I hope it’s close. Cheers 🍻
I get inspired by drinking excellent local beer! I'm glad you enjoyed the video!
😎👍🏻👍🏻🍺🍺
Nice!!!
How does a Czech Lager differ from a Schwarzer Bier? This looks like a great recipe!
Even though Schwarzbier is very light on the roast character, Czech dark lager is even lighter and softer while still keeping that color. Big differences in mouthfeel, yeast flavor and final gravity too.
What’s the difference between a Czech Lager and a Bohemian Lager?
Beerwise, they usually refer to the same thing. Within the Czech Republic there are two major regions that are older than the country itself, Bohemia and Moravia. So technically a bohemian lager refers to the region of Bohemia, but most of the time they are interchangeable
With the yeast strain can it be fermented with just pressure fermentation, no temp control at all?
Debatable. I think it can in theory, but it is a way more expressive lager strain than others.
@@TheApartmentBrewer could this be an experiment video with this strain?
Is this recipe correct ? Typing in numbers an it's not adding up 🤔
Yes the recipe is correct. What isn't adding up?