As a czech homebrewer and beer lover, please let me salute you sir, you just nailed it (even the pronaunciation!). Very professional attitude there. Im very happy that you have used ingredients of your choice so just havent copied that notorious scheme of czech lager. I also experiment with those - sterling seems to be an excelent choice! Im impresed you went down with decoction. It´s a traditional thing back here in Czech republic, but it´s not definitely neccessary. Basicaly decoction mashing is way older that infusion dating back to the Middle Ages, when thermometers were not available, metal materials were expensive and volume measurement was used instead of temperature measurement. While using pilsner malt, that is full of dia precursors, you can help yourself with 90minutes boil, fast chill and using dia rest as you actually did. Thank you very much for making czech beer styles and have a good one. Cheers! Jersey.
That means a lot to get the stamp of approval! I really enjoyed making this beer and incorporating the traditions of the country in which it is made is one of my favorite parts!
@jerseyhovidea I spent a bit of time in Prague and Brno in the early 2000s... evenings spent finding the brew pubs, Pivo Dum was a favourite... mm garlic soup. Pretty sure we'd have a 'mix' beer, which I think was simply 50:50 of pale and dark lagers. Don't know if that was a common thing or just us English being odd.
I'm so glad Steve is back. These videos always give me ideas. Some that have nothing to do with what his is currently brewing. Watched it to the end as always. I could almost taste how smooth that lager is just by his description. Santé, y'all.
I find myself, like you, steering myself away from my typical brews (pale ale, IPA, sour ales, stouts/porters) toward more lager/pseudo lager styles. Brewed a Vienna lager in late spring/early summer and brewed a cream ale with mosaic and barbe rouge yesterday for something crisp and refreshing in this Alabama heat. Great video as always. Cheers
After chugging the beer, Steve is speechless! It's a great style. A local brewery here in the Sacramento area (Urban Roots) makes a 10º/1.040 like the one in your video and a 12º. I love that 10º because you can drink it all day, literally. I think I'll change up my brewing schedule to work one in before the heat of summer comes to an end. Welcome back!
Thanks for the video. That beer and pour looked delicious! Have a look at your water chemistry and beer ph with regards to nailing that crispness. A good sulf/chlor ratio is 0.8 and a beer finishing at around 4.2-4.3 in PH post fermentation. To achieve that you need to adjust your post boil wort PH to around 5.0 to 5.2 and the yeast will do the rest and land it in that zone... more work I know but it definitely makes a difference in my experience.
Last night I watched your dunkel video and spent the rest of my night trying to figure out how to do a good decoction. Now tonight your video goes through the exact process I found. lol I will be coming back to this video around brewday.
Kudos. You always share interesting nuggets that spawn ideas in my own brews. I did have an RO installed when I moved into my current place, but I haven't yet done a pilsner with straight RO. Mind you, the mineral bill on my pils is usually very small. Next one, I'm doing straight RO. With ascorbic acid...ha. Cheers! 🍻
I'm thinking it still makes sense to add a small amount of minerals in regardless. I was curious what straight RO would do and I certainly liked the result, but it has very little pH buffering capacity and that can cause problems
Budvar strain is very nice, it’s very malty but yet dry and crisp. Has zero detectable diacytal under no pressure but I pressure ferment over 1 bar at 10C and it loves it. Also, I recommend spunding to full carbonation level on all your lagers. 😊
Great video. I made almost the exact beer and also used that omega yeast. I noticed a similar minor flaw in mine. I did a d rest and only left it on the yeast cake for 14 days, so that may very well be the issue of not letting it clean up enough. Much appreciate the insight in your video since it gives me another variable to address next time around.
I made a similar czech pils using New Zealand Pacifica with SA-23. I followed a similar fermentations schedule to yours and it turned out amazing. Although it wasn't as bright or clear, the flavor came out like a hazy crossed with a czech.
This is one I need to brew soon. I just brewed a German Pilsner that was one of my best lagers ever. I am actually going to Pilzen in a month, so ill have to gauge how it tastes first! haha
I love the idea of doing more Videos on Czech beers! I’ve been trying to brew a Pilsner urquell clone for around 10 years. I have gotten close but I have never been able to nail it. Someday haha
Given that you used Prostejov malts (kudos on the pronunciation), decoction is basically required as Czech maltsters are primarily making their malt for Czech brewers, so they are expecting decoction to happen. One thing to note about Weyermann Floor Malted Bohemian Pilsner malt, that is also produced in Czechia, by Ferdinand in Benešov. Sterling is also a great, great hop - I have what I am calling a Franconian Lagerbier (but too strong for a kellerbier, and it lagered for 6 weeks rather than 2 or 3) currently carbing which uses Sterling, another great Saaz derived hop is Motueka. Finally, nice pour on the hladinka, more and more breweries I visit are pouring in šnyt territory and calling it a hladinka.
That would be nice to know since I still can't find any readily sold under-modified malt, but from all the info I could find on them it seems their pilsner malt is well modified. Either way I'm very happy with the results I got. Good to know about weyermann bo pils! I'm a huge fan of sterling and motueka, while not something I've used in a Czech based recipe certainly could be really fun in this! Thanks for the feedback on the pour, it's pretty tricky!
Great video, Steve! How much of an impact do you think using that Prostejov malt made i your beer? Would using Weyermann or Stone Path give similar results?
If you haven't done it yet, you should visit Pilzen Czech, home to the Pilsner Urquell brewery... the inventor of Pilsner. The tour is worth the trip. My wife and I were fortunate to be able to do this tour last summer.
Hey Steve I’m a big fan of your videos keep up the good work. Quick question if you don’t mind - you said: ‘Water (ppm): Ca: 23, Mg 0, Na 8, Cl 25, SO4 26, HCO3 16 8 gal (30 L) RO water with NO ADDED MINERALS’ Maybe I’ve got it wrong but doesn’t RO water pretty much have no Ca, Mg etc? Did you add 23 ppm of Ca or was this in the recipe by mistake? Cheers!
So you Pitched at 50°f. I am new to lagering & wonder if your yeast starter is at room temp or is it chilled as well. How long does it take before you see active fermentation. Love your videos & straight forward delivery. You're one of my favorite BrewTube content producers
The starter fermentation temp isn't critical, as long as it ferments. The yeast cells are what you are after and any fermentation derived off flavors from the starter will get erased by the main fermentation in your beer. My starter was rocking at 80 F. It was pitched into 50 F wort and was visibly fermenting within 12 hours
While trying out yeast companies, give Bootleg Biology some love. They’re based in Nashville and have been great for me at home. They also isolated and banked a wild yeast strain for us, on the pro side, that we use in our American amber and Kentucky common. I recently used their unpasteurized Czech lager yeast in a Czech dark lager that I’ll be sending out to comps.
I've made a blonde before and many many kveik beers, feel free to check out the older content for that, but probably not gonna do another blonde for a while, sorry
That's a real beauty. It can't believe the fine dense head. How did you get that? Just finished may first ever lager, a sort of modern Pilsner thing. Rallying good. I was really happy to see a new video. you're the boss
The secret to the head really is the lukr faucet. There's a small screen inside the faucet that knocks out carbonation and makes it creamy and amazing. Congrats on the first lager and glad you love it!
Hey Steve, really beautiful looking beer and pour, congrats! do you know if this malt is under modified or in other words is it suitable for a protein rest and triple decoction? Decoction and Czech lagers aficionado here 😅. Small suggestion for your next one is that it is fine to add some salts (little calcium and magnesium), water in Czech republic can be quite hard (beside Pilsen where it is very soft) and you can get really great lagers all over the place there. Also, regarding cleaning off flavors, this yeast strain (saaz family) is still active even in very low temps so leaving on the keg will eventually clean it out if you can wait for it haha. Looking forward the next episodes on the series, Cheers!
From what I can tell from their website, it seems fully modified. I've had a really hard time finding undermodified malt actually, seems nobody sells it.
Great video! How hot was the wort when you transferred to Brewbuilt X2? I like the idea of using the jacket to cool the wort, but I was worried it could damage the jacket Cheers!
Thanks for another great vid! Here’s a very sincere question: What makes THIS a Czech pale lager vs a Czech Pilsner, seeing how this recipe is 100% Pilsner malt and the yeast strain is for a Czech Pilsner? I’m not asking what differs the styles themselves, but specifically your recipe here. Does it have more to do with the OG/FG numbers vs the recipe build itself that makes it different? Thanks!
Yup you're correct - according to the authorities on what makes different beer styles distinguishable (the BJCP) a Czech Pale Lager is basically just a proportionately less strong and less hoppy Czech pils. If I took this up to 1.057 OG and 5.5% ABV and then took the IBU up to 35 or so but didn't change any ingredients or process, I'd have a Czech "Premium Pale Lager" aka Czech Pils
There's a pretty big difference when you so a side by side. I've done a few split batches before on my channel, kveik (including lutra) is going to drop the pH by a lot more than standard lager yeast and will make the beer more lemony tart, plus will attenuate a ton more than Czech lager yeast. You can get close with kveik but it's not a complete replacement
Cheers! I've got one of these doing a D-rest free rise right now. Love the video. A short question I'd like your thoughts on as I've only done a few Czech beers: I've found that decocting to or between sacc rests has a serious (positive) impact on mash efficiency, but doing so to mash out doesn't. Have you experienced this as well?
Awesome!! Decoction definitely has a minor impact on efficiency - it literally explodes the starches in grain making them more accessible to enzymes in the mash
Triple Decoction is a ton of work, but with modern fully modified malts luckily it's not necessary, but it's always a fun nod to tradition. When I do a Czech pilsner (the stronger version of this beer) in a few weeks I will do a triple Decoction.
Omega all around is awesome. Great people behind them and I've heard lots of brewers go on about how they'll go the extra mile for their accounts. They're based in Chicago and I've heard of a few brewers out here in Detroit talking about Omega being willing to rush order yeast to them when needed.
I live north of Chicago and its the only yeast I use. Once I switched to them a lot of my beers came out just a notch better. Yeast health and sanitation is vital.
I am very curious about the phenol you mentioned near the end of the video. I did a Czech Premium Pale in the spring using Imperial Urkel and sent it to a competition. The judges said they thought there was an infection, which I had not noticed. So I set a bottle out of the refrigerator for ~8 weeks. I did notice a very slight rubbery taste. It was only noticeable if you looked for something odd and looked really hard. Overall, I thought it was a delicious beer. I now wonder if it was a yeast phenol like you described. I fermented a little warmer than you around 55F. I thought I left it on yeast for at least 2 weeks but maybe it needed more time. So thinks for bringing that up in your video. Very interesting.
Hello Steve, I brewed this yesterday and when I tasted a sample of the wort I noticed a “vegetable” smell, do you think it could be DMS? It’s my first time brewing with a bohemian floor malted pils malt but I did perform same mash schedule as you did and a full 60 min boil (instead I always do 30). Maybe the boil wasn’t vigorous enough? Also have a bottled hazy ipa with Voss that has terrible head retention and very large bubbles, could it be a yeast derived issue (it was a repitch) or just bad sanitised bottles? Thanks, Cheers from Italy Edit: it’s definetely a canned corn smell.
Yeah, that's classic DMS descriptors. I'm really surprised that came out even after doing a 60 minute boil. Either you covered the pot too much or didn't boil strongly enough. Not sure about the IPA issue, maybe some residual cleaner?
Watch out for light strike - it can start almost instantly in bright sunlight. Wondering if the first one had a touch of that occurring? Not the second one though!
The one that had feature/b-roll and the thumbnail was absolutely lightstruck, but my tasting spot is in the shade. The thumbnail one is the one I chugged at the end
If you go the decoction route and are dedicated to lager fermentation temps then I would say this is probably more intermediate, but otherwise it's not too complicated. Anyone can try brewing anything at home!
The decoction mash will actually help you hit your steps if you choose to do it. You'll need a separate kettle though, otherwise I'd recommend adding 1/4-1/2 lb melanoidin malt and mashing at 152.
Thanks for the great vid and editing. I just wanted to respectfully disagree with your soft as possible water. This is not what makes a Czech lager good or crips and clean for that matter. It makes for a watery mouthfeel. The water of Pilsen was nearly soft, but it's well document that brewing salts were added. Putting aside the historical aspect this isn't what you want. I did the soft profile for a while and wondered why my mouthfeel was so thin. After having some industry experts drink my beer and discuss things I was surprised to hear the recommendation of adding salts. Bam, ever since my Pilsners have been so much better and don't have that watery finish and are much more crisp. For me I think it's in the top 5 things I wish I would've known earlier category. But that's just me and of course that's the great thing about homebrew that we can do things as we please based on our research and experience. Cheers!
That's fair, I suppose as soft "as possible" isn't necessary. I've historically added 1g each of CaCl2 and CaSO4 to bump up the ion levels in the water a little bit for Czech lagers in the past, but keep in mind RO water isnt perfectly 0ppm like distilled, but TBH I will probably go back to doing that since the pH buffering capacity of RO is crap unless there's something in it. The straight RO thing was a bit of an experiment. Either way, these beers in the eyes of the BJCP are supposed to be soft and delicate, not crisp. It totally changes the hop expression to something uniquely Czech, and a huge part of that is very low mineral levels in the water. Watery, thin mouthfeel is certainly something to avoid but may be a symptom of overattenuation or pH issues, which could be why it changed for the better when you added salts. Cheers!
As a czech homebrewer and beer lover, please let me salute you sir, you just nailed it (even the pronaunciation!). Very professional attitude there. Im very happy that you have used ingredients of your choice so just havent copied that notorious scheme of czech lager. I also experiment with those - sterling seems to be an excelent choice! Im impresed you went down with decoction. It´s a traditional thing back here in Czech republic, but it´s not definitely neccessary. Basicaly decoction mashing is way older that infusion dating back to the Middle Ages, when thermometers were not available, metal materials were expensive and volume measurement was used instead of temperature measurement. While using pilsner malt, that is full of dia precursors, you can help yourself with 90minutes boil, fast chill and using dia rest as you actually did. Thank you very much for making czech beer styles and have a good one. Cheers! Jersey.
That means a lot to get the stamp of approval! I really enjoyed making this beer and incorporating the traditions of the country in which it is made is one of my favorite parts!
@jerseyhovidea I spent a bit of time in Prague and Brno in the early 2000s... evenings spent finding the brew pubs, Pivo Dum was a favourite... mm garlic soup. Pretty sure we'd have a 'mix' beer, which I think was simply 50:50 of pale and dark lagers. Don't know if that was a common thing or just us English being odd.
HE'S BAAAACK! That little kick back of the glass at the end of the video sealed the deal for me, I'm brewing this next!
Do it and let me know what you think when it's all done!
I’m with you Steve on the lagers! I reach for a nice crisp lager way more than I do any other style, cheers 🍻
Can't beat it at least in summer!
It's the hero's journey of beer, I appreciate delicate easy drinking beers more and more.
Tastes change over time for sure!
I'm so glad Steve is back. These videos always give me ideas. Some that have nothing to do with what his is currently brewing. Watched it to the end as always. I could almost taste how smooth that lager is just by his description.
Santé, y'all.
What ideas did I give you? Glad you enjoyed it!
Looks like an easy drinking beer and easy listening background music. Awesome production! I will try this recipe. Cheers!
Hallo from Czech, nice pronaunciation of Prostejov. And good try for one step decoction.
Thank you!
Am I the only one who misses the "Hey Guys!" Or "Hows it going, guys!" At the beginning of Steve's videos??
I could bring it back...but I'll do it for you Haven
Love it!!
Yesss, Steve is back! Cheers and happy brewing.
Glad to be back!
One thing I love about living in Boston is our tap water is very soft, it’s easy to brew these styles with minimal water additions!
Boston has pretty good brewing water, that's true!
So glad you are back!!!! 🎉 Every video you make is like a small masterclass!! LOVE IT!!
Until the next one!! Cheers!!
I'm glad you enjoyed the video and have found it entertaining!
I find myself, like you, steering myself away from my typical brews (pale ale, IPA, sour ales, stouts/porters) toward more lager/pseudo lager styles. Brewed a Vienna lager in late spring/early summer and brewed a cream ale with mosaic and barbe rouge yesterday for something crisp and refreshing in this Alabama heat. Great video as always. Cheers
After chugging the beer, Steve is speechless! It's a great style. A local brewery here in the Sacramento area (Urban Roots) makes a 10º/1.040 like the one in your video and a 12º. I love that 10º because you can drink it all day, literally. I think I'll change up my brewing schedule to work one in before the heat of summer comes to an end. Welcome back!
It's the ultimate session beer!
Welcome back!
Love that glass - Trillium is fantastic!
Excellent video! I am also very impressed that you took the time to respond to all these comments. Much respect.🍻
I'm really glad you enjoyed it! Community is the best part of this whole thing so I really enjoy reading the comments (except for the pedantic ones)
Glad to see you back Steve! Have you ever thought about doing a Mexican Lager? No pressure though I know you got a busy life right now.
I have a recipe made for it but I have a lot of other brews ahead of it on the schedule. Definitely one I want to try though!
Thanks for the video. That beer and pour looked delicious! Have a look at your water chemistry and beer ph with regards to nailing that crispness. A good sulf/chlor ratio is 0.8 and a beer finishing at around 4.2-4.3 in PH post fermentation. To achieve that you need to adjust your post boil wort PH to around 5.0 to 5.2 and the yeast will do the rest and land it in that zone... more work I know but it definitely makes a difference in my experience.
Glad you enjoyed the video!
Glad you’re back!
I'm happy to be back!
Last night I watched your dunkel video and spent the rest of my night trying to figure out how to do a good decoction. Now tonight your video goes through the exact process I found. lol I will be coming back to this video around brewday.
Glad to help you out!
Kudos. You always share interesting nuggets that spawn ideas in my own brews. I did have an RO installed when I moved into my current place, but I haven't yet done a pilsner with straight RO. Mind you, the mineral bill on my pils is usually very small. Next one, I'm doing straight RO. With ascorbic acid...ha.
Cheers! 🍻
I'm thinking it still makes sense to add a small amount of minerals in regardless. I was curious what straight RO would do and I certainly liked the result, but it has very little pH buffering capacity and that can cause problems
Was not ready for that chuggy ending, at all! Super video as always man, beer (and that pour...) look incredible
Glad you enjoyed it!!
It’s just good mannnn! Ha! It looks like it! Glad to see the content has resumed! Looking forward to it!
Probably nothing for the next few weeks but beers are in the fermenters!
Looks like a tasty beer. I love that side pull faucet.
It is one of my favorite new brewing accessories!
Budvar strain is very nice, it’s very malty but yet dry and crisp. Has zero detectable diacytal under no pressure but I pressure ferment over 1 bar at 10C and it loves it. Also, I recommend spunding to full carbonation level on all your lagers. 😊
Excellent! I'll probably use the budvar strain in my next Czech Pale lager!
Great video. I made almost the exact beer and also used that omega yeast. I noticed a similar minor flaw in mine. I did a d rest and only left it on the yeast cake for 14 days, so that may very well be the issue of not letting it clean up enough. Much appreciate the insight in your video since it gives me another variable to address next time around.
It tends to clean up pretty quickly, just needed a few more days too on my part!
Welcome back mate! Keep up the content.
Thank you!
I made a similar czech pils using New Zealand Pacifica with SA-23. I followed a similar fermentations schedule to yours and it turned out amazing. Although it wasn't as bright or clear, the flavor came out like a hazy crossed with a czech.
Very nice! I should try a NZ pilsner with a Czech Pils based recipe!
This is one I need to brew soon. I just brewed a German Pilsner that was one of my best lagers ever. I am actually going to Pilzen in a month, so ill have to gauge how it tastes first! haha
Awesome! You have no idea how jealous I am of you for that trip! I hope you will be able to tour the Urquell brewery!
Welcome Back! I've been looking forward to seeing this made since your Instagram post.
Glad you enjoyed it, more Czech lagers to come!
Man, running out of beer is nothing compared to an Apartment Brewer dry-spell haha
Love the vid as always, Steve! Glad to have you back.
Glad to be back!
It's good to see you back Steve. I missed seeing your videos.
Glad to be back!
Welcome back Steve! I need to branch out on lagers more and this looks like it’d be awesome for football season! Cheers!
It's a fantastic football beer!
Steve, that beer looks great. Heck yeah
Cheer~~~a kind of beer, effervescent and light in color and body.😊
I've been wanting to brew a pilsner this whole summer, I just tasted it with your description, I'ma get it done on Friday, we will see how it goes
Best of luck! Technically this isn't a pilsner though, later this summer I will be making a true czech pilsner!
@@TheApartmentBrewer oh g, that's what I meant haha a czech pale lager
He's back!
I love the idea of doing more
Videos on Czech beers! I’ve been trying to brew a Pilsner urquell clone for around 10 years. I have gotten close but I have never been able to nail it. Someday haha
I'm gonna be getting as close to it as I can when I do a Czech pils video in the near future. That's a very hard beer to clone!
@@TheApartmentBrewer looking forward to it. Cheers
Drinking an Urquell as i watch! great looking beer, great episode!
Excellent! Urquell clone will be coming soon enough!
Ok the chug at the end was classic...
Nice video Steve. Glad to see your still using your Mega Pot. :)
It makes a top of the line Decoction kettle!
Prostejov is a great malt! Just tried it myself.
I am very happy with the flavor!
Great video, man! Skål from Norway! 🍺
Skål!!
Whoop Apartment Brewer video day !
wish i could try this beer! looks tasty
It's awesome! Next best thing is to make it for yourself!
Given that you used Prostejov malts (kudos on the pronunciation), decoction is basically required as Czech maltsters are primarily making their malt for Czech brewers, so they are expecting decoction to happen. One thing to note about Weyermann Floor Malted Bohemian Pilsner malt, that is also produced in Czechia, by Ferdinand in Benešov. Sterling is also a great, great hop - I have what I am calling a Franconian Lagerbier (but too strong for a kellerbier, and it lagered for 6 weeks rather than 2 or 3) currently carbing which uses Sterling, another great Saaz derived hop is Motueka. Finally, nice pour on the hladinka, more and more breweries I visit are pouring in šnyt territory and calling it a hladinka.
That would be nice to know since I still can't find any readily sold under-modified malt, but from all the info I could find on them it seems their pilsner malt is well modified. Either way I'm very happy with the results I got. Good to know about weyermann bo pils! I'm a huge fan of sterling and motueka, while not something I've used in a Czech based recipe certainly could be really fun in this! Thanks for the feedback on the pour, it's pretty tricky!
Great video, Steve! How much of an impact do you think using that Prostejov malt made i your beer? Would using Weyermann or Stone Path give similar results?
I could definitely tell a subtle difference from the weyermann I'm usually using. I liked it quite a bit
Great video, Steve!
Thanks!
If you haven't done it yet, you should visit Pilzen Czech, home to the Pilsner Urquell brewery... the inventor of Pilsner. The tour is worth the trip. My wife and I were fortunate to be able to do this tour last summer.
It's absolutely a bucket list trip!
Hey Steve I’m a big fan of your videos keep up the good work. Quick question if you don’t mind - you said:
‘Water (ppm): Ca: 23, Mg 0, Na 8, Cl 25, SO4 26, HCO3 16
8 gal (30 L) RO water with NO ADDED MINERALS’
Maybe I’ve got it wrong but doesn’t RO water pretty much have no Ca, Mg etc? Did you add 23 ppm of Ca or was this in the recipe by mistake? Cheers!
So you Pitched at 50°f. I am new to lagering & wonder if your yeast starter is at room temp or is it chilled as well. How long does it take before you see active fermentation.
Love your videos & straight forward delivery. You're one of my favorite BrewTube content producers
The starter fermentation temp isn't critical, as long as it ferments. The yeast cells are what you are after and any fermentation derived off flavors from the starter will get erased by the main fermentation in your beer. My starter was rocking at 80 F. It was pitched into 50 F wort and was visibly fermenting within 12 hours
While trying out yeast companies, give Bootleg Biology some love. They’re based in Nashville and have been great for me at home. They also isolated and banked a wild yeast strain for us, on the pro side, that we use in our American amber and Kentucky common. I recently used their unpasteurized Czech lager yeast in a Czech dark lager that I’ll be sending out to comps.
Nice! I'll have to check them out, that yeast sounds amazing!
Hugs from you fan in Brazil!
Please, make an American Blond Ale with kveik!
I've made a blonde before and many many kveik beers, feel free to check out the older content for that, but probably not gonna do another blonde for a while, sorry
That's a real beauty. It can't believe the fine dense head. How did you get that? Just finished may first ever lager, a sort of modern Pilsner thing. Rallying good. I was really happy to see a new video. you're the boss
The secret to the head really is the lukr faucet. There's a small screen inside the faucet that knocks out carbonation and makes it creamy and amazing. Congrats on the first lager and glad you love it!
Hey Steve, really beautiful looking beer and pour, congrats! do you know if this malt is under modified or in other words is it suitable for a protein rest and triple decoction? Decoction and Czech lagers aficionado here 😅. Small suggestion for your next one is that it is fine to add some salts (little calcium and magnesium), water in Czech republic can be quite hard (beside Pilsen where it is very soft) and you can get really great lagers all over the place there. Also, regarding cleaning off flavors, this yeast strain (saaz family) is still active even in very low temps so leaving on the keg will eventually clean it out if you can wait for it haha. Looking forward the next episodes on the series, Cheers!
From what I can tell from their website, it seems fully modified. I've had a really hard time finding undermodified malt actually, seems nobody sells it.
I’ve made the same circle and landed on lagers and pilsners
Seems like it's a natural cycle!
Excellent!!!!
Ha! Loved the skull at the end. - you are a bloody animal! 😂 Ka pai, mate.
Haha glad you enjoyed it!
Great video! How hot was the wort when you transferred to Brewbuilt X2? I like the idea of using the jacket to cool the wort, but I was worried it could damage the jacket
Cheers!
It got down to around 90 degrees or so. No real risk of damaging the jacket
Hey I have an idea could you made a video explaining the different glasses that beer served in ? Or how about trying to make a Japanese beer
Already done! Although a Japanese rice lager is on my shortlist
@@TheApartmentBrewer awesome
Thanks for another great vid! Here’s a very sincere question: What makes THIS a Czech pale lager vs a Czech Pilsner, seeing how this recipe is 100% Pilsner malt and the yeast strain is for a Czech Pilsner? I’m not asking what differs the styles themselves, but specifically your recipe here. Does it have more to do with the OG/FG numbers vs the recipe build itself that makes it different? Thanks!
Yup you're correct - according to the authorities on what makes different beer styles distinguishable (the BJCP) a Czech Pale Lager is basically just a proportionately less strong and less hoppy Czech pils. If I took this up to 1.057 OG and 5.5% ABV and then took the IBU up to 35 or so but didn't change any ingredients or process, I'd have a Czech "Premium Pale Lager" aka Czech Pils
@@TheApartmentBrewer Thanks for that! Great video and excellent looking beer. It’s on the short list for me
Be interesting to see what taste comparisons you could get between your lager strains and kviek strains
There's a pretty big difference when you so a side by side. I've done a few split batches before on my channel, kveik (including lutra) is going to drop the pH by a lot more than standard lager yeast and will make the beer more lemony tart, plus will attenuate a ton more than Czech lager yeast. You can get close with kveik but it's not a complete replacement
@@TheApartmentBrewer I think the split batches are pretty cool because people don't always realize how yeast can effect flavor
Gotta appreciate a good chug, haha. And I'm sure that beer is about as chuggable as they come! Cheers
It's one of the most "drinkable" I've made!
Cheers! I've got one of these doing a D-rest free rise right now. Love the video. A short question I'd like your thoughts on as I've only done a few Czech beers:
I've found that decocting to or between sacc rests has a serious (positive) impact on mash efficiency, but doing so to mash out doesn't. Have you experienced this as well?
Awesome!! Decoction definitely has a minor impact on efficiency - it literally explodes the starches in grain making them more accessible to enzymes in the mash
eu faço sempre com tripla decocção.. ok .. e com o trio checo.. obrigado.. Portugal
Triple Decoction is a ton of work, but with modern fully modified malts luckily it's not necessary, but it's always a fun nod to tradition. When I do a Czech pilsner (the stronger version of this beer) in a few weeks I will do a triple Decoction.
New content and an MBC!
Omega all around is awesome. Great people behind them and I've heard lots of brewers go on about how they'll go the extra mile for their accounts. They're based in Chicago and I've heard of a few brewers out here in Detroit talking about Omega being willing to rush order yeast to them when needed.
I live north of Chicago and its the only yeast I use. Once I switched to them a lot of my beers came out just a notch better. Yeast health and sanitation is vital.
@@ajoyce yup, and some of their strains they've been putting out lately have been awesome, like a thiolized, diacetyl-negative version of Voss Kveik.
I am very curious about the phenol you mentioned near the end of the video. I did a Czech Premium Pale in the spring using Imperial Urkel and sent it to a competition. The judges said they thought there was an infection, which I had not noticed. So I set a bottle out of the refrigerator for ~8 weeks. I did notice a very slight rubbery taste. It was only noticeable if you looked for something odd and looked really hard. Overall, I thought it was a delicious beer. I now wonder if it was a yeast phenol like you described. I fermented a little warmer than you around 55F. I thought I left it on yeast for at least 2 weeks but maybe it needed more time. So thinks for bringing that up in your video. Very interesting.
@SchwarbageTruck yep, they have a DMS free lager yeast too.
I've also heard great things regularly!
Hello Steve, I brewed this yesterday and when I tasted a sample of the wort I noticed a “vegetable” smell, do you think it could be DMS? It’s my first time brewing with a bohemian floor malted pils malt but I did perform same mash schedule as you did and a full 60 min boil (instead I always do 30). Maybe the boil wasn’t vigorous enough?
Also have a bottled hazy ipa with Voss that has terrible head retention and very large bubbles, could it be a yeast derived issue (it was a repitch) or just bad sanitised bottles?
Thanks,
Cheers from Italy
Edit: it’s definetely a canned corn smell.
Yeah, that's classic DMS descriptors. I'm really surprised that came out even after doing a 60 minute boil. Either you covered the pot too much or didn't boil strongly enough. Not sure about the IPA issue, maybe some residual cleaner?
Also: Nice smoker. Make anything fun this summer?
I haven't! I need to get back into it though, just haven't had the time. I miss it!
I want to get back into brewing so badly
I hope you can!
Watch out for light strike - it can start almost instantly in bright sunlight. Wondering if the first one had a touch of that occurring? Not the second one though!
The one that had feature/b-roll and the thumbnail was absolutely lightstruck, but my tasting spot is in the shade. The thumbnail one is the one I chugged at the end
zinc prevent sulfur, but yes don t over pressure.
As much as grains are modified today, do you really think decoction mashes are needed vs a muti step mash?
Definitely not, but I think it enhances the flavor. All up to the brewer
Woohoo!
Would love to make this. Do you consider this one to be more for the experienced home brewer, or could anyone have a, try at brewing this?
If you go the decoction route and are dedicated to lager fermentation temps then I would say this is probably more intermediate, but otherwise it's not too complicated. Anyone can try brewing anything at home!
How do you track fermentation with that app? The app is connected to another device I'm sure
Its not a fermentation tracker, it just interpolates a graph based on the readings you take with it.
I do biab. How should I approach this recipe with my set up?
The decoction mash will actually help you hit your steps if you choose to do it. You'll need a separate kettle though, otherwise I'd recommend adding 1/4-1/2 lb melanoidin malt and mashing at 152.
Right on. I've always big a BIG fan of Czech firearms and Czech beer. world class in both categories
the lager to stout to belgian to sour to lager horseshoe pipeline is so real
Chug! Chug! Chug!
Steve what was your neighbor smoking? 😂
Just some cigs bud
All Hop Heads and Stoutmeisters are going back to the good old lagers once in a while. Why? Because they're the best! The majority is not wrong 🤷♂️
The natural way of things haha
😎👍🏻👍🏻🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺
Thanks for the great vid and editing. I just wanted to respectfully disagree with your soft as possible water. This is not what makes a Czech lager good or crips and clean for that matter. It makes for a watery mouthfeel. The water of Pilsen was nearly soft, but it's well document that brewing salts were added. Putting aside the historical aspect this isn't what you want. I did the soft profile for a while and wondered why my mouthfeel was so thin. After having some industry experts drink my beer and discuss things I was surprised to hear the recommendation of adding salts. Bam, ever since my Pilsners have been so much better and don't have that watery finish and are much more crisp. For me I think it's in the top 5 things I wish I would've known earlier category. But that's just me and of course that's the great thing about homebrew that we can do things as we please based on our research and experience. Cheers!
That's fair, I suppose as soft "as possible" isn't necessary. I've historically added 1g each of CaCl2 and CaSO4 to bump up the ion levels in the water a little bit for Czech lagers in the past, but keep in mind RO water isnt perfectly 0ppm like distilled, but TBH I will probably go back to doing that since the pH buffering capacity of RO is crap unless there's something in it. The straight RO thing was a bit of an experiment. Either way, these beers in the eyes of the BJCP are supposed to be soft and delicate, not crisp. It totally changes the hop expression to something uniquely Czech, and a huge part of that is very low mineral levels in the water. Watery, thin mouthfeel is certainly something to avoid but may be a symptom of overattenuation or pH issues, which could be why it changed for the better when you added salts. Cheers!
na zdravi
Na zdravi!
Lol nobody enjoys doing a decoction. wtf
There's a minority out there who do, but to each their own.