🍺 Top-down Brew: Czech Pale Lager

Recipe Variables

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Variations

For steeped grains plus malt extract:

  • Delete the Pilsner, Vienna, and acidulated malt lines.
  • For liquid malt extract, add sugar: Liquid Pilsner or light malt extract, 95, 5, 76
  • For dry malt extract, add sugar: Dry Pilsner or light malt extract, 95, 3.5, 96
  • Set the mash efficiency variable to 55% (eff: 55) for steeping.

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Results

Notes

The Czech pale lager style is a lower gravity, session beer similar to the well-known Czech premium pale style.

Characteristic Ingredients from the BJCP: "Soft water with low sulfate and carbonate content. Traditional Czech hops. Czech Pilsner malt. Czech lager yeast. Low ion water provides a distinctively soft, rounded hop profile despite high hopping rates."

Vital Statistics: IBU: 20 - 35; SRM: 3 - 6; OG: 1.028 - 1.044; FG: 1.008 - 1.014; ABV: 3% - 4.1%

Pilsner malt is the base, with 95% or more possible. Light specialty malts such as Carpils and Caravienne are commonly used. Acidulated malt may be needed for lowering pH.

Double decoction mash procedures were traditionally used for undermodified Czech malts. More highly modified malts may need only a single decoction. Brewers who want to skip decoction malts could try simulating decoction with careful use of specialty malts. Strong observes that this beer style is less attenuated than comparable German styles. A higher mash sacchrification temperature might help to achieve more body in the final beer.

The hop choices are the typical noble continental hops. Magnum is used in some recipes for bittering.

Czech lager yeast would be the ideal. Popular choices include Wyeast Czech Pils, Fermentis W-34/70, White Labs WLP800, and Mangrove Jack M84.

References

Beer-analytics.com Czech pale lager

Strong, G. (2015, May-June) The everyday Czech pale lager: The newest addition to the BJCP Style Guide. BYO 30-35