Czech Amber Lager 13P Polotmavy / Notch Inspired / Czech Amber

[drewmuni8]

Recipe Type

All Grain

Yeast

Imperial Urkel

Yeast Starter

no

Batch Size (Gallons)

2.75

Original Gravity

1.053

Final Gravity

1.012

Boiling Time (Minutes)

60

IBU

30.5

Color

12.05 SRM

Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)

7 days @ 50

Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)

Slowly raise to 65 at end of fermentation

Lucky enough to have visited Boston and tried a few Notch beers before COVID and was very pleased. Thought I track down some more of their offerings and came across this. Notch posted the malts, hops, and yeast used in their recipe below. My LHBS didn't have Carabohemian nor Munich II in stock so swap out the Melanoidin and Caramunich III for the appropriate malts. I really wanted to nail the color on this and felt i got pretty close. Would've like to have more of a red hue to it but not entirely sure if going more than 12 SRM would get me there or lower. A perfect lager for wintertime, hope you enjoy. My example on the right.

Targeting 2.75 gallons into fermenter, 2.5 gallons finished in the keg.

4.8 lbs - Vienna - 91.6%
2 oz - Melanoidin - 2.4%
4 oz - Caramunich III - 4.8%
1 oz - Carafa I - 1.2%

Yeast: 1 pouch of Imperial Urkel
Mash @ 152F
Mash PH: 5.4

Est. OG 1.053 -> 75% efficiency
Real OG: 1.051 -> 72% efficiency
Real FG: 1.012

Real ABV: 5.1%

Hops: I used a blend of Saaz and Hersbrucker but for the style, go all Saaz.

I couldn't find much info on bitterness for this style so i went with the higher end of the brewers friend estimated IBU range.

Should look something like this:

1 oz of 2.4 AA Saaz @ 60
1 oz of 2.4 AA Saaz @ 15
1 oz of 2.4 AA Saaz @ 5

This should get you somewhere in the range of 30 ibu.

Water: Was slightly unsure if I should go for a full Pilsen profile or of a more "Amber malty" profile per Palmer. With 100% RO i added 0.5g of gypsum per gallon and 1 g of Calc per gallon. Final profile was 1.35 CH/SUL.

Use your favorite lagering method, serve in proper Czech glassware, and enjoy. Cheers.

 

[jdauria]

Live in Boston area and in my opinion Notch is the best brewery in Mass, though the hopheads will disagree. Will be up there Saturday to stock up on some of their beers via curbside pickup.

As for recipe looks good. I have notes from a video from Chris Loring, Notch's owner about brewing Czech beers. Forget where I saw it, but will try to find and post link. But some of his comments were to step mash for 10P beers, do decoction for higher. So at 13° Plato, if you can do a decoction, it will help bring out the complex malt flavors the style is know for.

His comments regarding Amber Czech beers is that they should be sweeter than pale ones, but not as hoppy. That Vienna malt is key, with a touch of Carabohemian. I think you are ok there with the hops and grain changes you made.

He then recommends fermenting at 52F and then letting it free rise to 56. Water should be soft, with some chlorides, calcium chloride. So I would drop the Amber Matly and go closer to Pilsen. I brew a lot of lagers and what I target is "soft lager" which Bru'N Water has in their water spreadsheet. It's Ca 24, Mg 4, Na 16, SO4 44, Cl 44...that gives you a balanced lager.

He also recommends using a protein rest at 120, for at least 20 minutes. That helps with head retention and gets the big huge heads their beers have, especially when on tap.

This video where these notes come from is pretty much from the early days of Notch, so a lot of what Chris does has changed some. They use decoction on almost all beers now, many double or triple decocted. They use natural carbonation by transferring beers before they are down fermenting to allow the beers to carbonate under pressure naturally. This can be done at home with a keg and a spunding valve.

I kind of made a Czech Amber myself last year, had a Czech Dark and a Bohemian Pils on tap, so I would pour 1/2 of each in a liter mug...creating a Czech Amber. It was tasty and I think it would have done well in comps if I entered a blend as a Czech Amber, but never did so because I was too busy drinking it!

 

[jdauria]

Found it...Notch video

 

[drewmuni8]

Live in Boston area and in my opinion Notch is the best brewery in Mass, though the hopheads will disagree. Will be up there Saturday to stock up on some of their beers via curbside pickup.

As for recipe looks good. I have notes from a video from Chris Loring, Notch's owner about brewing Czech beers. Forget where I saw it, but will try to find and post link. But some of his comments were to step mash for 10P beers, do decoction for higher. So at 13° Plato, if you can do a decoction, it will help bring out the complex malt flavors the style is know for.

His comments regarding Amber Czech beers is that they should be sweeter than pale ones, but not as hoppy. That Vienna malt is key, with a touch of Carabohemian. I think you are ok there with the hops and grain changes you made.

He then recommends fermenting at 52F and then letting it free rise to 56. Water should be soft, with some chlorides, calcium chloride. So I would drop the Amber Matly and go closer to Pilsen. I brew a lot of lagers and what I target is "soft lager" which Bru'N Water has in their water spreadsheet. It's Ca 24, Mg 4, Na 16, SO4 44, Cl 44...that gives you a balanced lager.

He also recommends using a protein rest at 120, for at least 20 minutes. That helps with head retention and gets the big huge heads their beers have, especially when on tap.

This video where these notes come from is pretty much from the early days of Notch, so a lot of what Chris does has changed some. They use decoction on almost all beers now, many double or triple decocted. They use natural carbonation by transferring beers before they are down fermenting to allow the beers to carbonate under pressure naturally. This can be done at home with a keg and a spunding valve.

I kind of made a Czech Amber myself last year, had a Czech Dark and a Bohemian Pils on tap, so I would pour 1/2 of each in a liter mug...creating a Czech Amber. It was tasty and I think it would have done well in comps if I entered a blend as a Czech Amber, but never did so because I was too busy drinking it!

Wow thanks for all the info, fantastic.

I run an Anvil system at the moment so step-mash/decoction shouldn't be an issue and look foward on trying a step mash process on my next lager along with all the other good tips you have. Thanks!

Also, I can't say that Trillium wasn't a highlight of the trip... but finding a bottleshop with Notch and Tipopils was a treat

 

[jdauria]

Wow thanks for all the info, fantastic.

I run an Anvil system at the moment so step-mash/decoction shouldn't be an issue and look foward on trying a step mash process on my next lager along with all the other good tips you have. Thanks!

Also, I can't say that Trillium wasn't a highlight of the trip... but finding a bottleshop with Notch and Tipopils was a treat

Nice, I use a Foundry too. Step mashes are easy on it, decoction may be a little harder, as in just trying to scoop the grain out, but it's doable. I have done a modified decoction,. called Earl'sche method. It was in Zymurgy last year I think. You split water 50/50, keep second half of water cold. Split grain 70/30. Mash with the 50% of water & 70% of grain...mash at 149 for 30, 158 for 30, then with grain basket still in, bring it up to boil and boil for 20 minutes (stirring grain the whole time). Then add the second half of water, being cold it should drop you below 140F, bring back up to 149, add the rest of grain, mash for 30, then raise to 158 for 30, mash out and then do a normal boil. Makes for a long day, but it was worth a try. Did it on a Czech Dark, but really need to do it on a lighter beer to see if I notice a difference because the Czech Dark has so much going on away.

Nice on Trillium, I hear you, finding good beer is always fun! Was at GABF a few years ago in Denver and I think I went to the Russian River line for Pliny like 10 times, and Heretic's line like 20 times.

 

[Witherby]

Nice, I use a Foundry too. Step mashes are easy on it, decoction may be a little harder, as in just trying to scoop the grain out, but it's doable.

Another Notch fan and Anvil Foundry brewer from Massachusetts here.

I step mash (144-158-168) and do at least one decoction (and sometimes a double decoction) on all of my lagers. I find decoctions are super easy on the Foundry. If I am doing a single decoction, I usually do it to get to the mashout temp. I just lift the basket up and let it drain, which makes it super easy to scoop out as much malt as I want into a pot and do the decoction on my kitchen stove.

 

[drewmuni8]

Another Notch fan and Anvil Foundry brewer from Massachusetts here.

I step mash (144-158-168) and do at least one decoction (and sometimes a double decoction) on all of my lagers. I find decoctions are super easy on the Foundry. If I am doing a single decoction, I usually do it to get to the mashout temp. I just lift the basket up and let it drain, which makes it super easy to scoop out as much malt as I want into a pot and do the decoction on my kitchen stove.

Doing my first step mash on the foundry for a Czech pale right now. 145/158/168. Thanks for the suggestion!