Czech Lagers - Grain Selection

[BugAC]

Ordering ingredients for my next 2 beers. Plan to brew a Czech Amber Lager and a Czech Pale Lager (pilsner). I'm debating on which base grain to use for the recipe. For both, in the past, i've used Floor Malted Pilsen Malt and Czech Prostejov Pilsen Malt, both with good success. I've been reading up on Hana Heritage Malt by Crisp and was intrigued with this as well. I do a hochkurz decoction mash for most of my lagers.

Those that have brewed a bunch of Czech style lagers, what is your preference between the 3.

Weyermann Floor Malted Pilsen - Slightly undermodified malt
Czech Prostejov Pilsen
Crisp Hana Heritage Malt

 

[Broothru]

Ordering ingredients for my next 2 beers. Plan to brew a Czech Amber Lager and a Czech Pale Lager (pilsner). I'm debating on which base grain to use for the recipe. For both, in the past, i've used Floor Malted Pilsen Malt and Czech Prostejov Pilsen Malt, both with good success. I've been reading up on Hana Heritage Malt by Crisp and was intrigued with this as well. I do a hochkurz decoction mash for most of my lagers.

Those that have brewed a bunch of Czech style lagers, what is your preference between the 3.

Weyermann Floor Malted Pilsen - Slightly undermodified malt
Czech Prostejov Pilsen
Crisp Hana Heritage Malt

Any one of those malts would be perfect. Just go with the freshest, highest quality malt you can get if you go with a non-domestic maltster. My preference would be Weyermann Floor Malted Bohemian Pilsner malt, 90% , 5% Carafoam, 5% Munich II (no detoction). Won two awards, one Best of Show in 2022 with that recipe.

My advice would be to go with the Bohemian from Weyermann, Munich 10% (or less), and single detoction if you're comfortable with the process. Focus on the yeast and hops. I went with Imperial Urkel, one of the Pilsner Urquell strains, allegedly. Worked great! Used Saaz and Sterling in combination rather than strictly Saaz. Those two hops in combination played very nicely together, the sum of which was greater than each of them standing alone.

 

[BugAC]

Thanks for the advice. I went ahead and placed my order. I going with the floor malted weyermann for the czech amber and trying out the Hana crisp for the pale lager. Using Urkel for both beers. I'm using all Saaz for the amber and Tettnang and Saaz for the pilsner.

 

[Broothru]

Thanks for the advice. I went ahead and placed my order. I going with the floor malted weyermann for the czech amber and trying out the Hana crisp for the pale lager. Using Urkel for both beers. I'm using all Saaz for the amber and Tettnang and Saaz for the pilsner.

Should work out very nicely. If you ever have the urge to experiment and go off script a bit (maybe a split batch) I'd encourage you to try a Saaz/Sterling combo. Obviously it's not "traditional" but the Sterling re-enforces much of what makes Saaz, well, Saaz, while also bringing in some additional herbal and grassy notes. I got the idea from a pro brewer friend who used it in a Czech Pilsner he'd brewed for his brewery's annual anniversary beer one year. It did not disappoint.

 

[Steveruch]

Should work out very nicely. If you ever have the urge to experiment and go off script a bit (maybe a split batch) I'd encourage you to try a Saaz/Sterling combo. Obviously it's not "traditional" but the Sterling re-enforces much of what makes Saaz, well, Saaz, while also bringing in some additional herbal and grassy notes. I got the idea from a pro brewer friend who used it in a Czech Pilsner he'd brewed for his brewery's annual anniversary beer one year. It did not disappoint.

Sterlings have saaz I their parentage. Sterlings/saaz make a great pilsner.

 

[Broothru]

Absolutely. A landrace hop that shares a lot with Saaz and Hallertau. It’s a very underrated hop.

 

[jdauria]

Over the last few years I have definitely started using Sterling in place of Saaz, due to the fact Saaz AA% was so low, I found had to use a lot more of it in each recipe. But this summer I went crazy on Czech hops, that are not Saaz, after reading an article entitled Beyond Saaz in the summer issue of Craft Beer and Brewing. I ordered Kazbek 6.8%AA, which I have used before, Premiant 4.7% AA, Agnus 10.1% AA, Bohemie 4.8% AA and Sladek 4.7%. All of them have some trace of Saaz in their lineage, the high alpha Agnus is similar to Magnum and Nugget hops.

Brewed a recipe from the same issue for Sacred Profane's (ME) collab with a Czech brewery on a Czech "IPA"...a Czech lager hopped to IPA levels. All Agnus in the boil and dry hopped wiht Kazbek. If I didn't know better, I would think I was drinking a beer highly hopped with Saaz. Hop notes are all spice with a slight herbal note and a whiff of fruitines from the Kazbek. Sending to a couple comps, but torn...is it a mixed style (Czech Premium Pale lager + dry hopping) or is it just a Czech Premium Pale because IBUS are not that at out of range.

 

[Broothru]

Over the last few years I have definitely started using Sterling in place of Saaz, due to the fact Saaz AA% was so low, I found had to use a lot more of it in each recipe. But this summer I went crazy on Czech hops, that are not Saaz, after reading an article entitled Beyond Saaz in the summer issue of Craft Beer and Brewing. I ordered Kazbek 6.8%AA, which I have used before, Premiant 4.7% AA, Agnus 10.1% AA, Bohemie 4.8% AA and Sladek 4.7%. All of them have some trace of Saaz in their lineage, the high alpha Agnus is similar to Magnum and Nugget hops.

Brewed a recipe from the same issue for Sacred Profane's (ME) collab with a Czech brewery on a Czech "IPA"...a Czech lager hopped to IPA levels. All Agnus in the boil and dry hopped wiht Kazbek. If I didn't know better, I would think I was drinking a beer highly hopped with Saaz. Hop notes are all spice with a slight herbal note and a whiff of fruitines from the Kazbek. Sending to a couple comps, but torn...is it a mixed style (Czech Premium Pale lager + dry hopping) or is it just a Czech Premium Pale because IBUS are not that at out of range.

I read the same article about Czech (and Polish) hops, as well as the Sacred Profane recipe, and had planned a destination trip to the brewery this Fall to "czech" it out. Life got in the way, however, and we're heading to Florida by way of Texas and Georgia instead (long boring story, not involving beer!). Anyway, I'm very interested in how you liked all those different hops, and especially interested in the beer you brewed. Please share!