The Bridge – Czech Lager All Grain Recipe Kit with Radim Zvanovec

This all-grain recipe kit is from our second “Brew With You” video on our YouTube Channel, where we visit home brewers, brew one of their homebrew recipes, and learn from them and their brewing equipment setups. In this second instalment, we visited the amazing Radim Zvanovec, a friend of the team here at TMMHQ and Global Brand Ambassador for Budvar. The beer we brewed together was a Czech Style Lager, using the single decoction method in a simplified form. The aim for this was to show that you can still brew a decocted Czech-style lager with a simple process and a shorter maturation time.

Radim is a beer lover, but more than that, he knows the brewing process in depth and has spent years reading, learning, and studying to be both knowledgeable and effective in his pursuit of brewing excellence. He is a generous and prevalent character in the beer world, whom you may have seen pouring the perfect Czech pour at the amazing mobile Czech bar he helped to design and run for Budvar at events. This knowledge shines in all his homebrewing endeavors, along with his advice.

The beer itself is a crisp, light yet malty Czech Lager, which balances both bitterness and flavor very well. On the palate, you can expect sweet honey notes and fresh-baked bread, complemented with subtle floral notes from the Möst hops. Radim has some specific advice for brewing this. Firstly, the recipe calls for a simplified single decoction mash where you remove 7.5l of mash from the vessel after 40 minutes of the mashing period; you then heat this mash to a boil, taking care not to scorch it. After 20 minutes, this is then returned to the main body of the mash with two consequences: one being the temperature increase to mash out levels, and then secondly, it brings out the honey notes in the flavor of the malt. Along with the decoction, Radim also advises using RO water with no additions added back in. If you have access to RO water, we strongly advise this too; if you don’t, then aim for a suitable water profile for the style.

Radim’s approach to yeast for this recipe was to use a single packet of WHC Einstein and then grow a starter from this, adding zinc if you have some to the starter and then also to the boil, all to encourage healthy yeast cells ahead of pitching.

Then the really interesting part of this recipe comes when we take a look at the maturation process. Usually for Czech lagers we have brewed in the past and also the clone of Budvar we produced in partnership with Radim previously, we advise a 3-month maturation period. This recipe is different and only requires as little as 2-3 weeks! Now, you can of course extend this if you desire, but the initial recipe which we had the joy of tasting on our brew day had been 4 weeks from brew day to tasting and was wonderfully well-developed and rounded!

On the day, Radim brewed on his detailed and comprehensive Brewtools B40 setup, which we really enjoyed seeing. You can check it out in the video we made here, but for us, this represented the most user-friendly and comprehensive setup of a Brewtools B40 we have seen, and Radim has totally mastered the system!

For more brewing inspiration and insights, stay tuned to our channel. We’re dedicated to showcasing the vibrant homebrewing community and bringing you innovative recipes and techniques to elevate your brews.

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Ingredients Included

Simpsons Malt – Dextrin Malt
Weyermann Bohemian Pilsner Malt
Möst T90 Hop Pellet (44 grams)
WHC Dried Yeast – Einstein- 11g Packet (1 pack)

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Method

Beer Style (main): European Lagers
Beer Style (sub): Bohemian-Style Pilsener
Batch Size: 23
Original Gravity: 1.041
Final Gravity: 1.007
ABV %: 4.5
IBU: 28
Mash efficiency: 63

THE MASH
Temperature °C (Step 1): 65
Length (mins) (Step 1): 40
Temperature °C (Step 2): 75
Length (mins) (Step 2): 10

Mash notes: This mash uses a single decoction method where apx 7.5l of mash is removed from there main body at the end of the 40min mash process and brought up to the boil in a separate vessel. This portion is boiled for apx 20mins and then added back to the main body of the mash and as such increases the overall temperate to 75c for the mash out period of 10mins.

THE BOIL
Boil time (mins): 60

Hop / kettle additions and timing:

12 g (11 IBU) — Most 7.9% — First Wort
12 g (8 IBU) — Most 7.9% — Boil — 30 min
20 g (9 IBU) — Most 7.9% — Boil — 15 min

Yeast: WHC Einstein
Fermentation temperature/steps: 12c for 12 days, 15c for 3 days then cold crash to 4c for 4 days

Secondary additions:

Add kettle finings for the last 10mins of the boil and if possible, Radim added zinc to the boil also at this point for yeast health purposes. If you are not able to add this then ensure you add yeast nutrient at this time instead.