Fairwater Brewery

Czech Lager

BeerXml file: 2026-07-11-Czech-Lager.xml

Vital statistics:

  • Type: All Grain
  • Brewer: Bryan
  • Style: Czech Premium Pale Lager
  • Length: 21 litres
  • Yeast: LalBrew NovaLager (Lallemand -)
  • OG: 1.050 SG
  • FG: 1.006 SG
  • ABV: 5.8 %
  • Colour: 5.7 EBC
  • Bitterness: 34.3 IBUs

Notes:

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. 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.

Fermentables:

Name Colour (EBC) Amount (kg) %
Bohemian Pilsner (Weyermann) 3.3 4 83.3
Dextrin Malt (Simpsons) 1.4 0.3 6.3
Extra Pale Maris Otter® Malt (Crisp) 3.4 0.5 10.4

Hops:

Name Alpha Form Amount (g) Time (mins)
Comet 9.5 Pellet 10 60
Hallertauer Mittelfrueh 4 Pellet 27 15
Hallertauer Mittelfrueh 5.4 Pellet 24 30
Tettnang (Tettnang Tettnager) 4 Pellet 13 15

I don't include mash schedule, water treatment, fininings (and other miscellaneous ingredients), as these are all down to personal preferences, local water conditions (or the availability of RO water!), and so on. Some of these details might be present in the .beerxml file, thought I can't guarantee their accuracy, so make your own decisions!