Czech Mate - Wednesday, February 25, 2026
Grace gets Murphy dressed up for Xmas 2024. This is the first brew using that enzyme from
White Labs ( Brewzyme D ). They say to still do your normal D rest on day 5. I will do just
that. I have to put only 5 gallons of wort in the carboy instead of 5.5 or even 6 gallons as it
was made for only 5 gallons. That will give me room to get a cleaner and trub free wort
getting into the fermenter. I realize you need some trub and I usually do get lots in even if
I think I don't get much. I am also not using Pilsner Malt at first. If this is good, I will buy
some in 2026. I won't be brewing this on a regular basis until summer. But, I most likely
will ferment this on the big system to get 4 cases at once and immediately get back to brewing
my House Dust IPA which is my favourite style to brew.
BREW THIS AFTER YOU HAVE LOTS OF HOUSE DUST IPA ON HAND
When your HD IPA is on the bench which may happen soon after I pitch the yeast because it is
cold downstairs, start making your yeast starter. When it is clearing in the flask which will be
in the fridge, this is the time to set up to brew this. Take your time and get it right. This batch
is going into your small fridge upstairs to age. After this ( if it is good ) the next one will
be CPBF in your PET bottles. After that, Bitters.
Ingredients
11 lbs. Rahr
4 ozs. Carahell
54 grams Hallertauer at 60 min. (4%)
45 grams Hallertauer at 30 min. (4%)
20 grams grams Hallertauer at 10 min. (4%)
Escarpment Labs Isar Lager yeast
Brewzyme D @ yeast pitch - ( Wort must be cooled to 50F before adding this )
Aerate for 3 min if you have enough oxygen.
Mash Volume - 5.25 gallons
Sparge Volume - 5 gallons
Distilled Water
Wort going into my carboy - 5 gallons
Mash
Gyp - .9 grams
CC - .5 grams
Lactic Acid - 2.8 ml
Boil
Gyp - .9 grams
CC - .5 grams
Lactic Acid in sparge - .2 ml
O.G. - 1.045
F.G. -
% -
SRM - 3.4
BU - 36.5
PH - 5.30
CA - 20
S04 - 25
CC - 17
I am close to the ideal numbers and this is the closest I can get.
YEAST STARTER CALCULATIONS
Ended up with 2.6 L of starter wort. I am using IT ALL because I have other things to do.
There should be way more yeast cells than if I saved some for an over build which I will
need anyway so that is good.
STARTER MADE ON FEB. 13
My Isar yeast was added to the starter wort at 12:00 noon. Wall heater on. -23 outside
but now at noon it is -4. I transferred my starter to my one gallon jug for ease of use
when I pitch it on Friday, Feb. 20.
UPDATE
My stir plate broke. They are just garbage anyway. No need for one anyway. I will use
the shaken not stirred method now when I use liquid yeast or saved yeast.
DO NOT FORGET TO AERATE THE WORT WITH OXYGEN WHEN ADDING
YEAST AND BREWZYME D.
You can toss a gallon of wort or so when adding to the carboy because you only need 5
gallons.
As usual, this was put off because of snow. I have 2 drive ways to do so this should get
done today.
I didn't get enough wort going into my carboy, but close enough.
AERATE WORT AND ADDING BREWZYME D AND YEAST
1. Boil the aeration stone first thing.
2. Aerated for 2 minutes. Did not want to over due it.
3. Added yeast.
4. Added Brewzyme D.
5. Fridge on to 9.7 C, but strip says around 12 C. Who knows?
Sometime around day 5 of active fermentation I have to toss it on the bench and turn
on the wall heater. Or use the heat belt with the modified towel around it. Not sure what
to do.
Feb. 26 - Pitched Isar Yeast @ 11 AM.
Feb. 27 - Checked at 5 am and it is going fine. It hasn't been going that long though.
Day 1 - Feb. 27 Started.
Day 2 - Feb. 28 - 12C.
Day 3 - March 1 - Almost done?
Day 4 - D rest day. Days are 4 - 7 so do it now.
Day 5 - Tuesday, March 3. It sits at 20C. May as well leave it there. Whew!! Rotten eggs...
Day 6 - Seems to be done. No air lock activity. Heat off and just letting it sit on the bench
for now to let it settle out. Will toss in fridge in a day or so. Can I check the taste? Any
diacetyl? God, I hope not. I won't lower the temp until I check the taste.
Hmmm, the krausen has fallen and it seems to be almost done or close to it. Well, I guess
I should toss it on the bench and raise the temp for a D rest. Home from hockey and it is
only 14C. Should be around 16 - 18 C so I turned it up all the way. Lots of sulphur coming
from the air lock. Krausen is back because of the D rest. Northing to do now but keep
it at a proper temp until it is absolutely done. No hurry at all for this beer as it is going into
the upstairs fridge in the 3 gallon keg for aging when done. If I do have extra beer, I may
just dump it because I don't need it. But, at this point I have no idea if it is any good or not.
TASTE TEST MARCH 4
No diacetyl!! No taste though and no hop aroma or even taste. Yikes!! Should I dry hop?
Nope. Not doing a thing. I have a tube of brewzyme D left so next time I will make this
out of my Maris Otter with more specialty malts to give it more flavour. Now about the
hops? May have to dry hop 3 days before kegging. I should do that now because this is
still fermenting a little bit and I mean a little bit.
Added 79 grams of my old Hallertauer on March 4 to get some hop flavour into it.
These were the hops that have like 1.8% AA that I bought last year from OBK
that they don't tell you the AA%. I haven't bought hops from them since.
Keg on Sunday, March 7. Hops are sticking around on the top of the carboy. I hope I
didn't add too much hops though. Since this seems to be a light and tasteless lager, they
may over power it and yea, get that sickly hop taste which is not good.
KEGGED ON MARCH 8
Pretty hazy stuff and I didn't get a chance to taste it. Do that when I clear it.
At this stage I don't think the dry hopping I did for 3 days managed to change this
for the better. I realize brewers do it, but I don't like the taste. However, adding
some gelatin with 2-3 months aging might do it some good. I won't do it again.
ADD GELATIN ON TUESDAY, MARCH 10.
Transfer to the small keg. Not using the pop bottles at this time. Will carb up later
if it is any good. I doubt it since I personally ruined it. Yup, it tastes almost infected.
I know it isn't sulphur, but it tastes something like it. Christ, I did a lot to get rid of
any sulphur taste and put it right back by dry hopping a lager. IDIOT!!
I AM LETTING THIS SIT IN THE SMALL KEG FOR AWHILE. CHECK IT IN
A MONTH. IF IT STILL SUCKS, TOSS IT AND MOVE ON.
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