An easy homebrew recipe for a beer you will actually want to drink. This Czech Dark Lager recipe kit comes with every pre-measured ingredient you need to brew Martin's Czech Dark Lager, a 5-gallon all-grain batch, from grain to glass.

Czech Dark Lager, or tmave, is the dark counterpart to the country's famous golden beers, still poured fresh at historic Prague brewpubs like U Fleku. It is deep brown to near black, yet far softer than its color suggests. Chocolate and dark bread malt give a mild sweetness, with roast kept low and much of the bitterness coming from Saaz hops rather than the grain.

At around 4 percent it drinks easily despite the dark malt load, finishing smooth and gently sweet rather than dry or burnt. This is a comforting, sessionable dark lager with more nuance than a schwarzbier and none of a stout's heft.

What's In The Kit

Your Czech Dark Lager recipe kit includes everything below, portioned and ready to brew. All you add is water.

Fermentables

• 6 lbs · Pilsner; Floor Malted Bohemian
• 1 lbs · Caramunich® I → we include Crystal 50
• 1 lbs · Victory Malt
• 12.0 oz · Chocolate Malt

Hops

• 2 oz · Saaz Pellets (Boil, 60.0 min)
• 1 oz · Saaz Pellets (Boil, 15.0 min)

Yeast

• Bohemian Lager (Wyeast Labs 2124) → we include SafLager S-189 (Pilsner Lager)

Water treatment salts and any specialty extras are noted with the recipe.

Recipe At A Glance

A Note On Substitutions

This kit includes Crystal 50 in place of the recipe's Caramunich® I. We stock dry yeast only, so SafLager S-189 (Pilsner Lager) dry yeast stands in for the recipe's Bohemian Lager (Wyeast Labs 2124).