Budvar Clone?

Grains, malts, hops, yeast, water and other ingredients used to brew. Recipe reviews and suggestions.

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andytv
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Budvar Clone?

Post by andytv »

Anyone have a good clone recipe for Budvar? I picked up a case this week (sold in US as Czechvar) and was reminded about how truly great this beer is. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Andy
abbiesdad
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Budvar Clone

Post by abbiesdad »

There is a clone recipe in Beer Captured by Tess and Mark Szamatulski. There are recipes for extract, mini-mash, and all-grain. Which are you looking for.

Ralph
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Mesa Maltworks
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Budvar: The Second Budweiser, But Much Better....

Post by Mesa Maltworks »

This beer, like most of the other famous Bohemian Pilsners, requires the right malt (in this case, Hanna grown Forum Barley), the right yeast (Budvar, WY2000) and alot of patience. You can make a somewhat proximal clone using extract, but the color and flavor won't be quite right due to the processing required to make the extract.

I have had great success using undermodified Budvar malt... albeit using decoction mashing (REQUIRED). I have used the Budvar fully modified malt as well. The flavor was almost the same as using the u-mod, the color was the same, but the Kolbach rating of the fully modified malt was not very great (44). The u-mod Budvar malt's Kolbach was out of spec as well, but not as far...Budvar, although, would have turned it down as they spec it at 35-38 and the malt analysis I got speced it at 39. But... I shouldn't complain, at least it is available !

Both forms of this malt have very high beta glucan levels which necessitates that a protein rest be performed on the u-mod and is highly suggested for the f-mod. If not done, the lautering can be extremely slow !

Regardless of the added complexity, this beer is worth making. When using the right ingredients and proceedures, it has a flavor that is like no other beer you will make.

Some additional keys to reproducing this classic is that all 3 hop additions are Saaz in equal amounts. (1.25 oz. @/for 5 gallons, 90/80/20). The yeast must be pitched at 45-47 degrees with this temperature maintained throughout primary fermentation. The pitching volume sould be 1.5~2 times that of the typical ale. Once primary is complete (12~14 days typically), the beer is then racked to a secondary and conditioned at between 32 and 36 degrees F. for approximately 1.5~2 months.

To get the correct ingredients for this beer, there is only one source... St. Pats of Texas. www.stpats.com. They are the sole importers of the Budvar malts and, for homebrewers, are the only source for the yeast strain as well.

If you want to mash this beer, I can give you detailed instructions. Let me know which form of the malt you plan to use and I'll respond back.

A note: I'm glad you liked the Czechvar that you drank, but it is not identical to the Budvar that you get in Europe or the UK. Unlike Budvar, Czechvar is pasturized using a method that darkens the beer and in my opinion, slightly oxidizes it as well. While living in Scotland, I became virtually addicted to this nectar. When I returned to the states and found Cvar, I was somewhat let down, but the spirit of the brew remained intact in this rendition.

A second note: Don't be fooled by a malt brand called "Moravian malt". This topic has been kicked about on this forum before, but it bears repeating. Moravian malt is a Coors trademarked malt that is produced by Cargill, Inc. It is a long removed variant of an unknown variety of Moravian barley that bears little resemblance to Hanna grown Forum. It is merely a brand name for a seed, NOT a malt type !

Eric
andytv
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Thanks

Post by andytv »

Thanks for the tips Mesa & abbiesdad. I'll probably take a crack at it this winter, when I have a little better (& cheaper) control over temperature. I checked out stpats and they actually sell budvar all-grain kits. I have never decoction mashed, so this oughtta be fun. I'm a little disappointed that Czechvar isn't Budvar. I haven't had a real Budvar for a year and wasn't able to compare. Its still a fine beer but I'm lookin for the price to come down a bit though ($30+ a case).

Prosit

Andy
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