# Kozel Dark Recipe?



## gsxrmck (20/4/07)

Hi,
I have found a dark beer that is absolutely fantastic. So of course I would like to try and make it. So the question goes out therre to see if anyone else has tried making a beer similar to this beer. It is from the Chec Republic, It is Velkopopovick, Kozel dark beer.

This will be my ninth brew so I thought I'd try something a litlle more complex than just adding some hops, malt etc. Altough I did add a few tablespoons of chocolate quick to a Stout beer I made 2 months ago and it turned out great!! 

Anyway any responses will be welcomed.

Mick


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## Tyred (20/4/07)

I haven't actually tried it yet. I've got a bottle of this waiting for me when I stop being on call. I'm looking forward to it. I only have to survive until Monday before I can try it.


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## Tony M (21/4/07)

Kozel Cherny (dark) made in the town of Velkopopovici
I have had a couple of goes at this with grain so I'm guessing a bit.
You are chasing a malty, slightly sweet dark beer which from memory is about 3.5% and with a low hop bitterness and no obvious hop aroma.
I'd try a kilo of dark LME, 
1 1/2 kg light Dried Malt Extract
200gms dark crystal like caramunich III steeped.
For bitterness you are only chasing 15 IBU or so. I used Tettnang (4% AA) as they are not "in your face" hops.
25gm for 60 min.
15gm for 30 min.
15gm for 2 min.
will give you about 15 IBU.
I'll be back in Czech in October so I'll have a couple for you to give my memory a nudge.
(BTW, I'm guessing on the dark LME as I've never used it but you got to get that beer pretty dark. Someone might advise you further.)


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## Weizguy (21/4/07)

Tyred said:


> I haven't actually tried it yet. I've got a bottle of this waiting for me when I stop being on call. I'm looking forward to it. I only have to survive until Monday before I can try it.


Hold on, dude. It'll be sooo worth it. I have turnd a few people at work on to this beer and they buuy it by the carton, now.

Mick, regardez!

Recipe from BYO magazine, Nov 2006: Bohemian Dunkel - 
*King Wenceslas Dunkel
*
19 litres OG 1.048 FG 1.012
21 IBU 32 SRM (whatever the Hell, etc...) ABV=4.7%

1 kg Weyermann Bavarian pils LME
2.3 kg Weyermann Bavarian Dunkel LME
4.1 AAU Czech Saaz (bittering)
1 oz (28.3g) (flavour/aroma)
Wyeast 2278 (Czech pils) or WLP800 (pils) or WLP802 (Budejovice) or 20g Saf 34/70

Boil 15 litres water. Add Malt extracts. Return to a boil.

Ferment at 12C for about 1 week, then 3-4 weeks at 5C.
Serve at 7-10 C

* The recipe above is badly copied and re-worked without permission of BYO magazine, whom I'm sure would be happy to get a free plug on this forum, and not whinge about copyright stuff, amongst fellow brewers. Beerz!

I plan to brew this soon, as well as a million and ten other beers including a Schneider weisse, Czech pils, bock, weizenbock, Doppelbock, Gose, Berliner weisse and not forgetting my no-chill cubes with Kolsch, Sparkling blonde, Yank Wheat (with the wanky title of "Summer in Downtown Chicago") and the HAG day pils made at Potters.
Am I a beer w!nker yet?

Seth  

Seth out


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## gsxrmck (24/4/07)

Thanks very much for those recipe's guys. I'll start accrueing some of the ingresients and post back here when I've started my brew with the exact recipe I use. 

Thanks again.

Tonym, Enjoy the Chec republic. I cannot wait to get over there to. My sister married a man from there so we have a great deal in common. Mainly beer but you've got to start somewhere!!


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## therook (6/7/07)

I just tried a bottle of this at Lunch Time and boy is it a great drop in my humble opinion :beer: 

rook


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## agraham (10/7/07)

I will second that Rook, I had a bottle the other nite and it was very drinkable, a little sweet for my taste but that didnt stop me from emptying the bottle.


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## kenlock (15/7/09)

Interested to know whether anyone has a successful recipe for Kozel Dark.

Les how did the recipe from BYO turn out? Anyone else got one?

Cheers Ken

Edit: Looking for an AG recipe (though original post was obviously in Kit/Extract)


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## brettprevans (15/7/09)

therook said:


> I just tried a bottle of this at Lunch Time and boy is it a great drop in my humble opinion :beer:
> 
> rook


how do you recon it compares against the dunkle i made for the case swap rooky?


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## Weizguy (14/3/16)

Finally spotted this old thread, and I went for the old magazine, to potentially help some people out.
Recipe by Horst Dornbusch, so take it as you find it. I know some think his recipes are a bit bizarre.

All-grain recipe from BYO magazine, Nov 2006: Bohemian Dunkel - 
*King Wenceslas Dunkel*

19 litres OG 1.048 FG 1.012
21 IBU; 32 SRM; ABV=4.7%

1.9 kg Weyermann Bohemian Pils malt
2.4 kg Weyermann Munich II malt
0.40 kg Weyermann Caramunich II
0.05 kg Weyermann Carafa Special II
4.1 AAU Czech Saaz (bittering)(28g of 4% AA hops)
1 oz (28.3g) (flavour/aroma)
Wyeast 2278 (Czech pils) or WLP800 (pils) or WLP802 (Budejovice) or 20g Saf 34/70

Assumed 65% extract efficiency
Dough in at 50°C for 30 min.
Infuse with near-boiling water to 62°C for 20 min.
Further infuse with near-boiling water to 72°C for a further 20 minutes.
Commence sparging with near-boiling water until the mash temp is 78°C. The reduce the temp of the sparge water to the mash-out temp.
Cease sparging when the kettle gravity is 1.044, and boil for 60 minutes.

Ferment at 12C for about 1 week, then 3-4 weeks at 5C.
Serve at 7-10 C

Hope this gives someone a starting point.


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## barls (14/3/16)

Les the Weizguy said:


> Finally spotted this old thread, and I went for the old magazine, to potentially help some people out.
> Recipe by Horst Dornbusch, so take it as you find it. I know some think his recipes are a bit bizarre.
> 
> All-grain recipe from BYO magazine, Nov 2006: Bohemian Dunkel -
> ...


while I'm sure its a great recipe but this is the kits and extract section not all grain.


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## Weizguy (14/3/16)

barls said:


> while I'm sure its a great recipe but this is the kits and extract section not all grain.


I realised that after posting, but it's the same recipe, in all-grain format, based on a request from kenlock, and a belated reply.

Happy for you to delete and I'll start a new recipe thread and post a link to it here. Hope that complies with the rules. Thanks.


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## Jack of all biers (18/3/16)

Lez,

The AG recipe makes more sense. As I was looking at your old post for the KK version, I thought to myself, that's not going to make it dark enough with enough malt flavour. I was thinking it needed some Carafa Special II, but the Caramunich II steeped would make up for the maltiness. So I would say that a KK version for this recipe would likely be better as below.
Thoughts?



Les the Weizguy said:


> Recipe from BYO magazine, Nov 2006: Bohemian Dunkel -
> *King Wenceslas Dunkel*
> 
> 19 litres OG 1.048 FG 1.012
> ...


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## Weizguy (19/3/16)

Jack of all biers said:


> Lez,
> 
> The AG recipe makes more sense. As I was looking at your old post for the KK version, I thought to myself, that's not going to make it dark enough with enough malt flavour. I was thinking it needed some Carafa Special II, but the Caramunich II steeped would make up for the maltiness. So I would say that a KK version for this recipe would likely be better as below.
> Thoughts?


Fair call. I copied the "extract only" version of the recipe from BYO. There is also an extract with grain recipe, but that requires a mini-mash with Munich II, and I have been told that this is "kits and extract section not all grain.", so not suitable to post here. Can post in the partial mash section and provide a link here if anyone has interest. I think it mostly depends if you can get the specified Weyermann extract, in the first place.


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## Gigantorus (20/4/16)

gsxrmckhttp://aussiehomebrewer.com/user/3759-gsxrmck/

A colleague tasted my Black Pils last week and said it reminded him of the Kozel Dark he had tried a few days before hand. My recipe used the Coopers Black Pils recipe but with some additions. My ingredient list was:

Ingredients

1.7kg Thomas Coopers Pilsener can
1.5kg Thomas Coopers Dark Malt Extract can
500grams Light Dry Malt Extract
200grams Maltodextrin
200g CaraMunich3 Malt (cracked)
200g CaraHell Malt (cracked)
15g European Lager yeast (W-34/70) plus Pils kit lager yeast

Figures:

Colour: Black (EBC = 82.6)
Body: Medium
Bitterness: Medium (IBU = 26.6)
Approx. Alcohol Level: 5.5% ABV
Naturally Carbonated: Natural 
*STEP 1: Mix*
Add cracked grains to 3 litres of just boiled water, steep for 40 mins, remove the grains then bring the liquid to the boil.
Put 2 litres of cold water into the fermenting vessel then add the strained steeping liquid. Then add the contents of the Pils can, malt extract can, maltodextrin and LDME and stir. Add cold water up to the 20 litre mark and stir vigorously.
Check the brew temperature and top up to the 23 litre mark with cold or warm water to get as close as possible to 24C. Take gravity reading and record.
Sprinkle the dry yeast and fit the lid.
Try to ferment at 24C for the first 12 to 24 hours then draw the temperature down to 13C - 15C.
After 5 to 7 days, bring temperature back up to 18C.
3 days out from bottling, drop temperature down to 2C for cold crash.



Cheers,
Pete


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## peteru (20/4/16)

If you like Dark Kozel, you should do yourself a favour and track down a bottle or six of Dark Budvar. Much harder to find, but it takes the style to the next level. If you manage to get yourself over to the Czech Republic, get yourself onto a few brewery tours around the place. I was lucky enough to get a private tour of the Svijany brewery in November - it's the Czech version Cooper's. They refuse to be bought out by the big boys and brew in huge open tank fermenters. Many Czech breweries are quite happy to share all the details of their brewing, including temperatures and timing. Many also do their own malting or have exclusive suppliers.

Almost all Czech brewers will use Saaz hops as their main hop. Many will have their own farm in the region, so picking the right hop is a no-brainer.

The majority of dark Czech beers tend to be low strength or mid strength lagers. Traditionally these beers are considered "ladies beers", mainly because they tend to be fairly high in unfermentables, which makes them sweet and smooth. My wife loves them.

If you want to take the easy way towards brewing something that is spot on in the category, get yourself a 15L cube of Černý Pivo fresh wort from your usual supplier. I used Saflager w-34/70, rehydrated with 18C water for about 20 minutes, with vigorous shaking every 5 minutes, pitched at 16 and waited about two days until there was clear signs of fermentation (krausen), then brought it down to 10 over the next 72 hours. Left at 10 for the next 7 days, then up to 18 for two and a half days. Chilled down to 2C overnight, transferred to keg and left to lager at 2C for about 3 weeks. Now serving at 6C and it's fantastic. It'll probably get better over the next few weeks as it matures a bit more.


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## Gigantorus (6/5/16)

Gigantorus said:


> gsxrmckhttp://aussiehomebrewer.com/user/3759-gsxrmck/
> 
> A colleague tasted my Black Pils last week and said it reminded him of the Kozel Dark he had tried a few days before hand. My recipe used the Coopers Black Pils recipe but with some additions. My ingredient list was:
> 
> ...


This is becoming a real nice brew. Love it really cold (say 2 to 4C).


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## Gigantorus (16/5/16)

Had a Kozel Dark yesterday while brewing up the pale ale and it wasn't too bad. Has that very euro graininess taste and was easy to drink.


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## Olegun (1/6/18)

Gigantorus said:


> This is becoming a real nice brew. Love it really cold (say 2 to 4C).





Gigantorus said:


> gsxrmck
> 
> A colleague tasted my Black Pils last week and said it reminded him of the Kozel Dark he had tried a few days before hand. My recipe used the Coopers Black Pils recipe but with some additions. My ingredient list was:
> 
> ...


Hello!
I want to make your recipe,but I'd like to add 450 gr of Chocolate malt to be more dark.
What do you think about it?
Thx!


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## MHB (5/6/18)

An old favourite, that and the Dark Budvar, the lower alcohol of the Kozel makes for a pretty good session beer.
Kozel reportedly contains four malts (the Dark Budvar says 3) at least one is a dark caramel malt, one will be a pilsner, I suspect a fair wack of Munich and something very dark.
I think I would try Chocolate/Roast Wheat - as dark as Roast Barley/Caraffa3/Black Patent but a lot more subdued in its flavour. When I taste Kozel Dark I get very little of the typical burnt astringent notes associated with very dark Barley.
Well worth a try.
Mark


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## yankinoz (6/6/18)

I get dark Munich and dark caramel flavours in Kozel. The above recipe that includes 200g Caramunich seems right.

If you can't lager very long or don't want to, you might consider a faux lager using dry Nottingham starting at 12 and rising to 14 during the active phase, or a liquid Kolsch yeast at the low end of its range. Either way, because of the low temps in the active phase, a diacetyl rest at the end might be a good idea even though they're ale yeasts.


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