Brewers Selection Cerny Pivo *

We have one of the world’s favourite beers, a Czech styled Black Lager or Cerny Pivo. The recipe is "supposed" to be the same as that used at Prague's most famous beer hall, brew-pub, & beer garden known as U Fleku. They have been brewing beer at U Fleku since at least 1499: isotopic measurements of the remains of paintings on the wooden ceiling of the brewhouse have dated them back to 1360! It is the same recipe brewed at The Macquarie Brewery in early 2005. This beer was entered in the Australian International Beer Awards (AIBA) where it picked up a Gold Medal, & Best In Class in the Lager section. This is a very easy drinking dark beer, with some burnt toast or coffee flavours, but without the heaviness of a Stout or the strength of a Bock. By adding 3-4 litres of water to the wort you should have a starting gravity of 1.046. If using a healthy lager yeast such as the Saflager 34/70 you can expect a final gravity of under 1.010, probably closer to 1.008. This beer will ferment very nicely with most of the Lager strains at a temperature of around 12 degrees C. If you are already brewing a Lager or a Pilsner, simply pitch onto the yeast slurry for a very healthy fermentation. For a comparable beer in the commercial market, try the Kozel dark, sold in 500ml bottles at Dan Murphy's.