Czech Pilsner
Czech-Style Pilsner is Riverbend's under-modified base malt, built to emulate the malts of the Hana valley in the eastern Czech Republic. They get there by cutting steep-out moisture, lowering germination temperatures and finishing on a cool, gentle kiln to hold color under 2.5 SRM.
Genuinely under-modified malt is rare in the US market, and it tastes different. Grainy sweetness with cooked rice and pear, finishing on fresh-cut wildflowers and hay. That is the malt character a Czech lager is supposed to be built on.
Using Czech Pilsner
- Riverbend publishes 50 to 90% of the grist.
- Step mashing and decoction are supported but not required. Riverbend modifies it enough that a single infusion will convert it, and a step mash simply gets more out of it.
- The under-modification is the point of difference against a standard Pilsner malt, and the reason it builds more body.
- Min DP 110 keeps enough enzymatic power for the whole grist.
Styles: Czech pale lager, Czech dark lager, full-bodied light lagers
Specifications
| Grain | 2-row barley blend, under-modified |
|---|---|
| Color | 1.5 to 2.5 SRM |
| Max usage rate | 50 to 90% of grist |
| Extract (FG, dry basis) | 80% |
| Protein | 10.2% |
| S/T ratio | 42 to 43 |
| Min diastatic power | 110 |
| Min alpha amylase | 35 |
| Bag size | 50 lb |
About Riverbend Malt House
Brent Manning and Brian Simpson founded Riverbend in Asheville in 2010, the first craft malt house east of the Mississippi. It is now the first Certified Regenified malt house in the world. Grain comes from family-owned farms inside roughly a 500-mile radius of Asheville, across North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia and Florida. They still hand-rake grain on a traditional malting floor alongside modern germination-kiln vessels, and in 2025 they supplied more than 300 breweries and distilleries.