Schwarzbier

11 March 2007 @ late evening | Comments (2)

I recently sampled Bony Fingers and Death and Taxes, two outstanding black lagers by Moonlight Brewing Company, inspiring me to brew a schwarzbier.

After a bit of research, I noticed a distinctly wide range of interpretations in published recipes for this style. My usual starting point for composing a new recipe, Designing Great Beers, contains no chapter on the style and a Google search yields recipes that fall all over the spectrum. This is most likely because many brewers today forgo the traditional schwarzbier style in favor of a more robust black lager interpretation (including Moonlight’s Death/Bony, which aren’t schwarzbiers in the traditional sense).

Luckily, Jamil Zainasheff recently did a podcast show on schwarzbier and what better way to introduce myself to the style than by using an award-winning recipe?

Recipe

• Style: Schwarzbier
• Type: All grain
• Batch size: 6 gal
• Color: 31 SRM
• Bitterness: 29 IBU
• OG: 1.054
• FG: 1.019
• BU/GU: 0.54
• Mash: Single step infusion (152°F/168°F)
• Efficiency: 75%
• Boil: 90 min
• ABV: 4.6%
• Yeast: German Lager (WLP830)
• Grain:
  • 7 lb German Munich malt (10L)
  • 4 lb Pilsner malt
  • 0.5 lb Crystal 40L
  • 0.5 lb Chocolate malt
  • 0.25 lb Roasted barley
  • 0.25 lb Carafa II (de-husked)
• Hops:
  • 1.0 oz. Hallertauer (pellet, 60 min)
  • 0.5 oz. Hallertauer (whole, 20 min)
  • 0.5 oz. Hallertauer (whole, aroma)

Process

Using RO water, I had to add quite a bit of CaCO3 in order to get the right mash pH with such a dark beer. The mash temperature was a bit low, but hopefully it’ll still turn out sufficiently sweet enough to balance the roasted character.

Primary fermentation was held for 10-14 days at 52°F, followed by a short diacetyl rest at 58F, then racked off to a short secondary and incrementally decreased by two degrees each day until 34°F. An empty refrigerator along with a brand spankin’ new temperature controller and thermowell will make this fermentation a hell of a lot easier than with my homemade fermentation chiller box.

Result

April 9, 2007: I am quite pleased by this beer’s roasted complexity and clean flavor. Can’t wait to share this one with friends!

May 6, 2007: This was by far the best beer I’ve ever brewed.

Lessons

• Keep on top of sanitation. Lots of nasty shit can build up in very little time.
• Beer podcasts rock.