Schwarzbier Basic and Awesome Schwarzbier

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

TimBrewz

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 12, 2008
Messages
714
Reaction score
81
Location
Portland, OR
Recipe Type
All Grain
Yeast
Bohemian/Munich
Yeast Starter
Yes, 2 L
Batch Size (Gallons)
5.5
Original Gravity
1.049
Final Gravity
1.012
Boiling Time (Minutes)
90
IBU
22
Color
22 SRM
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
10 @ 52f
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
60 days @33f
Tasting Notes
A very faint roastiness over a classic pilsner...awesome.Won 1st place in Dark Lager
7 lbs german pilsner
3 lbs german munich (6-8L)
.5 lbs Carafa II (late addition)
Staro Prague yeast or any bohemian/german lager yeast

1 oz Hallertaur (4.5%) at 60
1 oz Hallertaur(4.5%) at 15

Mash at 150f
Add carafa II with 10 minutes left in mash
 
I made damn near the same recipe except I evenly split Munich and Pilsner and used carafa III instead of II but it was wonderful. Really took mine a while to age and grow into itself but after a while those bottles were real good. I love simplicity!
 
Yours sounds like a more malty and roasty version. I am sure it was delicious.

I agree, it takes a while for all the flavors to harmonize. Did you do a late addition with the Carafa III? I have found that helps it not be too roasty but still get the color and a bit of the flavor. When I mashed the Carafa for an hour, the beer was more like a light porter- not a bad thing, but not really the style either.



I made damn near the same recipe except I evenly split Munich and Pilsner and used carafa III instead of II but it was wonderful. Really took mine a while to age and grow into itself but after a while those bottles were real good. I love simplicity!
 
I didn't do a late addition but that's not a bad idea. Mine did get a tad bit too roasty which is another part of the reason why I think it took awhile to get really good. I'll have to try that if I make this one again.
 
How late do you add your carafa? Do you mill it more carefully than the other malt? I just finished making a similar recipe and coincidentally I also used exactly .5 lb of carafa and my nose also told me it was probably just a touch too roasty.
 
I add the dark malts in the last 10 minutes of the mash, and try to just gently stir into the top inch of the light malts.
 
Hey guys, this thread inspired me a bit. I attempted a schwarzbier today. My recipe was:


5# German Munich
3# German Vienna
1# caramunich 2
1# carafa 3

I added the caramunich and carafa 3 at mashout and did a 10 min mashout at 168.

.5oz perle 7.8% aa FWH
.5oz perle @15
1oz hallertau @5

O.G. 1.047

The difference from the style was I used Nottingham and fermenting at 60.

Minus the yeast part, am I close or am I closer to a porter? If more like a porter I have some cascade hops I have been thinking about dry hopping. Ideas? Tips? Thanks!
 
Hey Tony,I plugged this beer into BeerTools, this is really not a traditional Schwarzbier, I would say it is much closer to a porter(a low IBU porter). Though there are no hard rules, my take is:
1)that much crystal is going to make very sweet beer.
2)Munich as a base malt is going to be super malty.
3)I think you could lower the carafa to about 8-10 oz get all the color and roast you want.
4) If you keep this grain bill, mash in the 146-8 range to make it dry out as much as possible.
5) If you want a true black lager, get rid of the caramunich or use only 2-4 oz, and use pilsner as the bulk of your base malt.


Hope this helps,

Cheers, Tim



Hey guys, this thread inspired me a bit. I attempted a schwarzbier today. My recipe was:


5# German Munich
3# German Vienna
1# caramunich 2
1# carafa 3

I added the caramunich and carafa 3 at mashout and did a 10 min mashout at 168.

.5oz perle 7.8% aa FWH
.5oz perle @15
1oz hallertau @5

O.G. 1.047

The difference from the style was I used Nottingham and fermenting at 60.

Minus the yeast part, am I close or am I closer to a porter? If more like a porter I have some cascade hops I have been thinking about dry hopping. Ideas? Tips? Thanks!
 
Tim, really appreciate the response. That helps a ton. I'm going to go ahead and dry hop some cascades then and call it a porter. My mash went from 151-147 in 60 mins. Hopefully that will help it finish not too sweet. I did have a pretty malty beer in mind when I put this together. This is the first time I've come up with a recipe. Thanks again for the tips!
 
You are welcome. Please let me know how that beer turns out. You could be on to the next great style;)
 
Tim, I see you're in Portland. Ever make it down to Astoria? Ever do, hit me up. Come try a brew
 
Cool, I have been meaning to head out there and visit Ft. George and Astoria Brewing. Will let you know!
 
Hey Tim, I've taken gravity readings and sampled my off version. You're right about it being sweet. Looks like its finishing at 1.016 too. I like the roast character, it's not harsh. There is some chocolate notes coming through too. I went ahead and threw in an ounce of cascade to dry hop just for the heck of it, so that really takes me off style now! Still think it will be tasty for whatever it is.

Will try your suggestions next go around! Cheers.
 
When you say a late addition to the Carafa II what do you mean by this? It doesn't get mashed with the rest of the grains?
 
When you say a late addition to the Carafa II what do you mean by this? It doesn't get mashed with the rest of the grains?

This means that you add the dark grains in the last 10 minutes of the mash.
These grains do not need to be mashed, only steeped to release color and flavor. The idea is that by having them in the mash tun for just enough time to extract color and flavor, you do not extract much of the roasty/burnt character that you get from having them in the tun for the full mash.
 
Tim, so my not so schwarzbier ale turned out pretty tasty. The Notty and the dry hopped cascades bring a bit of a fruit/ citrus note that plays surprisingly well with the smooth roast notes of the carafa 3. The nose is more roast driven with hints of cake and caramel. My OG was 1.047 and it came in around 4%. Very light bodied and easy drinking. I have let a few people try it and they freak out when they see this jet black beer. Then they drink it and are shocked at how easy drinking it is.

Next time I will try something closer to style. Thanks again for the dialogue and this post! Cheers!
 
I was looking at making a schwarzbier but didnt realize it was a lager type beer. I bought all the grain already but want to switch the yeast to make it an ale where i can ferment room temperature. Please give me sugeations im very new at brewing.
 
Hey all--I'm in the middle of making my first schwarzbier--wort boiling now--and my gravity reading puts post-boil gravity at 1.062, which will result in a fermented ABV of about 6.8%.

The recipe called for hitting 1.055, but in adjusting for color (I wanted it darker), I forgot to track the gravity in Beersmith.

So, is this too strong for a Schwarzbier? I'm not going for a competition, but I want something that will still be smooth and not hit you over the head. Should I dilute? How to do that without affecting taste? Or leave as is?


Thanks,

CB
 
climateboy said:
Hey all--I'm in the middle of making my first schwarzbier--wort boiling now--and my gravity reading puts post-boil gravity at 1.062, which will result in a fermented ABV of about 6.8%.

The recipe called for hitting 1.055, but in adjusting for color (I wanted it darker), I forgot to track the gravity in Beersmith.

So, is this too strong for a Schwarzbier? I'm not going for a competition, but I want something that will still be smooth and not hit you over the head. Should I dilute? How to do that without affecting taste? Or leave as is?

Thanks,

CB

I'd add a half gallon water or so at about 15 mins and check gravity. Try to get closer to the 1.055 zone.

If using ale yeast go with American ale or kolsch keep it in the low 60s
 
Also I have found the color, though low in beersmith or beertools comes out very dark from caramelization in the boil. This is not a roasty style so go easy on the dark grains.

Cheers, Tim
 
Hey all--I'm in the middle of making my first schwarzbier--wort boiling now--and my gravity reading puts post-boil gravity at 1.062, which will result in a fermented ABV of about 6.8%.

The recipe called for hitting 1.055, but in adjusting for color (I wanted it darker), I forgot to track the gravity in Beersmith.

So, is this too strong for a Schwarzbier? I'm not going for a competition, but I want something that will still be smooth and not hit you over the head. Should I dilute? How to do that without affecting taste? Or leave as is?


Thanks,

CB

I brewed a slightly modified version of NortherBrewers Schwartz and hit an OG of 1.063. I lagered it for 6 weeks, and I'm actually sipping on it right now. At 6.5% it's really more of a Schwarz"bock" than anything else, but I'm loving it. Some times little mistakes can result in great new beers. As long as you don't mind a bit of extra wait for it to condition, I say don't dilute what could be a great discovery.
 
I ended up diluting it, just because I didn't want such a big beer (I'm planning a pipeline that will end with my wedding in August). Also, I hadn't diluted before, so it was good to learn the lesson of how to avoid, and how to fix.

Thanks everyone for the feedback. A Schwarzbock does sound good--this will be my first lager, so looking forward to experimenting more in the future.

CB
 
Sounds good, and congrats on the nuptials! I think I'm also going to try post-boil dilution in the near future. I'm limited in how much wort I can boil, so I've been toying around with doubling the grainbill of low OG batches and then diluting it to 10gallons post-boil.
 
Thanks!

Actually, I diluted with 15 minutes left in the boil. Took a gravity reading from the kettle, then used Beersmith's dilution tool. Worked perfectly, and I didn't have to worry about sterilized water, or my own, perhaps unfounded concerns that diluting the wort after boil would affect flavor. I stopped the timer when I added the dilution water, then restarted when the boil got going again. Then I added the 15 minute hops.
 
My LHBS only had 20L so I grabbed it... Do you think it's going to be too much?
 
Did you do a mash-out for this? I'm assuming you did, but thought I'd double check since it's not in the recipe.

Planning to brew it this weekend! Looks like a good one from the reviews
 
Did you do a mash-out for this? I'm assuming you did, but thought I'd double check since it's not in the recipe.

Planning to brew it this weekend! Looks like a good one from the reviews
ViaChicago, (Wilco reference?)

I do not do mashouts with my current set up. I batch sparge, and heat the kettle as the wort runs out of the mashtun to stop enzymatic action. A mashout is probably a better method, but I have have good results without doing one.

Best of luck, its been a really nice beer every time I have brewed it.

I use light munich (6-8L) usually Weyermann. I just updated the original post to reflect this.
 
Great - thanks for the quick response, TimBrewz. Yep, a Wilco reference indeed. I'll give it a shot this weekend with a mashout and see how it goes.
 
OP, thank you for the great recipe. Brewed on 2/17 and sampled today after a 2 day diacetyl rest. Tastes amazing and hit my numbers spot on. Into the keg for 8 weeks of lagering. Can't wait for May first!


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
 
I brewed this per Tim's recipe using BIAB, but I was lazy and didn't want to lager... So, I used WLP029 Kolsch yeast. I fermented it from 62-68 F over 3 weeks in the primary, then transferred it to a secondary and cold crashed it at 36 F for 1 week. I then kegged it and let it condition another 2 weeks.

Initial tasting notes are that it's a pretty balanced Schwarzbier, but not as heavy as some I've tasted. Mine has a pleasant caramel and malt taste with a clean finish. No roasty bite afterwards, and hop neutral. Exactly what I was looking for; a very sessionable early summer brew.

Thanks Tim!

Steve

20140515_192608.jpg
 
Always glad to hear about you guys enjoying the beer! It's still one of my favorites.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
 
Brewed this back in Feb as my first lager. All went well apart from a bit of a panic when the Mangrove Jack Bohemian Lager yeast took 5 days to do its thing. Six weeks lagering after the Diacetyl rest.
From making black IPAs I'm in the habit of only putting the dark grains in for the last 15 minutes of the mash, maybe thats why its not really dark enough.

Tastes great, and a nice fluffy head.
Thanks Tim!

schwarzbier1.jpg
 
thank,s for the great recept Tim
brewed it today on my newly finished 30 ltr set up, so its the first beer made at home
the brew sent very well and i hit all my numbers spot on
i thought i had sack of munich which turned out to be a sack vienna!
panicked! then googled the difference, then used the vienna
I changed the aroma hops to EKG because i,v got load of them lying in the freezer!
transferred a pilsner to a new bucket and poured the dark lager right on top of the cake, it took of in onder 30 mins !
i,l post a foto when its finished
 
Brewed a batch of this for my father in law who likes dark lagers. I don't have a setup to lager so I used Wyeast 1007 German Ale yeast, fermented at 60F then 2 weeks cold crash at about 38F. He loved it and so did I. Very clean with nice roast malt flavor with no burnt astringency.

Thanks for the great recipe.
 
Back
Top