A Schwarzbier attempt

[Kalthor]

Hey!

So I'm going to try to make a Schwarzbier and would love to get some feedback on this recipe:

1x Coopers European Lager Kit
1kg Light Dry Malt
250g Carafa III steeped
250g CaraPils steeped (have them already in the cupboard and looking to use them up)
250g Dextrose
15g Hallertauer finishing hops
15g Hallertauer dry hopping
S-189 yeast


Does this sound reasonable for the type of beer that I'm trying to achieve or is it way out there?

 

[RobboMC]

61 views over 4 days and no-one gives this guy any feedback, C-Mon guys!!

Looks to me like the bitterness may be a touch low but otherwise it looks really close to the mark.
I've popped this into the famous kits and extracts spread sheet and found:

Assuming 23 litres volume the OG is good.
This means the abv will come out at about 5%. It hits the Schwarzbier specs for abv and bitterness smack in the middle.

It also looks like the maltyness is OK, Schwarzbier is meant to be a bit malty.
I would perhaps boil 15g of Hallertauer for 5-10 minutes to add slightly more bitterness and flavour to balance the malty flavours in those lovely grains
but there's nothing wrong with the way it is.

It also looks a bit black. Nothing wrong with that if you are aiming for it, but to get closer to the Schwarzbier specs I suggest using Carafa I instead.

Don't take these comments the wrong way, your recipe as it is looks bloody excellent for a brewer with 11 posts, in fact I would make it just the way you have it.
The beer will be black as midnight without a moon, and smooth and malty like an old whisky. It will be good beer in my humble opinion,
but I enjoy that sort of thing as you can see from my profile photo. The Czechs call it Cerny Pivot, it's just not exactly within the Schwarzbier specs for colour.

I assume you are going to try and keep it cool at around 14 deg C and get a true black lager.

I start my Black lager with a Pilsener kit, usually from the Thomas Coopers range and that works out really well for me.

 

[pajs]

Give it a crack. Should be tasty, especially if you ferment it cool and then lager it for smoothing out. The Kostritzer type model of a Schwarz (kind of Pils + a small amount of something like de-husked Carafa Special II for colour) will be a bit lighter, brighter and less toasty/roasty than yours, so you might find that something to try next as a contrast.

 

[Kalthor]

Thanks for the feedback guys!

I did indeed put the above recipe down the other day, the only change was that I also added some Tettnanger hops (on top of the Hallertauer) and went with Bohemian Lager M84 yeast as the LHBS didn't have the S-189 yeast.

It's bubbling nicely at about 14.5 deg at the moment.... will dry hop with Hallertauer in a few days and then lager this for a few months until summer when :chug:

 

[pajs]

Good stuff. Just got some Tettnanger and plan a Maris Otter + Tett + German Ale yeast SMaSH and a variant Schwarz with Tett for hopping. Thinking of doing a half-half split of Wey Pils and Wey Munich I, with just a tiny bit of Carafa Special II to nudge the colour along. Tettnanger at 60 and a small add at 20. Ferment cold on S189. Alt-ish Schwarz, I guess.

 

[Kalthor]

Quick update on the final product, ended up with OG 1.044 and FG of 1.012 and was bottled about 9 weeks ago.
Had a sampler yesterday and even though it still needs more time in the bottle it still tastes close to the mark.