Next Brew

[JackNZ]

Hey All,

Well I've just bottled my first ever home brew (Belgian Ale), and hope it works out (Probably the brewing temp was a bit to high). Anyway I have been thinking about what to do next and I am pretty keen on doing a Schwarzbier. It might be a bit beyond my ability but I generally try to run before I can walk ;-).

I have done a fair bit of reading on here and other sites about what makes a Schwarzbier and have been playing around with the brewers friend recipe calculator this morning. I came up with this recipe and just want to know what people think of it? I have absolutely no idea if it would work or not but it seems to be within all the ranges for a Schwarzbier on the calculator.

2 x 1.5L Briess Pilsen Light LME
500g DME Light

500g Briess Midnight Wheat
150g Carafa T2 Malt
150g Munich II Malt

40g Motueka Saaz Pellets 60mins
20g Motueka Saaz Pellets 20mins
10g Motueka Saaz Pellets 0mins (7days before bottling)

Saflager S-189 Yeast

OG 1.048
FG 1.014
ABV 4.58
IBU 23.19
SRM 29.30

Any advice would be more than welcome. I was thinking about using the Nelson Sauvin hops but reading about them thought they might be a bit overpowering?

Thanks
JackNZ

 

[pat86]

I'm a brewing newb as well but have downed a few Schwarzbiers over in Germany. The one thing I always thought was that they were quite refreshing and crisp or light - much like drinking a black lager almost, or at least it drinks much easier than it looks. I think to someone more experienced this may translate to having less malt thickness than most other dark beers, so maybe a pro can shed some light on whether you should substitute some dextrose in (I haven't done that before) so it has less maltyness? No matter, looks like you will make a very nice beer mate!

 

[JackNZ]

Thanks Pat86. I've made a mistake in my recipe it's supposed to be 250g of Midnight Wheat not 500g, and after reading a bit more your not supposed to use Saaz hops. A bit more tweaking to do I think!

 

[damoninja]

You got good temperature control? You'll need it for that yeast...