January 20, 2008

4C SchwarzBier - is that a pils in my stout?

I like things that are surprising and a little bit different than expected. This is a good example of that, a good schwarzbier is basically a dark pilsner. Its certainly dark, hopefully its also delicious.

Schwarzbier (4C)
Based on the Köstritzer clone from "Brewing Classic Styles" Zainasheff and Palmer with a little inspiration from a recipe from the Weyermann site.

Info:

  • Brewer: Ryan
  • Mash: 1-step Decoction plus some hot water stepped raises
  • Date: 1/18/2008
  • Size: 5 gallon post-boil
Grain Bill:
  • 8.0lb weyerman pilsner malt
  • 2.0lb Munich
  • 8 oz dextrin
  • 8 oz carafa II (added after decoction)
Yeast:
  • Wyeast 2007 - Pilsen Lager This was some yeast Chris had saved over for me from his pilsner batch
  • Starter (or maybe a booster since it was already a pretty nice yeast cake) made on previous day with light DME
The Mash:
  • Set Carafa aside for now
  • Dough in with 1 quart per pound of 98F water to 95
  • rest 15 minutes
  • add 150F to 126F (roughly 1/2 quart per pound)
  • rest 20 minutes
  • Decoction
  • removed 6.5 quarts of thick part of mash, raised to 156 over 15 minutes
  • rest decoction 15 minutes
  • raise to 167 over 15 minutes
  • rest 15 minutes
  • bring to boil over 15 minutes
  • add carafa II to main mash, this was left out of the mash before the decoction to try and keep a clean flavor profile (less roast) but added after to the main mash so we can get all the color.
  • boil for 20 minutes
  • return decoction to main mash, only hit 140
  • rested at 140 for 25 minutes (only had one burner today so I'm heating water right now)
  • added 190F water to 150F
  • rest 20 minutes
  • add 190 water to 167F rest 20 minutes
  • sparge with 180 F water
The Boil (90 minutes):
  • 30 minutes naked boil
  • 1.5 oz Mt Hood (4.1aau) @ 60 (21 BUs)
  • 0.75 oz Mt Hood (4.1aau) @ 15 (6.5 BUs)
  • total 26-27 BUs
The Pitch:
  • OG: 1.054 (a smidge high for style, but not crazily so)
  • Pitched yeast

1 comment:

  1. This was another home run. It came out a smidge more malty than I had expected, I might skip the dextrin if I did it again with a decoction mash, for a straight infusion with fully modified pils this recipe would be just about right. You could get by with less carafa II, its really really black, but thats personal preference, I like it how it is fine.

    Having said all that its still (imho) well within style and an outstanding beer.

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