This recipe was my second attempt at a schwarzbier, this time from an all-grain recipe instead of partial mash. This recipe was also the first one I designed using the recipe design tools at beertools.com. It's also worth noting that for the grain bill I opted for organic grains where available- this raised the cost of the gain bill, but I'm pleased with the outcome.
Ingredients
- 6 lbs Munich malt (Weyerman Organic)
- 3 lbs German Pilsner malt (Weyerman)
- 1 lb Caraffa II (Weyerman Organic)
- .7 oz Sterling whole hop @ 60 min
- .4 oz Sterling whole hop @ 15 min
- .5 oz Vanguard whole hop @ 1 min
- 1 tab whirfloc @ 20 min
- White Labs WLP830 German Lager Yeast
- 3/4 cup dextrose for priming
I used what is shaping up to be my standard mash schedule- a two step infusion ~30 min @ 132F and ~40 min @ 152F. This can be accomplished by striking the grain with 3 gal 140F water. Then adding 1 gal boiling water after 30 min to bring the mash temp to 150F or so. The mash out and lauter w/ 5 gal ~170F water.
After the boil, I brought the temp down into the upper 50s F and pitched a 2 liter starter that I'd made 2 days before. This led to a good, quick start even at the lower temps. Using my lager box I kept the fermentation temp between 48F and 58F for 18 days. Then I racked the beer to a secondary for an additional 3 weeks and a few days @ between ~40 and 50F. After a total of 6 weeks I bottled. After 3 weeks in the bottle @ room temp the carbonation was finally sufficient.
OG: 1.048 FG: 1.012 IBU: ~23
This beer is a nice deep dark amber to black. It's a bit less opaque than my partial mash Schwarz. The head is a dark offwhite bordering on brown. The flavor and aroma are dominated by the roasty notes of the grain bill. I'm very pleased with this beer and feel that it's a much better example of the Schwarzbier style that my earlier, partial mash attempt.
