CS1 - Paul Fraser's Schwarzbier - 4.6%

[Paul Fraser]

Here's my Schwarzbier recipe. I had one last night and it didn't seem as sweet as the Friday so hopefully it will dry out a bit with carbonation.

Schwarzbier

Schwarzbier (Black Beer)

Type: All Grain	Date: 20/01/2013
Batch Size (fermenter): 23.00 l	Brewer: Paul Fraser
Boil Size: 32.38 l	Asst Brewer:
Boil Time: 90 min	Equipment: 48L Pot with 45L Cooler
End of Boil Volume 25.48 l	Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Final Bottling Volume: 21.50 l	Est Mash Efficiency 74.6 %
Fermentation: Lager, Two Stage	Taste Rating(out of 50): 30.0
Taste Notes:
Ingredients
Ingredients Amt Name Type # %/IBU 3.00 kg Munich I (Weyermann) (14.0 EBC) Grain 1 56.6 % 1.71 kg Pilsner (Weyermann) (3.3 EBC) Grain 2 32.3 % 0.21 kg Carafa Special II (Weyermann) (817.5 EBC) Grain 3 4.0 % 0.21 kg Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (78.8 EBC) Grain 4 4.0 % 0.08 kg Chocolate Malt (Thomas Fawcett) (1000.8 EBC) Grain 5 1.5 % 0.08 kg Roasted Barley (Thomas Fawcett) (1199.7 EBC) Grain 6 1.5 % 14.00 g Sticklebract [12.30 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 7 19.8 IBUs 10.00 g Sticklebract [12.30 %] - Boil 20.0 min Hop 8 8.6 IBUs 14.00 g Sticklebract [12.30 %] - Boil 1.0 min Hop 9 0.9 IBUs 2.0 pkg Saflager Lager (DCL/Fermentis #W-34/70) [50.28 ml] Yeast 10 -
Beer Profile
Est Original Gravity: 1.050 SG	Measured Original Gravity: 1.050 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.011 SG	Measured Final Gravity: 1.015 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 5.1 %	Actual Alcohol by Vol: 4.6 %
Bitterness: 29.2 IBUs	Calories: 472.2 kcal/l
Est Color: 54.9 EBC
Mash Profile
Mash Name: Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge	Total Grain Weight: 5.30 kg
Sparge Water: 23.87 l	Grain Temperature: 22.2 C
Sparge Temperature: 75.6 C	Tun Temperature: 22.2 C
Adjust Temp for Equipment: TRUE	Mash PH: 5.20
Mash Steps Name Description Step Temperature Step Time Mash In Add 14.82 l of water at 74.8 C 66.7 C 60 min
Sparge Step: Batch sparge with 2 steps (7.18l, 16.69l) of 75.6 C water
Mash Notes: Simple single infusion mash for use with most modern well modified grains (about 95% of the time).
Carbonation and Storage
Carbonation Type: Bottle	Volumes of CO2: 2.5
Pressure/Weight: 143.72 g	Carbonation Used: Bottle with 143.72 g Corn Sugar
Keg/Bottling Temperature: 21.1 C	Age for: 35.00 days
Fermentation: Lager, Two Stage	Storage Temperature: 3.0 C
Notes
20/01/13 - Brewed this as per recipe. I chilled it down to 19C with chiller then poured it from kettle to fermenter via a sieve. I then sat fermenter in the fridge till it came to 8C. Didn't get chance to pitch yeast and figured nothing would grow at that temp. 22/01/13 - I rehydrated 2 packets of W34/70 in warm water for 30mins then put this in the fridge to cool to where i guessed it was cold enough to wort temp so that it wouldn't be shocked. Before pitching yeast the fermenter was shaken for about 3-4mins then yeast was added. Wort was at 8C but after vigorous shaking it rose to 9C. I let it rise to 10C naturally before holding it at 10C. 23/01/13 -I came home from work and it was bubbling away nicely. 29/01/13 - Airlock activity was getting a bit sluggish so i took a sample which had an SG of 1.018 so i decided to start a diacetyl rest by ramping temp up to 14C overnight. I couldn't detect any diacetyl and sample tasted nice. A roasty edge which wasn't too overpowering. Hop character low. Hoping that after lagering it will be drier and a bit crisper but looking good so far. 30/01/13 - In the morning i ramped temp to 18C. Came home from work and it was still bubbling slowly. 04/02/13 - Racked to carboy. Put in fridge and turned on to crash cool for lagering planning on lagering for 5+ weeks so will plan to bottle on weekend of 9/10th March. OG was 1.015 and was tasting similar to 29/01/13. Looking good. Hopefully not much oxidation issues. 08/03/13 - Bottled by rehydrating about 1/3 pack of CSK yeast and adding this to the sugar mix just before racking to bottling bucket.
Created with BeerSmith

[Dougal]

Think I'm on the cusp of a cold, so I thought I'd better try a case-swap beer while my palate is still okay. Drank this first at Paul's suggestion in case it's over-primed. 

Great clarity. Pours with a nice reddish glint and fluffy head that subsides quickly. Chocolate on the nose. Mouthfeel is drying from the dark kilned malts after initial sweetness. Not as sweet as it was on Friday- seems fully carbed. Quite balanced flavour, the roast barley being slightly too prominent. For some reason it reminds me a bit of Invercargill Pitchblack. Pleasant malt, clean bitterness, restrained hops and little fermentation character to speak of. That's what I hope for in a dark lager so well done! 

In case it isn't over-primed, you should keep a couple of bottles aside to see how it ages. Over a few months the roastiness would mellow slightly and the head retention would be perfect. 

If it was a bit drier and you subbed out some more of the roast barley for chocolate, I think this would be stellar. As it is, the pint wen't down very easily.

Cheers!

[Paul Fraser]

Thanks Douglas. I am definately going to save some to see how it ages. I hear what you said about the roast. It is still less than 2 weeks old so it'll be interesting to see how it changes. Thanks for the detailed feedback.

[Crusader-Rob]

Thought I'd have a bottle tonight, So I chose this.

Now I don't know much about Schwarzbier's, so it's difficult for me to judge, but gives me an idea of what things should taste like. Pretty uncommon style.

Pours nice and dark, and has a large Roast Character. based on the comments and discussion from fridays meet, theres too much, and to be honest I'd agree, I fridged it on tuesday. to me a little under-carbed. good tasting beer, I'm proebably not the best person to give judgement.

[Paul Fraser]

Have a look at the bjcp style guidelines 4C to see how it compares.

[Crusader-Rob]

Looking at the guidelines, My only comment is too much roastyness? But given it's my first schwarzbier I've had, I'm probably not the best judge, i did thoroughly enjoy it though.

[Ralph]

 Nice roasty malt aromas on the nose. Pours a great dark reddish brown, almost black colour with good clarity. Thin head, dissipated quickly.

Roasted malts prominent in the first taste with chocolately roasted coffee type flavours. Hops not apparent up front but give a nicely balance bitterness at the finish. Leaves a lingering drying roasted malt flavour in the mouth.

Carbonation quite light, but I did put mine into the 10 deg fridge with my other beer when it got home. Reasonably light body, but carries the flavours well.

I think it is a great dark lager. Plenty of malt character and I like the roasted barley edge and dry finish. Likely to improve with some age.

[Paul Fraser]

Cheers. It's been bottled now for 2 weeks and 2 days and carbonation is still pretty good so don't think it's going to be over carbed. I'm really enjoying it at the moment.

[oliver]

Aroma: clean, slightly bready, little stone fruit maybe

Colour: almost pitch black with a little red

Flavour: chocolate, little coffee, berry/fruity, good background bitterness, little sweet + fruity in the finish

Mouthfeel: full, not cloying

Nice pours with a solid head, good carbonation.

Nice beer all round Paul, really enjoyed it :)

[Paul Finney]

Hello,

Now i am up and running i can comment! I had this a while ago but made notes, so i hope they make sense...

Poured a deep almost ruby red colour which was very clear. It looked great, with a good head, which hung around for ages, with a slight chocolatety colour.

No real perceptive hop aroma. There was a nice roasted malty aroma coming through even though it was quite cold.

First taste was very malty, almost a sharp roasted flavour. Even with the malts it was a clean taste which led through to light bittering at the end of the taste.

Depite the warning the carbing was quite low. I am not sure how this would effect the overal taste once fully carbed?

Overal a very enjoyable beer and one i would love to taste again, good work Paul

[Mike]

Paul's Schwarzbier

Appearance: Nice, very dark brown, good clarity, can't really see light through my tasting glass. Doesn't seem to retain head well, thin white lacing around the edges of the glass.Seems undercarbed, maybe waht you were talking about before Paul?

Aroma: Funky yeast note, bready, this dominated the nose on mine. Slight malt coming in the back.

Taste: Again, yeast dominates, bready/shipyard glue kinda taste. Slight diaceytl maybe? Served cold which gave the impression of clean lagerness, but yeasty taste prevailed. In saying that, nice clean malt profile, slightly roasty, reminds me of Moa Noir (which is a good thing in my book). Chocolate, roasted coffee beans.

Mouthfeel: Reasonable body, goes down smooth. Feels about right. Undercarbed though.I take back the diaceytl comment! It is quite big and slippery though.

Finish: Dry, like a dark lager should be, again, yeast

.
Overall: I fridged for 3 days and poured carefully but still got a quite pronounced bready/yeasty aroma and taste
Yeast coming back in the burps, if you know what I mean. This is funny because I decanted well and left alot more than usual in the bottom (about 3cm!). This is a good beer with a nice mouthfeel, needs more carbing and potentially a better fermentation/flocculation/racking/something to remove the yeasty taste. At the moment that is the only thing really holding it back from being commercial quality. I did serve quite cold which may have limited some of the malt flavour, but in my experience dark lagers are served cold.

[Paul Fraser]

Interesting. I have'nt had one in a while but i didn't get the yeast thing you mention. With a 4 day diacetyl rest and around 5 weeks lagering there should be very little diacetyl or yeast character. I did rack carefully and added about a third of a pack of rehydrated CSC-1 yeast with sugar mix at bottling time. The yeast is described as imparting no flavour so preserving the original character of the beer. Hopefully it was just a rogue bottle you had. I will crack one today to see if I can detect it.
I agree that it should be fairly cold at serving.

I believe you were the last person to try my beer Mike. It was great to get everyone's detailed constructive feedback and to try some good beers too. I look forward to the next one. Cheers

[Mike]

Yea, didn't look like anyone else picked it up, so I'm assuming the bottle was from the bottom of the fermenter or something...