Day 7: Schwarzbier

Here we are a week in to it. One of the fun things for me is coming up with these recipes. All of these recipes are in some way new. I've been a terrible note taker throughout my brewing career, so most of it is just whatever my brain can recall using or doing in previous batches. None of these recipes are coming from a book, or from previous batch notes (which, as stated, have been nonexistent), but are being designed every day before I brew.

I'm on a little electric burner in the shop today. Sending my Electric Brew Heater in for an exchange. Sounds like a few of the early ones had some bugs.

On to the beer...

Beer #7 - The Jason Schwartzman

Style: Schwarzbier (Black Beer) (4C)

Recipe: For 2 Gallon (Extract)

2.25 lb Light Dry Malt Extract
2 oz Caramunich III (steeped at 152F for 20 minutes)
2 oz Chocolate Malt (steeped at 152F for 20 minutes)
2 oz Carafa II (steeped at 152F for 20 minutes)
1 oz Hersbrucker Hops (2.8% AAU) (30 minutes, full boil)
Wyeast 2007 Pilsen Lager Yeast


Brewing notes: I'm excited for this beer. I really like drinking this style (The Sprecher Black Bavarian is a favorite), but I can't remember actually making a Schwarzbier. According to the BJCP, Carafa is an acceptable (if not preferred) grain to use to get the black in this dark lager. I'm glad I got to use some, it's not a grain I use often, but it seems perfect for this style. The Hersbrucker hops were a little lower in acid than I would have liked, but they should come through OK. I used Munton's Dry Malt, but next time I'll probably use Briess Pilsen Light or a Bierkeller malt. The gravity reading was 1.050.