Back in Black Schwarzbier, February 21, 2011

In November I brewed a Schwarzbier that I really liked.  It was on tap at our annual New Year's Big Bear Bash.  As a dark colored beer, some of our drinking crowd steered clear while others wanted to  compare it to a stout or porter.  I feel this style is a hidden gem.  Possibly with educating drinkers and the right breweries making it, Schwarzbier could easily become another great addition to a craft beer pub's tap lineup.
After some more research and thinking about the last batch, I wanted to give this style another try.  I ordered Sinamar from William's Brewing as a suggested means to darken the beer without adding too much roasted character to the beer.  The goal was to darken just enough to get in the truly dark range while adding very little roasted flavor.

Sinamar Beer Coloring. Each ounce adds 5 SRM.

My mash was calculated to be 14 SRM and 2 ounces of Sinamar picked up another 10 SRM to fall right in the BJCP Category 4C color range for Schwarzbier.  Sinamar is derived from a process using Carafa yielding a lower bitter flavor than you'd otherwise expect from mashing with roasted grains (Black Patent, Roasted Barley, Chocolate, etc).  I finally spotted it at my local homebrew store yesterday so I'd imagine that Sinamar is becoming readily available.

Sinamar pours thick!  Consistency of a thick syrup.  Tastes lightly roasted.

Outside of using Sinamar, I will be slightly breaking the category boundaries of hop bitterness, flavor, and aroma.  I'm thinking that a month of lagering will likely bring the hop profile down to an acceptable level.  This is also the first time using Charlie Papazian's yeast strain, Cry Havoc.  This is a very versatile yeast strain (ales and lagers) and Charlie has used this for a breadth of styles. As always, I will update this post with finishing details at a later time.  Cheers!

Back in Black Schwarzbier

4-C Schwarzbier (Black Beer)
Author: Chillindamos
Date: 2/21/11

Size: 5.0 gal
Efficiency: 75.0%
Attenuation: 75.0%
Calories: 167.46 kcal per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.050 (1.046 - 1.052)
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Terminal Gravity: 1.013 (1.010 - 1.016)
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Color: 24.25 (17.0 - 30.0)
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Alcohol: 4.95% (4.4% - 5.4%)
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Bitterness: 34.8 (22.0 - 32.0)
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Ingredients:

5.0 lb Belgian Munich
3.0 lb Pilsner Malt
1.5 lb Vienna Malt
2 oz German Carafa II
3.0 tsp 5.2 pH Stabilizer - added during mash
2 oz Sinamar - added during boil, boiled 60.0 min
0.25 oz Magnum (14.5%) - added during boil, boiled 60.0 min
0.5 oz Czech Saaz (5.0%) - added during boil, boiled 60.0 min
1.0 tsp Whirlfloc Tablets (Irish moss) - added during boil, boiled 15.0 min
1.0 oz Czech Saaz (5.0%) - added during boil, boiled 10.0 min
1.0 oz Spalt Spalter (4.8%) - added during boil, boiled 3.0 min
1.0 oz Czech Saaz (5.0%) - added during boil, boiled 3.0 min
2.0 ea White Labs WLP862 Cry Havoc

Schedule:

Ambient Air: 70.0 °F
Source Water: 60.0 °F
Elevation: 0.0 m

00:08:24 Mash-In - Liquor: 2.17 gal; Strike: 140.41 °F; Target: 124.0 °F
00:13:24 Protein Rest - Rest: 5.0 min; Final: 123.7 °F
00:15:24 Second Infusion - Water: 1.2 gal; Temperature: 211.8 °F; Target: 150 °F
01:15:24 Saccharification Rest - Rest: 60.0 min; Final: 146.0 °F
01:25:24 Vorlauf, bitches! - Rest: 10.0 min; Final: 145.3 °F
02:25:24 Fly Sparge - Sparge Volume: 5.1 gal; Sparge Temperature: 170.0 °F; Runoff: 5.66 gal

Notes

Sinamar adds 10 SRM (5 SRM per ounce in a 5 gallon batch). 70% dilution rate of San Diego Alvarado Water. 1 gram of Calcium Carbonate and 2 grams of Gypsum added to the mash. OG 1.052 65°F. Oxygen added for 1 minute via aeration stone. Lager cave temperature at 55°F.

Results generated by BeerTools Pro 1.5.12

Using Sinamar with BeerTools Pro

I needed to modify the SRM from the BeerTools Pro exporter above.  The Sinamar was a custom ingredient entered into the database under special ingredients.  There's no details to input other than the name, origin, description, and cost.  I also changed the jpg displayed to the correct SRM image.  Not a big deal but another item on my list to suggest as a feature, coloring ingredients.

Schwarzbier, November 6, 2010

BLACK BEER

"Smell the Beer" in honor of Spinal Tap.

I've wanted to make a Schwarzbier for quite some time.  With the Lager Cave in full effect, how can I not brew everything and anything requiring lower fermentation temperatures?  While I've had a few Black Beers in the past, I was not quite sure where to start in recipe formulation.  My intuition told me I should make a dry stout and simply use a lager yeast instead of ale yeast.  As with several other planning sessions, I used Jamil Zainasheff's recipe as a general guideline from his book, Brewing Classic Styles.  I've found this book and Jamil's style-based podcasts a great starting point when formulating many brewing recipes and would recommend other brewers to do the same. 

Schwarzbier
BJCP Category 4C. Schwarzbier (Black Beer)
5 Gallons, All Grain, Step Infusion Mash, 90 Minute Boil

8 lbs. Beligan Pilsner
2 lbs. Munich
8 oz. Carafa II
4 oz. Caramunich
4 oz. Chocolate
2 oz. Black Roasted

Protein Rest at 122°F for 10 minutes
(0.9 qts/lb. raised to 135°F)
Saccharification Rest at 149°F for 60 minutes
(0.5 qts/lb. raised to 212°F)
Fly-sparged at 170°F

1.5 oz. Hallertauer 60 min.
1 Whirlfloc tab 22 min.
0.5 oz. Spalt 22 min.
0.7 oz. Hallertauer KO

White Labs WLP830 German Lager Yeast   (100ml Fresh slurry thanks to Kara!)
Currently in ferment at 52°F

OG: 1.052 @ 74°F
FG: 1.013 @ 40°F
ABV: 5.5%