Lone Starr Schwarzbier

Pretty schwarz during the mash

Today I'm brewing a Schwarzbier. As I've indicated in previous posts, I don't brew lagers very often, but I do enjoy a good Schwarzbier. I find that the bit of roast makes them much more interesting than other European pilsners, but they're still a very crisp and refreshing beer. I figured it's time to give it a shot. The 2015 BJCP guidelines describe the style as follows:

History: A regional specialty from Thuringia, Saxony and Franconia in Germany. History is a bit sketchy, but is suspected of being originally a top-fermented beer. Popularity grew after German reunification. Served as the inspiration for black lagers brewed in Japan. 

Overall Impression: A dark German lager that balances roasted yet smooth malt flavors with moderate hop bitterness. The lighter body, dryness, and lack of a harsh, burnt, or heavy aftertaste helps make this beer quite drinkable. 

Comments: Literally means “black beer” in German. While sometimes called a “black Pils,” the beer is rarely as dark as black or as bitter as a Pils; don’t expect strongly roasted, porter-like flavors.

Here's the recipe as I'm brewing it today:

Target OG 1.050
IBU 23.1
SRM 25
6.0 # Avangard German Pilsner

2.0 # Avangard Dark Munich

0.5 # Weyermann Melanoidin Malt

0.5 # Weyermann CaraRed

0.5 # Weyermann Carafa II (Dehusked) - half added to the mash, the other half ground fine and added at the beginning of the sparge

0.25 # Briess Roasted Barley - half added to the mash, the other half added at the beginning of the sparge

17g Northern Brewer (60 min)

14g Hallertau (20 min)

14g Hallertau (1 min)

Wyeast Yeast Nutrient

Whirlfloc

Saflager W-34/70 Dry Lager Yeast (2 packets, 1L starter for each)

Mash at 153F, 90 min boil, pitch at 45F, ferment at 48F, diacetyl rest at 65F when 80% attenuated.

Water adjustments:
To 10 gallons of distilled water, I added the following:
1.7g Epsom salt
2.6g Calcium Chloride
3.8g Baking Soda
5.9g Chalk

Brewing Notes

No issues with this session. Gravity came in a couple point's high at 1.052.

Update 5/31/2016
Gravity was down to about 1.020 (reading ~8.2 on the refractometer) so I'm starting the diacetyl rest. I'm letting the fermenter free-rise to about 63F.

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Big Brew Day 2016 - KBS Style

Today is Big Brew Day and we're brewing up what's intended to be a clone of Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout (KBS). Three of my buddies and I recently acquired a 15 gallon bourbon barrel from Sugar House Distillery. After primary fermentation is complete, this beer will spend a little time in the barrel where it'll pick up some of the bourbon and oak character.

This recipe is based off one that has appeared in both BYO and Zymurgy magazines, and was written with the help of Founders Head Brewer, Jeremy Kosmicki. We're doing three separate mashes. Two of the mashes will be combined into a single boil, and the third will be boiled separately. We're deviating slightly on some of the recipe details. For example, we're making a tincture with the nibs rather than adding them to the boil. This is to help avoid extracting tannins from the nibs. Here's the recipe as we're making it today. The following is for a five gallon size batch.

13.25# Maris Otter
1.5# Flaked Oats
0.75# Crisp Chocolate Malt 340-450L
0.75# Crisp Roasted Barely
0.5# Crisp Crystal 77L
0.5# Carafa III (De-husked)
28g Nugget (60 min)
35g Willamette (25 min)
71g Ghirardelli Bitter Sweet Chocolate (15 min)
49g Willamette (10 min)
57g Jack Mormon Takengon Mandheling, ground (Flameout)
57g TBD Kona coffee toddy, secondary
Yeast Nutrient
Whirlfloc
US-05

Mash at 155F, 90 minute boil, ferment at 65F. Target OG 1.092

Note: I did not adjust the grain bill for my normal system efficiency. Since we're brewing on three different systems, I figured it might be better to risk having a higher OG and adding water to dilute things rather than being too low and needing to add some DME.

Update 5/13/2016
I forgot to post a brewing notes update on this session. Brew day went fairly well although we did run into a few hiccups. First, one third of the batch was done on a keggle BIAB setup, and was the first time it had been used. The gravity came in quite a bit lower than anticipated, so our oveeall gravity post-boil was low (1.077 for 2/3, 1.090 for 1/3). The bad also let a lot of grain bits through. During our whirlpool on the first 10 gallons, the grain bits and bitter-sweet chocolate clogged the filter, so we weren't able to chill as fast as we wanted. We were concerned the hop bitterness may be too high due to the delayed chilling, so we adjusted the hops a little in the last 5 gallons. We also eliminated the bitter-sweet chocolate in favor of increasing the nib tincture. Fermentation kicked off without too much delay and this beer has had a thick krausen all week. This batch got a double dose of O2 before it showed signs of fermentation.

Update 6/15/2016

This beer went into the bourbon barrel tonight. Before filling the barrel, I rehydrated using the French method which consisted of standing the barrel on end, then filling the heads with near boiling water. Next I filled the barrel with about 8 gallons of near boiling water. The barrel was then drained and seasoned with about 2/3 cup of SHD bourbon.

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Golden Java Chocolate Milk Stout - Round 3

Today I'm brewing the third and slightly modified version of my Golden Java Chocolate Milk Stout. This version will be donated and poured at the Mountain Brewers Festival in Idaho Falls this June. For details on the previous versions of this recipe, see the original post. This round I'm going a tad higher with the gravity with a target O.G. of 1.065. I'm using Full Pint malt in place of the Fawcett Pearl Malt, and Honey Malt in place of the Crystal 45. I'm also changing the hops a bit as well as the coffee in the coffee toddy. As with the previous attempts, this beer pays homage to Noble Ale Works' Naughty Sauce. Here's the recipe as I'm making it today:

8.75# Great Western Full Pint Malt
0.75# Flaked Oats
0.68 # Gambrinus Honey Malt
1.0 # Lactose (10 min)
12g Magnum (60 min)
14g EKG (10 min)
28g EKG (0 min)
Wyeast Yeast Nutrient
0.5 Whirlfloc
Coffee Toddy (at kegging)
The Bomb Tincture (at kegging)
US-05

Mash at 154F for 80 minutes, 90 minute boil, ferment at 65F.

Brew Water
Nothing fancy here. I filled the HLT with 8 gallons of carbon filtered tap water and diluted it with 3 gallons of RO water.

Brewing Notes
No issues during the brew session. I hit the target O.G. exactly at 1.065. Yeast was re-hydrated and pitched at 61F then gradually warmed to 65F.

Drew Way - The Bomb Cacao Nib & Vanilla Tincture
6 oz Vodka (I use Tito's)
1 Vanilla Bean, split and scraped and chopped into 3/4" lengths
3 oz TCHO Roasted Cacao Nibs
Mix the vodka and vanilla bean (and parts) in a tight sealing jar. Shake every day, several times, for 7 days.
After seven days, add the nibs for another 4 days, continue to shake
Strain out ad discard the nibs and vanilla bean bits.
Place the extract in the freezer overnight.
In the morning, carefully scrape out the fat cap of cocoa butter and discard. I've never really had any fat cap with the TCHO nibs. I'm not sure if the roasting renders out most of the fat or what.

Coffee Toddy
3 oz fresh ground Ethiopian Yirgacheffe
3 cups chilled RO water
Cold brew for 24 hours in the fridge with a French Press. Add at kegging/bottling.

Update 5/24/2016
I started on the coffee toddy last night. The plans are to get it kegged tonight and start carbing things up. This coffee smells amazing; tons of chocolate character. Thanks to my buddy Jeff who suggested and provided the Ethiopian Yirgacheffe beans for this batch. I went with 3oz in 3c of water this time. I'll probably dose it with 2/3 of the toddy and go from there. The Bomb tincture is also done and is chilling in the freezer. I used a stainless pour over coffee filter to strain out the nibs. My hope was that it would leave behind all the sediment. It did, but it also clogged quite a bit. Seems like a mesh somewhere between the super fine coffee filter and the not so fine kitchen strainer would work better.

Update 5/25/2016
I kegged this beer last night and it's currently chilling under pressure in my keezer.

Update 6/6/2016
This beer turned out really well and was a pretty big hit at the beer fest. It ended up being the first keg to kick, I think with 2 hours left in the fest. I wouldn't mind a little more coffee character. To me, this coffee had a lot of chocolate character, so paired with The Bomb tincture, chocolate was more prominent than coffee.

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Rye Saison - Red Wine Barrel Round 2

Today I'm brewing a Rye Saison for Dallas' Red Wine Barrel Project. This is a recipe the Dallas has brewed many times and I think it's a fantastic candidate for a sour barrel. Below is the recipe adjusted for my system's efficiency.

9.0# 2.0oz Avangard German Pilsner
2.0# 4.0oz Briess Rye Malt
7.0oz Avangard Munich I Malt
4.0oz Castle Aromatic Malt
28g Sterling (60 min)
56g Sterling (Whirlpool 30 min)
28g Saaz (Whirlpool 30 min)
0.5 Whirlfloc
Wyeast Yeast Nutrient
Wyeast 3711 (1L starter)

Mash at 152F, 90 minute boil, chill to 65F, allow to free-rise up to 77F

Water Profile
To 10 gallons of distilled water, I added:
6.3g Epsom salt
3.2g Calcium chloride
2.4g Baking soda
0.8g Chalk

Update 4/19/2016
No major issues during this brew session. I tried out a stainless steel hop spider I bought from a buddy of mine before he moved. It's larger than the one I bought from Utah Biodiesel, but the mesh isn't as fine. It let more debris through which meant my pre-chiller filter had to deal with more debris and the flow was much lower than normal. I let the temp stabilize overnight then pitched the yeast yesterday morning and it was showing active signs of fermentation by the time I got home.

Update 5/23/2016
This beer went into a keg yesterday. It'll be going,into the barrel next weekend which means I'll be getting 5-ish gallons of soured Baltic porter next weekend too.

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Rood BugFarm 2016

Today I'm brewing up another take on The Rare Barrel's red base beer, so essentially the same recipe as my Rood Mélange 2016 a few months back. The main differences on this version is I'm mashing higher at 160F and for the yeast, I got my hands on some ECY01 Bug Farm. I've been wanting to try this yeast as well as ECY20 BugCounty, but they are difficult to come by. Whenever this blend pops up for sale, it usually sells out in a matter of hours. This time I didn't hesitate and managed to order a bottle from love2brew.com before they ran out.

6.0# 13 oz Dingemans Pilsner Malt

1.0# 3 oz Weyermann Pale Wheat Malt
7 oz Crisp Light Crystal Malt 60L
7 oz Flaked Oats (lauter)
7 oz Special Aromatic Malt
7 oz Spelt Malt
1.5-ish oz Carafa III (lauter, for color adjustment)
14.0g Aged Debittered Hops (60 min)
0.5 Whirlfloc
Wyeast Yeast Nutrient
ECY01 BugFarm

Mash at 160F for 60 mins, 90 min boil, ferment at room temp. Because of the lactobacillus in the blend, no aeration.

Brewing Notes
One issue today...at the end of the sparge, I emptied the little bit of unused sparge water into a bucket. I also disconnected what I thought was the hose from the mash, when in fact it was the hose for pumping the wort from the mash into the boil kettle. This siphoned a couple gallons of wort into the bucket with the water. So...I added that to the contents of the bucket back into the BK (along with the extra water). I ended up boiling much harder than normal in order to evaporate the extra gallon of water. I still ended up with a bit more volume than I was planning on (about 5.5.) but it got me in the ballpark. No other issues to speak of. I chilled to about 64F and pitched the BugFarm. I'll let it free-rise to room temp which should be right about 70F.

Update 4/3/2016
Pitched yeast yesterday afternoon at about 3:30PM and this morning fermentation is taking off with about an inch of krausen.

Update 7/18/2017
Pulled a sample tonight and the pH on this beer is down to 3.38. The acidity is a little different compared to some of my other sour reds...definitely seems more lemon-like than pie cherry. Flavor profile isn't quite as complex either...not bad, but I was hoping for something more. I think this one would definitely benefit from some blending.

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