The German restaurant in town has this on tap and it is good. Makes me want to brew an example.
Itās awesome isnāt it? Iāve got a schwarzbier in the fermenter right now. Just raised temp for D rest and will start lagering in a few days.
+1 awesome beer on tap and in cans. I got a recipe I brew thatās vary vary close to it secret is cold steeping some of the dark grains. Dannyboy Iām curious about you recipe that you used for yours. If you wouldnāt mind sharing it with us.
Kostritzerās advertising āDas Schwarze mit der blonden Seeleā is still one of the smartest slogan Iāve ever heardā¦ Awesome trait for both a great woman or a great beer! 
But, in my opinion, what Kostritzer does even better (which, I realize, is a sizeable statement) is their Edel Pilsā¦ Absolutely mindblowing!
They donāt distribute the pils widely, I think partially because since Bitburger bought out Kostritzer, they probably donāt want to create competition among their own brands. Anyways, it is maybe hard to get one, but absolutely worth the effort, must try!
Iāll show mine if you show yours! :lol:
Not a Kostritzer clone attempt just a Schwarzbier recipe I got from a buddy. First time brewing it. Itās in the keg lagering right now. I was a bit surprised it didnāt attenuate better than 1.016 but if I recall correctly my mash temp actually rose a point or 2 in the first 20 mins. Didnāt taste bad when I kegged it.
4lbs Munich
4lbs Vienna
8oz carafa III
8oz caramunich III
1oz perle 60mins
WY2206 Bavarian lager yeast
Mash at 151
Pitch and ferment at 48
That looks good. Lemme know how it turns out.
Iām curious about the cold steeping thing tooā¦
Iāll show mine if you show yours! :lol:
Not a Kostritzer clone attempt just a Schwarzbier recipe I got from a buddy. First time brewing it. Itās in the keg lagering right now. I was a bit surprised it didnāt attenuate better than 1.016 but if I recall correctly my mash temp actually rose a point or 2 in the first 20 mins. Didnāt taste bad when I kegged it.
4lbs Munich
4lbs Vienna
8oz carafa III
8oz caramunich III
1oz perle 60mins
WY2206 Bavarian lager yeast
Mash at 151
Pitch and ferment at 48[/quote]
Hmmm, I just realized I have everything I need for this recipe except the specific yeast and hops. I have lots of hallertau, saaz, and tettnang I can substitute, and I think 34/70 (which I have) should work ok so I might have to give this a try this weekend. I like that grain bill.
Here is my recipe
8 lb plisner malt
1 lb Munich malt
11 oz carafa II malt
8 oz aromatic malt.
6 oz midnight wheat
Now the cold steep grains
6 oz chocolate malt
6 oz Black roasted barley.
Steep them in 1.5 gallon water for two days before brewing room temps fine but I put mine in the fridge. On brew day Mash other grains 152 90 minutes. Heat cold steeped grain water to 152 and sparge with it. Collect 7.5 gallons boil 90 minutes and 5.5 in fermenter.
Hops
1.5 oz hallertau 60 minutes
.5 oz hallertau 20 minutes
.5 oz hallertau flame out.
For yeast I like Wpl 802
Og 1.052
Fg 1.012
[quote=āpkroneā]That looks good. Lemme know how it turns out.
Iām curious about the cold steeping thing tooā¦[/quote]
Tapped this one the other day, after about 2 weeks lagering. Had a sample with a budā¦OK we had a few pints each.
Pretty damn good but has a bit more āroastyā character than I expected given the grain bill. Still all in all itās pretty tasty. Going to have a Kostritzer tomorrow for comparison sake. Not bad for my first attempt at this style.
Yeah, at 5% of the grain bill, that was way too much Carafa III. I did a Dunkel with 1% Carafa III and could still detect a hint of roast in it.
This style can benefit from brewing with really low alkalinity water and reserving the Carafa from the main mash. With a slight low mash pH of around 5.3 to 5.4 in the main mash, the short contact for the roast added at the end of mash could impart only portions of the flavor and color.
[quote=āmabrungardā]Yeah, at 5% of the grain bill, that was way too much Carafa III. I did a Dunkel with 1% Carafa III and could still detect a hint of roast in it.
This style can benefit from brewing with really low alkalinity water and reserving the Carafa from the main mash. With a slight low mash pH of around 5.3 to 5.4 in the main mash, the short contact for the roast added at the end of mash could impart only portions of the flavor and color.[/quote]
Thatās what I suspected Martin. Did you add the carafa late in the above mentioned Dunkel? Iāll give that a try next batch.
Thing isā¦to keep the color I want I need at least 4% carafa III in that recipe. I suppose I could use carafa II but then Iād likely need more of it. II does have less roast flavor thoughā¦correct?
Maybe try adding the carafa right before you sparge, you should get the color with less flavor. I just tryed this on an amber ale with 6oz of chocolate malt (10 gal batch) that I wanted a little more color but not the flavor. I didnāt have carafa or midnight wheat or I would have used them.
I racked my schwarz (hmm, that sounds funnyā¦) this past weekend. I did a bit of a variation on Dannyboys recipe. HBS was out of vienna, so I used pilsner. I added the carafa just before sparging. Got a nice color and hoped to avoid the roasty notes. Tasted great at racking. I had a pint of Kostritzer the night before, and this one compared favorably. Hoping the lagering time passes quickly.
Dannyboy Iām curious about you recipe that you used for yours. If you wouldnāt mind sharing it with us.
