Mmm… Schwarzbier… that’s easy to make. If you’re into this dark lager beer, I highly recommend giving this recipe a go. I’ve made it with 3 different hybrid yeasts (WLP029, WLP036, WLP810) and 1 lager yeast (WLP830), while all have come out well, I most enjoyed those fermented with WLP029 and WLP036, the former of which took 2nd place in its division in a local BJCP competition.
Packaging Volume: 5 gallons
Estimated OG: 1.052
Estimated SRM: 26
Estimated IBU: 27
Estimated ABV: 5.2%
Boil Time: 90 Minutes
GRIST
7 lbs 5.0 oz Pilsner Malt, German (70%)
2 lbs Munich Malt – 10L (19.1%)
8.0 oz Carafa II (4.8%)
6.0 oz Crystal 60 (3.6%)
4.0 oz Chocolate Malt (2.4%)
HOPS
~21 IBU Magnum/Warrior/Galena – Boil 60 min
28.00 g Saaz – Boil 15 min
YEAST
1.0 pkg WLP029 – German Ale/Kölsch
PROCESS
– Mash at 152°F for 60 minutes (4.75 gallons)
– Sparge with 170°F water (4.5 gallons)
– Chill to 56°F prior to pitching yeast starter
– Ferment at 58°F for 4-5 days then ramp up to 65° over the next few days
– Cold crash for 48+ hours after FG is stable (10-14 days)
– Package, carbonate, enjoy!
78 thoughts on “May the Schwarzbier With You”
You say ferment @ 58°F for the first few days but that’s well outside of the optimum range for WLP029 which is what’s listed, is that by design or were the instructions written for WLP830 or WLP810 in mind?
Definitely by design. 029 fermented at 58F prodices a very lager like character, but you trally should make a good starter.
I think it’s interesting that you seem to prefer the hybrid yeasts for your lager recipes. Reason being, before I was able to ferment at lager temps properly I did a string of “fake” lagers (Helles, Vienna, Festbier) on a Wyeast 1007 cake.
Though i’d never brewed any lagers, I remember comparing them to commercial lagers in the same styles, and thinking that I actually preferred the character of the German Ale yeast to the lagers. It’s hard to describe the difference, but it almost feels like there’s an “edge” to lagers that isn’t there with a really clean/muted ale character.
I’m currently fermenting my first lager, and probably will do another couple afterwards (using WLP833, using your “fast ferment” technique btw). I actually suspected it’s possible that i’ll end up preferring the Wy1007 versions, even though that goes against the conventional wisdom of “a clean ale yeast will just give you a not-quite-as-good-lager”. Maybe not, but
So, needless to say, noticing that you seem to have a similar preference is interesting, because until now I hadn’t seen anyone else say anything similar.
This is the first beer I have made with my chest freezer fermenter. It has been carbonating for a week and I just tried it tonight. It came out amazing. I bought 2 vials of expired WLP 029 in January of this year to make an American wheat beer and have been using it ever since. I have made 45 gallons from those 2 vials. Love this yeast.
I really enjoy this blog, your recipes, hybrid method for 029, and your comments on reddit. I credit you as a major reason why I now have 3 beers on tap that I am really proud of.
That’s great, Ryan. Cheers!
Hi, regarding your fermenting temps, are they the temp of the actual beer fermention (i.e. with a temp probe in a thermowell) or is it the temp of the fermentation chamber? Just want to make sure as I know temp can vary between the two.
Thanks for the great recipe!
I made this on January 2nd and the keg just finished. Terrific stuff, it got better each month. I’m going to repeat this recipe – I’ve kept that same WLP029 yeast going so I can make “Schwarzbier, I am your Father”.
I was wondering what your thougts on doing this recipe with all Halletau hops. Do you think it would be a bad idea/ a radically different beer/ acceptable. Is this considered a Dunkel. Forgive my ignorance. Had some German Dunkel and Dunkelweisse beers recently and am looking to make one but really want it to be to style. Are Dunkel and Swartzbier are synonymous?
Any noble hop will work fine since the hop character isn’t that strong.
Dunkel and Schwarzbier are similar but certainly not the same. I perceive the former as having subtly more toasty and sometimes even nutty character, while the latter can have a touch of roast but tastes more Pilsner-like. A Dunkelweisse is far different being basically a Hefeweizen made with darker malts (Carafa Special II/III, Midnight Wheat, etc.).
I can’t wait to give this a try and had a quick question Marshall.
I’ve had a lot of trouble finding anyone local who stocked any of the yeasts you used (Victoria, Australia) or who stocked them and had them available. Liquid yeasts can kinda be pretty rare.
An online home-brew store finally got WLP830 back in store and I added it on to an order I was doing and also grabbed an out of date WLP003 vial for $2.
Will your Larger method work well for this? Would the WLP003 be worth giving a try?
The notes from the home-brew shop mentioned that it’s similar to WLP029 with more ester production/sulphur?
830 is great! I’ve never used 003, but I bet it’d be fine fermented around 62F or so.
Considering this recipe for an upcoming brew. Would you mind if I asked for some specifics on the malts? What kind of chocolate malt did you use – maltster & color? Also just wanted to confirm that the Carafa II is not the de-husked “special” version.
Thanks!
Rob
American Chocolate (~350L), Briess mostly. Carafa is de husked, been using Midnight Wheat lately, I can’t tell a difference in such small amounts.
Hi
I love your Bullshit free approach to brewing and I’ve enjoyed reading trough your blog. is there a dry yeast that you would recomend? I was thinking either S- 05 or mangrove jack work horse yeast would work with hybrid fermention schedule or would lager yeast be better? I have no LHBS and I’m not so keen to get liquid yeast through the post
I honestly can’t think of a good dry yeast alternative… as little of a fan as I am, I’d say US-05 may be the closest.
Have you used S-34/70 or S-23? Your Helles was killer with 029 but I was hoping to brew this weekend and don’t want to spin up a starter.
Yep, 34/70 at 50°F produce a very similar tasting beer, likely indistinguishable from 029. My hunch is you could probably ferment 34/70 up to 65°F without pulling any fruity esters out of it… but I’ve not tested that yet, so you might stick with the cooler temp.
Really pumped to see how this turns out. I hope I have enough temp control in my apartment for it to be worth a damn. I missed the OG by a fair amount but only because my efficiency was way low today. I was trying something new. Regardless it should still be within the “BJCP” guidelines.
It’ll probably be better.
Hey Marshall,
Kegged the beer last night. Wondering whether you’d recommend dry-hopping for this style of beer? I have lots of Saaz. I’ll post pictures soon.
Based on my personal preferences, I would not dry hop a Schwarzbier.
I’m doing a schwarzbier for a local comp as an experimental (34C) and will be dry hopping with Halletau Mitt. Hopefully it will stand out in a good way. If it sucks, I won’t be doing it again, either way I will have learned something. Prost!
Turned out great, mate! Didn’t add the hops: https://sillysir.wordpress.com/2016/01/26/may-the-schwarzbier-with-you/
Cheers!
Hi! I have this sitting at 65 right now and I think I’m close to stable final gravity (1.014). In your instructions when it says “Cold crash for 48+ hours after FG is stable (10-14 days)” is the 10 to 14 days how long you cold crash for, or how long it normally takes you to reach terminal gravity? Really excited for this beer!
The latter! I crash for a couple days with gelatin then keg it up.
Great thanks! I’ll keep an eye on it then send it to the keg soon!
Hi Marshall, do you think using NZ hops (Riwaka, Motueka) would go along well with the grist bill you propose here ? Because a friend brought me these hops from NZ so I thought using them on a dark lager, and I like the selection of malts you made here. Would you stay on the 26IBU or eventually go slightly higher? Without being strict to a certain beer style. Thanks in advance 😉
While I personally wouldn’t do it out of fear of getting too much fruity hop character into an otherwise malt-forward and “noble” beer, if that’s your gig, give it a shot!
Yes for sure it wouldn’t be the same beer…thanks for the feedback!
I brewed up a batch of this a couple weeks ago to have something darker in my keezer and for a keg competition. The keg competition is popular vote so i figured I shoud jazz it up a bit I decided to keep 2 straight gallons for myself and rack 3 gallons onto some coconut well laziness got the better of me and I added coconut straight into my fermenter on day 10 or so.
Yeah it’s pretty dang good. So if you ever want to coconut a beer this one is a good candidate. The keg comp is coming up next sunday so I’ll let you know how it’s received.
18oz of unsweetened coconut toasted till uniformly brown @325 aprx 30 minutes
6oz of cacao nibs mixed in the coconut (i would reduce this to 4oz next time)
it is an easy drinking almond joy bar.
I’ve used this recipe along Mangrove Jack Bohemia Lager M84. It’s very taste!
What sort of water profile have you used with this recipe? You say “some brew salts” added to your soft water, but are you aiming for anything in particular?
My favorite has been the Dark Hoppy profile in Bru’n Water actually.
There is no Dark Hoppy profile in Bru’n Water. There is Brown/Black each with Full, Balanced or Dry. Which one should I choose? Thanks!
By the way, this is my 4th recipe I brew from your site, all the others came out awesome, so I have great confidence in this one as well 🙂
Black Bitter 🙂
I medaled with a version of this recipe and have medaled with two other recipes for lager schwarzbiers. I have used the same water profile for each of them. Ca 74 MG 14 Na 12 Sulfate 48 Cl 43 target Ph 5.4-5.5 I was accidentally using the amber malty profile in brun and it has worked.
I read your US05 vs K97 blog. How do you think K97 would work with this beer style?
Brewed this with Saflager 34/70. Fermented at 56 degrees for a week then another week for diacetyl rest. Hit FG in last 2 days. Going to cold crash today. Tastes phenomenal at this stage. Thanks for recipe Marshall.
Cheers!
Currently fermenting this in the low 50s (34/70) in a keezer. After 3-4 days I plan on increasing the temp to the high 50s. Well see how thos turns out!
I brewed this beer and tastes awesome (like all Brulosophy recipes). WLP029 performed great this time, fermented at 14 Celsius with ramp up to 18 Celsius for the last days. Clean and crips lager character. I am cold crashing at the moment. My question is: should I use gelatin? Does it make sense for a dark beer?
Hi Marshall – I meant to tell you last year but I got a silver and best in class for Dark european lager in the SOBA NZ home brew awards. Just re brewed today with spectators from a rest home. Hoping for gold this year as I was just one point off. Cheers Mark
Good luck!!!
Oh sorry I meant to say with this recipe.
Would Safale K-97 work for this recipe?
I’ve still not gotten around to using K-97, but I’ve heard it can have a tendency to give off subtle banana characteristics, which I don’t think is appropriate in Schwarzbier. Either way, if you give it a go, let us know how it works out!
I’m about to give this recipe a go for my 1st Schwarzbier. I have never used WLP029 before and was wondering about Brew United’s settings. Do I use the hybrid dropdown? I typically overbuild for use later like you do.
Yeah, hybrid setting works.
your recipe calls for Magnum/Warrior/Galena does this mean either/or/all as long as they equal 21 IBU ?
Any clean, high alpha bittering hop to 21 IBU will work fine.
Hey Marshall!
Currently having this mashing away and doing my hop calculations. I’ve just discovered my Czech Saaz is 8.5% AA. I was thinking of decreasing the 60 min addition to make sure the IBUs come out about the same? Or am I better to decrease the Saaz? Cheers.
That’s exactly what I’d do. That’s some potent Saaz!
Just brewed this today. What is the purpose of the 90 min boil vs. 60 min?
I don’t do 90 min boils anymore, this is an old recipe. It was intended to drive off DMS, but our tests have shown it’s not necessary.
Bueno.
Thanks for all the time and dedication you put into your work. The podcasts and blogs are like crack.
…Sweet, sweet, malty crack!
Thank you so much!
Have you also fermented this recipe with WLP036 at 58F? If not, what temp did you use?
Thanks for everything y’all do!
Yep, worked incredibly well!
Awesome, thank you!
Kegged it about 2 weeks ago. Just poured a pint..effen delicious brother! loving the roasty malt flavors balanced so nicely with the hops.. and you have made me into a huge fan of 029. Thanks for the good advice and techniques!
On my lunch break and decided to take a swig of this beer again – I really love the roasty aromas and flavors. I know its probably not appropriate for the style but I would love to hit this with batch with oak and some rum.. I just split my full keg so I might mess around with half the batch. To anyone else reading this,
Btw – not sure if it’s the lighting in your original photo but beer is dark AF.
I kegged it about a week ago…mine is extremely dark as well. It had a strong roasted coffee flavor for the first few days but seems to be smoothing out over time. Very delicious!
A variation of this recipe helped me win 2nd place in the people’s choice award in a homebrew competition. Thanks for sharing a great recipe!
Newbie question. I would like to try this recipe but I don’t understand the Hops instruction.
This line – ~21 IBU Magnum/….. Boil 60 mins.
How many grams?
The next line I understand.
28 g Saaz Boil for 15 mins.
Regards
Mark
We give IBU rather than weight for bittering additions because hops, even if they’re the same variety, can have varying AA%. The amount is easily determined by using recipe software like BeerSmith– after making sure the AA% is inline with the hops you’re using, add however much you need to get to the recommended IBU.
Thanks for the explanation – have learned something today – Have BeerSmith. Regards, Mark
Have you tried this using Imperial yeast yet? Would you use G03 Dieter?
I’ve used Dieter a few times, it’s great, though for lager styles, I’ve been sticking with Global or Harvest fermented at ale temps.
Hi Marshall- I made your Cali Common recipe and really enjoyed it. I used grains malted in NC to give it a local flavor….. very well received. A question concerning your black lager recipe…… do you use pale choc or regular? Also, I notice you use carafe 2. I’ve been using Black Prinz lately in a few brews for color but have never used more than a couple ounces. Do you think BP would work as a replacement for C2 (I still have quite a bit).
Thanks for your time. CW
Hey Chad,
The recipe on the site is regular US chocolate malt. I have a Schwarzbier on tap right now that used just chocolate malt, no Carafa, and its delicious.
I’ve brewed this recipe twice, both times with Saflager S-23 yeast and both times get what I believe to be a phenolic taste (plastic). I fermented at ~55F which is right in the ideal range for the yeast. We do filter our brewing water and haven’t noticed this flavor in any other brews. Any thoughts on salvaging the last (which is still in the fermenter)? Thanks!
Have this recipe fermenting as I type. Was cynical that the WLP029 would ferment outside the optimal range but it’s farting along nicely at 14*C (57*F).
Would using the dehusked Carafa Special II make a noticeable difference?
I honestly doubt it.
Brewed this recently with a few minor tweaks. Added the dark grains/crystal during mash out and used Imperial Harvest yeast. It’s a delicious beer and it got the biggest complement last night at my homebrew club meeting (our first in 6 months) when our resident pro brewer/National judge said it was the best beer he had all night including his own beer. Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Follow up, my version of this beer took first place in it’s category at the Brew Bash in Kansas yesterday with a score of 44.5! Again thanks for sharing!
Hi folks ! I just wanted to say that tomorrow i will brew this beer for the sixth time. Everybody that comes at home love this beer. Last time, i added 2oz of cocoa as dry hop addition. Turns out fantastic! It makes a great beer with the kholsh yeast. Thanks 😛