Gatto Nero Schwarzbier II

Second try for my wintery Schwarzbier! This beer style is close to a Porter or Stout in terms of grain bill, but uses a Lager yeast to yield a crispier finish. Traditionally brewed in the Czech Republic as well as in parts of Saxony and Northern Bavaria. To avoid getting too stouty which would be covering the nice malty flavors of a true Schwarzbier, I'm substituting the Chocolate Malt from the original recipe with a Nocturnal Blend from Northern brewer, plus adding 1lb of toasted Coffee Malt. See below! For comparison, my previous recipe is here:

BREW DATE: 01/28/2015

BOTTLING DATE: 02/22/2015

Temperatures during fermentation stayed at 60-62F despite some warm weather here in California.

GRAIN BILL: 12lbs total

-5lbs Briess Munich 10l

-4lbs Goldpils Vienna Malt

-1lb Weyermann Caramunich III
-1lb Franco-Belges Kiln Coffee
-1lb Northern Brewer Nocturnal Blend

MASH-IN: 1 hr at 153F, Mash-out 10 min  ramped to 165F. Fly sparked with 175F water.

HOP SCHEDULE:

-60min 1oz German Perle

-30min 0.5oz German Perle

-10min 0.5oz German Perle

OG: 16.0 brix for 14l wort filled up to 22l => alcohol content should come out at 4.8%.

YEAST: Wyeast 1001 Pilsener Urquell

12lbs of malt, hops and yeast ready to go

Lautering. Nice color already!

TASTE NOTES: wow this one came out fantastic! Very smooth and malty with deep caramel notes, but still very crisp and balanced as I would expect from a Lager. Pours a little hazy though, but that doesn't seem to affect the taste. I'll give it 4.5 stars, half a star deduction for the haziness. Next time I'll try 2stage fermentation, that should give it a cleaner look and taste.

And here it is, kind of hazy pour, but tastes great!