Schwarzbier

As dark beers go, this one walks the line. It isn’t aggressively roasty, syrupy, alcoholic, or “creamy.” It’s closer to lightly roasted coffee with a low level of alcohol—ultimately, a highly drinkable lager. Style: Schwarzbier is often seen as a cousin to German pilsner. As a dark lager, it differs substantially from Munich dunkel, for example, which has richer malt flavors. Schwarzbier is more restrained—simpler and roastier but stopping far short of the dominant roast of even the lightest stouts. Hop flavor and aroma lend a floral tone and Old World–spice element to the profile. The name of the game here, though, is restraint. In fact, you can almost totally whiff on the roast, but as long as you have a clean, black-colored lager—and color is easy to add, even without roast—you’re very much in the ballpark.

Ingredients: It’s not a dunkel, but you still want some malty depth, so start with a 50/50 split of Munich and Maris Otter. I layer that with light crystal and pale chocolate, plus a dose of Carafa II for color—as a de-husked malt, it adds a bit of bittersweet chocolate without the intense, husky roast of roasted barley. If you find that this grist produces a beer that’s too rich, cut down on the Munich and replace with Maris or pilsner until it levels off. You could even replace the entire base-malt addition with Vienna. Whatever you do with the base, resist the urge to balance this beer by upping the roast—it’s far too easy to go overboard with it.

For hopping, add about 30 IBUS of anything you like at the start of the boil, then an ounce of Hallertau at flame-out (or in the whirlpool, if you whirlpool). You’ll add a nominal amount of bitterness, while Noble-hops flavor and aroma are a great complement to the grist.

As for yeast, I recommend a big starter of Wyeast 2124 Bohemian Lager. It’s nice and clean, and it won’t scrub out too much of your hop flavor.

Process: If you have slightly hard water, you might consider adding ¼ teaspoon of baking soda to the mash to help round out your roasted grains’ flavors. Mash and boil as usual and aerate your chilled wort well to promote healthy yeast growth and get a good, clean start to fermentation. Ferment at or just below 50°F (10°C) for the first week or so, then let the temperature rise by a few degrees until fermentation is complete. If you start much warmer, you might produce esters that will stand out against your mildly roasty background.

You may find a lot of variability in schwarzbiers, but I try to minimize the variability and downside risk. A lot of brewing is about having a safe “bail out” area, like in golf. If “too roasty” or “too rich” are faults, but “clean and dark” aren’t, then that’s where I’ll lean. I think you’ll be very happy with the result— and if you want more roast, you can always brew a stout next time.