May the Schwarz Bier With You (Kulmbacher - Mönchshof Schwarzbier clone)

The latest batch of beer at the CaBrewery was to honor Mrs. Brew Meister and her affection for Kulmbacher Mönchshof Schwarzbier. This brings back memories of sitting in a middle-eastern restarant, watching German MTV, eating falafel, and smelling the hookahs burning.

The beer is a dark-as-night brew, with lower alcohol, foamy beige head, and has a very low roasted taste. It is a smooth lager, with noble hops in the mid taste, and an incredible finish. I agree with the Mrs.--it is a great beer, so I decided to try to make it.

I could not find any clear recipe for the style, so I took an all grain recipe, translated it into a partial mash, and used whatever I had left from the last few batches of beer, and here is what I have left:

Schwartz Beer

1/2# chocolate malt
1/2# roasted malt
1/2# crustal 40

3.52# BierKeller Dark German DME
3.3# Briess Pilsen Light

60 minutes 1/2 oz NZ Hallertau 6.2AA
15 minutes 1/2 oz NZ Hallertau 6.2AA

Heated water to 160F, added the crushed grains and put the heat on simmer for 50 minutes.
I hang a basket with the specialty grains on my 40qt boil pot and rinsed the grains for a few minutes.

I added the DME and brought up the water to 20L. Brought everything up to a boil and did the hop on schedule.

Cooled to 72F, pitched White Labs WLP830 German Lager Yeast and kept in a warm room (70F) for the night. By morning, the yeast was chugging along. I moved the primary to the basement where it settled to 62F for three weeks. I kegged it and let it sit in the beer fridge for a week. It turned out awesome!

Try it out and let me know what you think. I am going to make another batch next week!