BlackBeard Schwarzbier finished up around 6.6%

[Tilpants]

Hi all,

I followed the coopers extract recipe (https://www.diybeer.com/au/recipe/black-beard-schwarzbier.html) to the letter (topped it up to the 23L mark) and pitched the recommended yeast at 18 degrees, it sat pretty dormant overnight then kicked off the next arvo.

Initial Gravity was 1.068 (seemed high to me at the time)  and after 7 days in the pressure fermenter with 10psi on it and temp controlled between 12-15 degrees in the fermenting fridge, final gravity was 1.018....which by my calc works out to around 6.6%.

It looks great, tastes pretty good but has a pretty strong booze note, probably representative of the alcohol content, anyone know what I might have got wrong, after fermentation, it does look like the level dropped a bit (1-1.5L) but I thought this was just due to my samples ( a small glass, over 3 gravity tests).

It's a bit heavier than I was intending, and considering I followed the recipe, just wondering if anyone else had any similar happenings?

Cheers!

[Greenyinthewestofsydney]

7 hours ago, Tilpants said:

Hi all,

I followed the coopers extract recipe (https://www.diybeer.com/au/recipe/black-beard-schwarzbier.html) to the letter (topped it up to the 23L mark) and pitched the recommended yeast at 18 degrees, it sat pretty dormant overnight then kicked off the next arvo.

Initial Gravity was 1.068 (seemed high to me at the time)  and after 7 days in the pressure fermenter with 10psi on it and temp controlled between 12-15 degrees in the fermenting fridge, final gravity was 1.018....which by my calc works out to around 6.6%.

It looks great, tastes pretty good but has a pretty strong booze note, probably representative of the alcohol content, anyone know what I might have got wrong, after fermentation, it does look like the level dropped a bit (1-1.5L) but I thought this was just due to my samples ( a small glass, over 3 gravity tests).

It's a bit heavier than I was intending, and considering I followed the recipe, just wondering if anyone else had any similar happenings?

Cheers!

Hmm. Just looked at the recipe. Your OG is high for that much fermentables. Usually extracts are pretty much a known gravity +/-0.002 or so so if you had filled it up to 23L then I would say in reality it was a less OG and it was simply not fully mixed together. The FG looks a little high as well. Are you sure your Hydrometer is reading correctly? I would have expected FG to be closer to 1.012 or so. As for the boozy taste I wouldn't have expected that for a beer around the 5% mark. Only other explanation is the yeast was stressed and threw more fusel alcohols. I would have used 2 packets of yeast and not 1 as the recipe says but that's my opinion.

[Triple B Brewing]

8 hours ago, Tilpants said:

Hi all,

I followed the coopers extract recipe (https://www.diybeer.com/au/recipe/black-beard-schwarzbier.html) to the letter (topped it up to the 23L mark) and pitched the recommended yeast at 18 degrees, it sat pretty dormant overnight then kicked off the next arvo.

Initial Gravity was 1.068 (seemed high to me at the time)  and after 7 days in the pressure fermenter with 10psi on it and temp controlled between 12-15 degrees in the fermenting fridge, final gravity was 1.018....which by my calc works out to around 6.6%.

It looks great, tastes pretty good but has a pretty strong booze note, probably representative of the alcohol content, anyone know what I might have got wrong, after fermentation, it does look like the level dropped a bit (1-1.5L) but I thought this was just due to my samples ( a small glass, over 3 gravity tests).

It's a bit heavier than I was intending, and considering I followed the recipe, just wondering if anyone else had any similar happenings?

Cheers!

Hey @Tilpants,

I have only recently just tapped my kegs of BLACK BEARD SCHWARZBIER (In fact just havin' one or three now ).   I also made it without deviations from Coopers Recipe.  My OG was 1.048. My FG was 1.012. Resulting in an ABV of 4.7. My Ferment temp (controlled) was 17.5 degrees.
I rated the end result 4 stars outta 5.

My notes were:
Afetr 7 days of conditioning, this beer is fine, but again a little watery in depth.
The taste of the hops is there, but disappointed with the lack in depth of flavor. I was hoping for more caramel and chocolate flavors.
My thoughts are it would drink better if it was more malt flavour, so maybe half the 300g Carafa lll Malt with 150g Chocolate Malt and dry hopped with say 50g of Saaz or Tettnanger
Better than Black Pils, but still Nothin special
4/5.

To place those notes in context, it's probably worth noting that the brews that I have been drinking prior to the BLACK BEARD SCHWARZBIER were:

• CARIBBEAN PORTER
• THE VOYAGE: AMBER ALE
• THE VOYAGE: IIPA
• COG WORK IPA
• TSAR'S TAR
• BLACK PILS
• BLACK BEARD SCHWARZBIER

So quite full on in depth of flavours (especially after Tsar's Tar, which came in with a whopping ABV of 9.7% ) , so hence some of the comments made in my notes. (Note: All the above brews were brewed again without deviation from the Coopers Recipes).

If you are after a "lighter" in body dark beer, you might like the BLACK PILS. For what its worth, these are my  notes on that brew:
Well after the Tsar's Tar, I gone from one extreme to the other.
After 7 days of conditioning, this beer is fine, but watery in depth.
My thoughts are it would drink better if it was dry hopped with say 50g of Saaz
Nothin special
3.8/5 

[Triple B Brewing]

Just now, Triple B Brewing said:

Hey @Tilpants,

I have only recently just tapped my kegs of BLACK BEARD SCHWARZBIER (In fact just havin' one or three now ).   I also made it without deviations from Coopers Recipe.  My OG was 1.048. My FG was 1.012. Resulting in an ABV of 4.7. My Ferment temp (controlled) was 17.5 degrees.
I rated the end result 4 stars outta 5.

My notes were:
Afetr 7 days of conditioning, this beer is fine, but again a little watery in depth.
The taste of the hops is there, but disappointed with the lack in depth of flavor. I was hoping for more caramel and chocolate flavors.
My thoughts are it would drink better if it was more malt flavour, so maybe half the 300g Carafa lll Malt with 150g Chocolate Malt and dry hopped with say 50g of Saaz or Tettnanger
Better than Black Pils, but still Nothin special
4/5.

To place those notes in context, it's probably worth noting that the brews that I have been drinking prior to the BLACK BEARD SCHWARZBIER were:

• CARIBBEAN PORTER
• THE VOYAGE: AMBER ALE
• THE VOYAGE: IIPA
• COG WORK IPA
• TSAR'S TAR
• BLACK PILS
• BLACK BEARD SCHWARZBIER

So quite full on in depth of flavours (especially after Tsar's Tar, which came in with a whopping ABV of 9.7% ) , so hence some of the comments made in my notes. (Note: All the above brews were brewed again without deviation from the Coopers Recipes).

If you are after a "lighter" in body dark beer, you might like the BLACK PILS. For what its worth, these are my  notes on that brew:
Well after the Tsar's Tar, I gone from one extreme to the other.
After 7 days of conditioning, this beer is fine, but watery in depth.
My thoughts are it would drink better if it was dry hopped with say 50g of Saaz
Nothin special
3.8/5 

P.S In my BLACK BEARD SCHWARZBIER I used (as called for in the Coopers Recipe) 1 x 11.5g Saflager S-23 Yeast & Brew Can Supplied

[Tilpants]

14 hours ago, Greenyinthewestofsydney said:

Hmm. Just looked at the recipe. Your OG is high for that much fermentables. Usually extracts are pretty much a known gravity +/-0.002 or so so if you had filled it up to 23L then I would say in reality it was a less OG and it was simply not fully mixed together. The FG looks a little high as well. Are you sure your Hydrometer is reading correctly? I would have expected FG to be closer to 1.012 or so. As for the boozy taste I wouldn't have expected that for a beer around the 5% mark. Only other explanation is the yeast was stressed and threw more fusel alcohols. I would have used 2 packets of yeast and not 1 as the recipe says but that's my opinion.

I used the kit lager plus a sachet of the Saflager S-23....Hydrometer could be off, hasn't been dropped or anything....might check the calibration. would the temp of the ferment stress the yeast?

Looks like Triple B had a successful brew following the same method and similar temps, I must have under filled the fermenter in all the excitement getting the temperature down, I'll check the level on my next brew day...

Edited July 29 by Tilpants

[Tilpants]

13 hours ago, Triple B Brewing said:

Hey @Tilpants,

I have only recently just tapped my kegs of BLACK BEARD SCHWARZBIER (In fact just havin' one or three now ).   I also made it without deviations from Coopers Recipe.  My OG was 1.048. My FG was 1.012. Resulting in an ABV of 4.7. My Ferment temp (controlled) was 17.5 degrees.
I rated the end result 4 stars outta 5.

My notes were:
Afetr 7 days of conditioning, this beer is fine, but again a little watery in depth.
The taste of the hops is there, but disappointed with the lack in depth of flavor. I was hoping for more caramel and chocolate flavors.
My thoughts are it would drink better if it was more malt flavour, so maybe half the 300g Carafa lll Malt with 150g Chocolate Malt and dry hopped with say 50g of Saaz or Tettnanger
Better than Black Pils, but still Nothin special
4/5.

To place those notes in context, it's probably worth noting that the brews that I have been drinking prior to the BLACK BEARD SCHWARZBIER were:

• CARIBBEAN PORTER
• THE VOYAGE: AMBER ALE
• THE VOYAGE: IIPA
• COG WORK IPA
• TSAR'S TAR
• BLACK PILS
• BLACK BEARD SCHWARZBIER

So quite full on in depth of flavours (especially after Tsar's Tar, which came in with a whopping ABV of 9.7% ) , so hence some of the comments made in my notes. (Note: All the above brews were brewed again without deviation from the Coopers Recipes).

If you are after a "lighter" in body dark beer, you might like the BLACK PILS. For what its worth, these are my  notes on that brew:
Well after the Tsar's Tar, I gone from one extreme to the other.
After 7 days of conditioning, this beer is fine, but watery in depth.
My thoughts are it would drink better if it was dry hopped with say 50g of Saaz
Nothin special
3.8/5 

Thanks for the in-depth feedback! I enjoy it and I've already had several pints, but tempted to leave it for a bit and see if it 'mellows out'.

Hmm, perhaps I've underfilled the fermenter...from the 20L mark I was adding 500ml at a time of cool water to get the temp down to 18 degrees.....I kept mixing it every time I put extra cold water in, and I mixed it when I pitched both packets of yeast...

...my first 2 brews worked fine and the ABV of those were as expected.....5.2% hard lemonade and a 4.8% brown ale....

Edited July 29 by Tilpants
hit save too soon!

[Triple B Brewing]

2 hours ago, Tilpants said:

Thanks for the in-depth feedback! I enjoy it and I've already had several pints, but tempted to leave it for a bit and see if it 'mellows out'.

Hmm, perhaps I've underfilled the fermenter...from the 20L mark I was adding 500ml at a time of cool water to get the temp down to 18 degrees.....I kept mixing it every time I put extra cold water in, and I mixed it when I pitched both packets of yeast...

...my first 2 brews worked fine and the ABV of those were as expected.....5.2% hard lemonade and a 4.8% brown ale....

That’s my pleasure @Tilpants - sorry we’ve been unable to nail the issue for ya. Pleased though your still enjoying the brew - I’ve always said there’s no such thing as a bad beer, some are just better than others

Giving your brew more time will definitely help mellow that “boozy” taste.
The only other cause I can think of that might have given you a high OG ready (as suggested by Greeny earlier), is using a sample of wort for your OG reading that was incomplete in its mixing of the concentrate. I personally like to tip my fermenter away from the tap (so the tap is up high) and then power water directly a the tap to ensure I am flushing it clean of any trapped concrete. That way I can be sure I am using a well mixed sample of wort for my OG sample. 

Here’s cheers to future great beers

[Tilpants]

On 7/30/2024 at 11:45 AM, Triple B Brewing said:

That’s my pleasure @Tilpants - sorry we’ve been unable to nail the issue for ya. Pleased though your still enjoying the brew - I’ve always said there’s no such thing as a bad beer, some are just better than others

Giving your brew more time will definitely help mellow that “boozy” taste.
The only other cause I can think of that might have given you a high OG ready (as suggested by Greeny earlier), is using a sample of wort for your OG reading that was incomplete in its mixing of the concentrate. I personally like to tip my fermenter away from the tap (so the tap is up high) and then power water directly a the tap to ensure I am flushing it clean of any trapped concrete. That way I can be sure I am using a well mixed sample of wort for my OG sample. 

Here’s cheers to future great beers

No stress, I'm pretty sure I've underfilled it as I've transferred it to a keg and after a few samples, it only just filled up the 19L corny, so I must have only had 20-21L in the fermenter instead of the 23L. I've bought a new 5L measuring jug that I'm going to use moving forward to hopefully get the volume more accurate ^_^

 

After a couple of weeks in the keg, it's much smoother and chocolatey, reminds me quite of bit of the black lagers I had back in Germany, next is to try a bit less Carafa and a bit more light dry/crystal to ease off on the chocolate and have a more moderate 'caramel' flavour compared to chocolate.

 

I'm still really enjoying it and keen to let it sit for a couple of weeks before I try it again (jf I can stay away from it!)

 

Cheers!

[Triple B Brewing]

42 minutes ago, Tilpants said:

No stress, I'm pretty sure I've underfilled it as I've transferred it to a keg and after a few samples, it only just filled up the 19L corny, so I must have only had 20-21L in the fermenter instead of the 23L. I've bought a new 5L measuring jug that I'm going to use moving forward to hopefully get the volume more accurate ^_^

 

After a couple of weeks in the keg, it's much smoother and chocolatey, reminds me quite of bit of the black lagers I had back in Germany, next is to try a bit less Carafa and a bit more light dry/crystal to ease off on the chocolate and have a more moderate 'caramel' flavour compared to chocolate.

 

I'm still really enjoying it and keen to let it sit for a couple of weeks before I try it again (jf I can stay away from it!)

 

Cheers!

Yep, I reckon about 4 litres shy of the expected volume would do that to your SG numbers.
I gotta admit with one month in the keg, mine is definitely getting better with age.  That depth of flavour I was hoping for is certainly getting there.
I'm enjoyin' another as I type this 

Cheers @Tilpants 

[Tilpants]

After another 3-4 weeks in the keg, it's hit it's stride and is tasting pretty awesome, had a tasting with a bunch of colleagues and they all gave it 8-8.5/10 as it sits. I'm leaning towards I've measured the OG incorrectly, and it was more than likely 1.058....looking at my brew day notes compared to the OG reading I wrote on the fridge whiteboard, it has 1.055/1.065?? next to the OG reading....

Also after several pints, it feels more like a 5.5%'er rather than a 6.6%'er....if you know what I mean.

Either way, it's enjoyable and a lesson learnt, I'll try and be a bit more careful/accurate with my measuring and recording.... next brew with be the Royal Lager from the Coopers DIY recipe list. I just need to grab 200g of the CaraMunich 1 this week and it'll be on the go!

[Classic Brewing Co]

2 hours ago, Tilpants said:

After another 3-4 weeks in the keg, it's hit it's stride and is tasting pretty awesome, had a tasting with a bunch of colleagues and they all gave it 8-8.5/10 as it sits. I'm leaning towards I've measured the OG incorrectly, and it was more than likely 1.058....looking at my brew day notes compared to the OG reading I wrote on the fridge whiteboard, it has 1.055/1.065?? next to the OG reading....

Also after several pints, it feels more like a 5.5%'er rather than a 6.6%'er....if you know what I mean.

Either way, it's enjoyable and a lesson learnt, I'll try and be a bit more careful/accurate with my measuring and recording.... next brew with be the Royal Lager from the Coopers DIY recipe list. I just need to grab 200g of the CaraMunich 1 this week and it'll be on the go!

Looks nice mate.

[Tilpants]

3 hours ago, Classic Brewing Co said:

Looks nice mate.

Pretty happy with it for the first go at a Lager, the apollo pressure fermenter and a fermentation fridge has taken a fair bit of the 'luck' out of it, plus a good recipe thanks to the coopers community!

[Tilpants]

Just to update on this, I measured _ALL_ of the liquid I put into the fermenter this time (when I brewed my Royal Lager), and it only took 20.4L to get to the 22L mark on my fermenter....so I think this may be a bit of the culprit for the extra percentage, in saying that, this has been an immensely enjoyable beer after a month and a half in the keg, and I took my 4L iKegger to Phillip Island this weekend for the Motogp and the last of it got polished off by my uncles who all said it tasted like a "smooth type of stout" after explaining to them it was a Schwarzbier or a Black lager....either way it's all gone now!

[Classic Brewing Co]

10 minutes ago, Tilpants said:

Just to update on this, I measured _ALL_ of the liquid I put into the fermenter this time (when I brewed my Royal Lager), and it only took 20.4L to get to the 22L mark on my fermenter....so I think this may be a bit of the culprit for the extra percentage, in saying that, this has been an immensely enjoyable beer after a month and a half in the keg, and I took my 4L iKegger to Phillip Island this weekend for the Motogp and the last of it got polished off by my uncles who all said it tasted like a "smooth type of stout" after explaining to them it was a Schwarzbier or a Black lager....either way it's all gone now!

Sounds like it was a success.