Tuesday 23 February 2010

It's Official.... Hell's Frozen Over

Those of you who know me will know that I have an intense dislike of American Hops.  I don't know what it is about them but they just don't do it for me.  Therefore, it will come as a complete surprise shock that I'm brewing a single hop Schwarzbier with drumroll....... Cascade!!!

I know, it's going to end in tears but I figured I'll just have to give it a go in a kind of  "Kill or cure" fashion.

So what's the recipe?

9kg Pale Malt
1.9 kg Munich Malt
1kg Carafa Special III

60g Cascade FWH
25g Cascade @ 30 minutes
15g Cascade @ 5 minutes

WLP 830 German Lager Yeast (slurry from a 4 litre starter)

Before you all point out that a Schwarzbier should use Pils malt not Pale Ale Malt, I know but I don't have any Pils malt.

I've been wanting to make a Schwarzbier since I discovered Zeitgeist and just never got around to it until now.  I just hope I haven't ruined it with those bloody Cacades.  We'll just have to wait and see.

Also, I rewired the brewery today.  I've added a nice new control panel, that's waterproof this time, and I have to say that the brewery as perfrormed better than ever so far.

I expect I'll be posting in a few weeks about how I've failed to be converted to Cascade but for the time being I'm keeping an open mind.

7 comments:

  1. You could always have a party and get your guests to drink it! Unless you decide you like cascades...

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  2. Blimey, last time I did that some bloke forced me to drink Russian Imperial Stout until stupid o'clock in the morning. Gave me a monster of a hangover!

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  3. I have no idea what a Schwarzbier is. These foreign beers are all foreign to me. The recipe sounds great though, so make sure you hide a couple of bottles for one of the meetings.

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  4. Schwarzbier is a German, black lager. like we had in Zero Degrees.

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  5. Just perused your site, and I really like the technical stuff like the lab work with yeast in slant bottles and the bacteria under the microscope. As an avid homebrewer, it's always nice to see someone share the science bits that aren't always shared in detail on forums.

    Cheers and HAHB!
    -Mike

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  6. Hi Mike, glad you liked it. I'll try to get more posted here (and on my web site) when I have time.
    Cheers,
    /Phil.

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