Let's try that again...

Update 7/8 - Bottled with 3oz table sugar and a fresh dose of Saflager dry yeast.
Update 6/6 - Kegged, started lagering ~45°F
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Making the St Pat's black lager again. This time for somebody else. So, once again...I won't get much of it. I might try to sneak a gallon in bottles for drinking and competition, since it seemed to be very popular a couple months back. I also get to try out my submersible pump for chilling today. The idea is that instead of dumping gallons and gallons of chilling water, I recirculate it over a block of ice and save some water, with the possible added benefit of dropping my wort a few more degrees into the lager zone (Kenny Loggins called, but it was a wrong number).

For this version, I've fixed the Chocolate/carafa proportion (last time I was emptying some inventory), and had to make a substitution for the perle hops. I also opted to try out Papazian's yeast, which is supposed to be good for both ales and lagers. I figured it would be a good idea in case I can't quite get the lower temps in my fermentation space (although the weather has been mild, so it might not be an issue).

Batch #60
Schwartzbier
--8lbs Pils
--2lb Munich
--0.5lb Chocolate
--0.5lb Carafa II
--0.5lb Crystal 40L
--0.5lb Melanoidin
--4AAU Vanguard (60min)
--4AAU Willamette(45min)
--2AAU each Van. and Wil. (20min)
--0.5oz each Van. and Wil. (0min)
--Whirlfloc (10min)
--WLP862 Cry Havoc, two-stage starter - 1L, 1.5L
OG: 1.056
FG: 1.016
ABV: 5.2%
IBU: ~25-30

Mash in with 17 qts - all grains except chocolate and carafa - at 154F, hold for 30m. Stir in dark grains, mash temp falls a bit, hold for 30m. Batch sparge with 17 qts. Boil for 75m (pils malt!). Chill to 50F, pitch yeast, and ferment to 55F. Bring to room temp for a day or two diacetyl rest, rack off yeast and ramp temp down to ~34F for lagering.

I see your Schwartz is as big as mine.

Update 3/18 - I think they liked it. Tapped for a St Paddy's party yesterday, just a bit of foam when I reached for *my* first pint of the stuff tonight. Maybe I should brew bigger batches.
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Update 1/18 - Okay, the gravity hasn't changed in a while, we're just done at 1.018. A little high, but whatever. I'll empty out a keg and pop this in the lager fridge in the next day or so.
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Nice black lager. I think this is another one of Jamil's recipes. Or at least I took inspiration from it. Not too roasty. It's a trick, really. Looks and smells like a big roasty thing, but comes through much softer. The carafa is nice because it's been dehusked, giving a less harsh roast character than other forms of roasted barley. WLP800 isn't necessarily the best choice - it's supposedly from Pilsner Urquell - but it's what I have and I didn't feel like making a starter of German yeast last week.

Batch #52
Schwartzbier
--8lbs Pils
--2lb Munich
--0.42lb Chocolate
--0.58lb Carafa II
--0.5lb Crystal 40L
--0.5lb Melanoidin
--0.5oz Perle 7.5%AA (60min)
--0.5oz Perle 7.5%AA (45min)
--0.5oz Perle 7.5%AA (20min)
--0.5oz Perle 7.5%AA (0min)
--Whirlfloc (10min)
--WLP800 Pilsner Lager Yeast, slurry from pilsner
OG: 1.062
FG: 1.018
ABV: 5.5%
IBU: ~25

Mash in all grains except chocolate and carafa at 154F, hold for 30m. Stir in dark grains, mash temp falls a bit, hold for 30m. Batch sparged (again didn't get as much extracted as I thought I would...). Used a 75m boil to compromise between the DMS issue and the low extraction volume. Chilled to 50F, pitched yeast.