Schwarzviertler — A Shadowy Dunkel From A “Dark Block”
This article is about an unusual, very dark Bavarian dunkel called Schwarzviertler that I encountered during my peregrinations through the world of beer. It is made by Braumeister Cornelius Faust of Brauhaus Faust in Miltenberg, Germany, which has arguably one of the most storied and least known histories of any brewery in Germany. The name Schwarzviertler means from the black block and alludes to the location of the brewery, the schwarzviertel (or black block), the part of town where the beer is made. It is at the bottom of a steep cliff that casts a deep shadow over the brewery in the afternoon, even on the brightest day. The Schwarzviertler is one of a dozen beers in the Brauhaus Faust’s regular portfolio (see www.faust.de/-de/bierspezialitaeten/faust_bierspezialitaeten).
The brew is based on an unusual combination of a multi-step infusion mash followed by a single decoction. The grain bill is composed of Pilsner and Munich base malts as well as a touch of dehusked Carafa® I roasted malt — not unusual for this style — and a surprising five percent Weyermann® Rauchmalz (beechwood smoked barley malt). To enhance the brew’s darkness to roughly 27 SRM (68.1 EBC), Cornelius adds about 1.8 gallons (7 L) of SINAMAR® natural roasted color extract to his 70-hectoliter brew kettle. (That’s 1 mL per liter or 0.13 fl.oz. per US gallon.)
The SINAMAR® gives him a color gain over the color from the grain of approximately 7 SRM (17.4 EBC). The result is a 5.2 ABV, mildly Perle-hopped (23.3 IBU), velvety smooth, highly opaque and very clean-tasting lager.
Cornelius has graciously consented to the reproduction of his Schwarzviertler recipe and brewing instructions — adopted for a multi-step infusion mash for North American homebrewers. However, before we get to the technical details of this very individualist variation on the traditional dunkel theme, let’s first look at the remarkably influential story of the Faust Brewery and its iconoclastic brewing philosophy that brought about, among other brews, the Schwarzviertler Dunkel.
Miltenberg: A Fulcrum of Medieval Commerce and War
Miltenberg is a charming, medieval, fairy-tale town of barely ten thousand souls, nestled on the banks of the River Main, a tributary of the Rhine, against a backdrop of steep cliffs. Situated barely 80 km (50 miles) southeast from the cosmopolitan Frankfurt Inter-national Airport, it is surrounded by two dark expanses of woods, the Spessard and the Odenwald, which together form Germany’s largest contiguous forest region. Appropriately, these woods are also the imaginary home of the Brothers Grimm’s fabled and mischievous Rumpelstiltskin.
Miltenberg is rich in romantic, centuries-old, crooked, but well-preserved, half-timbered houses. Its Hauptstraße (main street) is a narrow cobble-stoned passage that was once — at the time of the Holy Roman Empire — part of Germany’s main north-south thoroughfare that linked Cologne, Nuremberg, Munich, Salz-burg and Vienna.
As a stop-over on the old empire’s main artery of commerce and war, Miltenberg has seen its share of traveling merchants with their clattering wagons, of knights in their proverbial shining armor, of rag-tag hordes of marauding soldiers and even of lofty emperors. In fact, there is a hotel and pub on Hauptstraße 99 called Zum Riesen (“At the Giant’s”), which dates back to the mid-1100s and is considered Germany’s oldest continuously operating inn. Historical annals confirm that no less than three German emperors (Frederick I in 1158, Charles IV in 1368, and Frederick III sometime in the 15th Century), as well as the religious reformer Martin Luther in the 16th Century and Austrian Empress Maria Theresa in the 18th Century, have taken up quarters in the “Giant.” In more recent times, the “Giant” has given shelter to composer Richard Strauss, “The King” Elvis Presley, and, yes, you guessed it, yours truly. Miltenberg is a hidden gem well worth a visit, I assure you, for both its architecture and its beer!
Behind a Quaint Façade, Great Beer Innovation Is A-Brew
When walking Miltenberg’s cobble stones today, especially in the dim light of a misty winter afternoon, it seems as if all the hustle and bustle of yesteryear has given way to a life that is at once orderly and placid. However, that calm and quiet can be deceiving, because at a place where the old road is almost too narrow for a beer truck to squeeze through, at Hauptstraße 219, is the Brauhaus Faust. It was founded in 1654, only six years after the devastating Thirty Years War (1618–1648), by Kilian François Mathieu Servan-taine, a cervois (brewer) from Liège in what is now Belgium. Kilian François Mathieu had escaped the war’s turmoil in his homeland and moved across the Rhine to Miltenberg. He named his new place Löwenbrauerei (“Lion’s Brewery”).
Almost two hundred years later, in 1825, after the Napoleonic Wars, when much of Europe was in the repressive grip of restoration forces determined to bring back the old monarchical order, the Löwenbrauerei was acquired by Georg Anton Krug and his son August. These two, however, were a freedom-minded pair who would later become local leaders of the failed democratic movement that swept Germany in 1849. To avoid being arrested by the authorities, August and his father — like many of their rebellious compatriots — saw no choice but to pack their bags in a hurry and move to a better life in the New World. They ended up in Milwaukee, where they promptly founded . . . a new brewery. August, unfortunately, died a few years later, in 1856, and his accountant Joseph Schlitz took the opportunity not only to buy the Krug brewery, but also to marry the grieving widow Krug. Herr Schlitz turned out to be a brilliant businessman, because, by 1902, the renamed Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company had become the largest brewery in the world — and it all started with two rebels from Miltenberg!
Back in Miltenberg, after Krug’s escape to the New World, the Löwenbrauerei changed hands several times until it was purchased, in 1875, by Johann Adalbert Faust, a cooper and brewer. The brewery has remained in the Faust family ever since. Renamed Brauhaus Faust, the brewery is now run by two cousins, brewmaster Cornelius Faust and businessman Johannes Faust. Today, Brauhaus Faust also owns the pub inside the ancient “Giant” Zum Riesen, which is now a protected historical site. The modern Brauhaus Faust now brews a regular portfolio of one dozen beer styles at Hauptstraße 219, including not just the standard Pils and hefeweizen, but also several super-strong festbiers and a nourishing dunkel doppelbock.
In addition to its regular selection, Faust offers several limited-edition seasonal specials, such as a spectacular Eiswein and the so-called Faust Auswandererbier 1849 (“Faust emigrant’s beer 1849”). The Auswan-dererbier 1849 is an amber imperial IPA, which is an extremely rare beer style in Germany.
The Auswandererbier was brewed to commemorate former Faust brewery owner and Schlitz founder Anton Krug. This ale is a 1.076-OG, 8%-ABV, 80-IBU humdinger of an amber ale with a bi-continental hop profile of German Perle and Tettnanger hops, as well as American Chinook, Citra®, Columbus and Cascade hops. Not a typical German beer, to say the least.
Faust Schwarzviertler Brewing Instructions
The Schwarzviertler is part of the brewery’s year-round portfolio. It is a dark quaffing lager with delicate, mildly smoky aromas of caramel and bitter chocolate, and a satisfyingly clean, dry finish. This beer is similar to what the BJCP would label a Munich Dunkel, but with elements of a schwarzbier and a rauchbier also included. Here is how a New World homebrewer can clone this fine brew.
Brewhouse Process
The Miltenberg 70-hectoliter (hL), (approximately 60-barrel), brew house, is, of course, thoroughly professional with steam jackets and an agitator. For the mash, Cornelius lays a base with 37 hL of hot brewing liquor. That’s about 53% of the expected kettle volume at the end of the boil. During the mash-in via a pre-masher, an additional 8 hL brewing liquor — roughly 11.5% of expected net kettle volume — reaches the grain bed. This makes a total of 45 hL — almost 65% of the net kettle volume — of liquor in the mash. The total volume of liquor and malt in the mash tun is about 57 hL (roughly 81.5% of net kettle volume).
The grains are step mashed with the mash tun being heated via a steam jacket. For homebrewers who cannot heat their mash directly, try a very thick dough-in instead of a mash-in. This allows for successive hot-liquor infusions to maintain and raise the mash temperature as required, without overflowing the mash tun. Heat up about 15 to 20% more brewing liquor than your target net kettle volume. For the dough-in, use as little of that liquor as possible without clumping the mash, while aiming for the Miltenberg mash starting temperature of 113 °F (45 °C), and give the mash an initial hydration rest of about 30 minutes before starting to step-infuse it.
Slowly raise the mash temperature by the application of external heat (if your equipment allows it) or an infusion of hot liquor for several rest steps. During this process, the amount of water added is less significant than reaching the correct rest temperatures. Raise the mash temperature first to 149 °F (65 °C) for a beta-amylase rest of 20 minutes. Then repeat the temperature increase, this time to 154 °F (68 °C) for a 5-minute alpha-amylase rest. The next rest is at 162 °F (72 °C) for about 10 minutes.
At this stage, Cornelius draws roughly one-quarter of the mash into a cooker for a 10-minute boil and then returns that decoction to the main mash for a temperature increase to 169 °F (76 °C).
Homebrewers may skip this decoction step, if their brewing setup would make it difficult to achieve, and instead raise the mash temperature through direct heat or hot-water infusion. Rest the mash again at 169 °F (76 °C) for about 20 minutes. Then, recirculate for about 15 minutes.
Finally, lauter the mash very slowly into the kettle. At Faust this takes about 120 minutes. However, do not sparge! Instead, let the mash run almost dry, while maintaining the mash-out temperature if possible. These first runnings in the kettle are known in Germany as vorderwürze (literally advance wort). At the end of lautering, as is the German way, flush the grain bed (called überschwänzen, meaning pouring-over) three times with hot nachgüsse (or after-pours). To get a rough idea of each nachgüsse volume, measure the vorderwürze kettle-volume, subtract it from your expected net kettle volume, and divide this figure by three. The combined lautering time for the three “after-pours” should be another slow 120 minutes. Yes, that’s about four hours of lautering to flush out as much of the extract as possible! It is this process that gives the final beer its rich, malty, velvety depth.
Keep monitoring the kettle gravity. Assuming a roughly 10 percent evaporation rate, stop the run-off at a kettle gravity of about 1.048. It is always preferable to liquor the wort down at the end of the boil than to end up with a wort that is too thin.
The boiling time is 70 minutes. Add the bittering hop about 10 minutes into the boil and the aroma hop and the SINAMAR® about 10 minutes before shut-down. Then transfer the wort to a whirlpool for some thorough trub sedimentation of perhaps 20 to 30 minutes. Lastly, heat-exchange the green beer to the temperature range of your selected yeast, usually to about 50–59 °F (10–15 °C).
Cellaring
Ferment the brew like a typical German lager. Keep it for about 7 days (give or take) in the primary fermenter. Then rack it into a secondary fermenter and leave it there for about 2 weeks. Rack it off the debris again and lager it at a temperature as low as your equipment allows — preferably at 28 °F (-2 °C) — for at least 4 weeks (6 weeks is preferable). Finally rack, condition (or prime) the finished brew as desired, and package it.
Extract Alternatives
There are several ways to approximate the Miltenberg all-grain original with liquid malt extract (LME). The easiest way is to use a commercial, preformulated, unhopped Dunkel LME, such as Weyermann® Bavarian Dunkel, which is made from a double decoction of Munich Type I, Caramunich® Type II, and Pilsner malts. Steep Rauchmalz and dehusked Carafa® I in the quantities specified in the all-grain recipe.
If steeping grain is not your mug of beer, you can even skip this step by substituting about 10% of the Bavarian Dunkel LME with Weyermann® Bamberg Rauchbier LME, which is made from a double decoction of 98% Weyermann® Rauchmalz and 2% dehusked Carafa® Spezial I. The convenience of this brew, however, is bought at the expense of a tad less roastiness compared to the Faust original because of the smaller amount of Carafa® Special I.
Regardless of whether you employ all-grain or extract methods of wort production, your biggest key to success will be pitching an adequate amount of yeast and keeping your fermentation temperature steady.
Faust Schwarzviertler clone
(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.052 FG = 1.013
IBU = 23 SRM = 27 ABV = 5.2
The Schwarzviertler is part of the brewery’s year-round portfolio. It is a fiery dark quaffing lager with delicate, mildly smoky aromas of caramel and bitter chocolate, and a satisfyingly clean, dry finish. Here is how a New World homebrewer can clone this fine brew.
Ingredients
7 lb. 15 oz. (3.6 kg) Munich I malt
2 lb. 10 oz. (1.2 kg) Pilsner malt
9.1 oz. (0.26 kg) Weyermann® Rauchmalz (smoked malt)
2.9 oz. (82 g) Weyermann® (dehusked) Carafa® I Spezial
0.64 fl. oz. (19 mL) SINAMAR®
5.9 AAU Perle hops (60 min) (0.9 oz./27 g of 6.5% alpha acids)
0.1 oz. (2 g) Perle hops (10 min)
Bavarian-style lager yeast (your choice) (4 qt./4 L yeast starter)
Step by Step
Two or three days before you brew, make a 1-gallon (~4 L) yeast starter. Aerate the starter wort well and pitch your yeast. Ferment the starter at room temperature, then refrigerate (or place in your fermentation chamber) at the beginning of your brew day, to force the yeast to flocculate as completely as possible.
To approximate the mash conditions (and lautering process) used by the brewery, mash in so that you use around 20 qts. (19 L) of brewing liquor. For the grain amounts above, this is a mash thickness of about 1.8 qts./lb. (3.7 L/kg), thinner than a typical homebrew mash. If you alter the amount of grain to adjust for your extract efficiency, you should still use roughly same amount of brewing liquor unless your mash would be way too thick or way too thin. (These instructions assume that you can heat your mash tun. If you can’t, mash in as thickly as possible and use boiling water infusions for each step in the mash.)
Mash in to 113 °F (45 °C), and give the mash an initial hydration rest of about 30 minutes. Slowly heat the mash to raise the temperature to 149 °F (65 °C). A rate of just over 1 °F (~0.5 °C) every minute will mean the temperature ramp will take about a half hour. Rest at 149 °F (65 °C) of 20 minutes. Then repeat the temperature increase, this time to 154 °F (68 °C) for a 5-minute rest. The next rest is at 162 °F (72 °C) for about 10 minutes. To raise the temperature for the mash out, you have two options. Heat the mash as before or boil a decoction, as is done at Faust. For the decoction, draw about one-quarter of the mash (a little over a gallon/4 L) into a large pot and bring it to a boil. Boil for 10 minutes, then return the decoction to the main mash for a temperature increase to 169 °F (76 °C). Recirculate for about 15 minutes before you collect your wort.
Collect all the wort from the grain bed, without sparging. At Faust, collection takes about 2 hours, but this is most likely a limitation of their brewhouse as a quick run off is not going to have any negative effects on wort quality. Run off as quickly as you can without inducing a stuck mash. When all the wort is in the kettle, measure the volume. Subtract this from your target pre-boil volume. (The boil is 70 minutes, so 6.2 gallons/23 L of pre-boil wort would work if you typically boil off a gallon an hour.) This is the volume of sparge water you will use. Divide this into three aliquots and sparge with each, taking about 30 minutes to rinse the grain bed and collect the wort each time. (If you collected 4.0 gallons/15 L of wort, you would need 2.2 gallons/8.3 L of sparge water separated into three 2.9 qt./2.7 L aliquots, to reach 6.2 gallons/23 L of pre-boil wort.) Your sparge water should be 169 °F (76 °C), or hotter if your grain bed temperature has dropped below 169 °F (76 °C).
The boiling time is 70 minutes. Add the bittering hops about 10 minutes into the boil and the aroma hop and the SINAMAR® about 10 minutes before shut-down. Whirlpool the wort and let the trub sediment, allowing up to 20 minutes for this to happen. Then, chill the wort to the temperature range of your selected yeast, usually to about 50–59 °F (10–15 °C) for most Bavarian lager strains.
Ferment the brew like a typical German lager. After primary fermentation (and a diacetyl rest, if needed), rack the beer off the yeast and lager it for a month to 6 weeks. The optimal lagering temperature would be 28 °F (-2 °C), but refrigerator temperature (around 40 °F/4.4 °C) will work.
Faust Schwarzviertler clone
(5 gallons/19 L, partial mash)
OG = 1.052 FG = 1.013
IBU = 23 SRM = 27 ABV = 5.2
Ingredients
3 lb. 4 oz. (1.5 kg) Munich I malt
9.1 oz. (0.26 kg) Weyermann® Rauchmalz (smoked malt)
2.9 oz. (82 g) Weyermann® (dehusked) Carafa® I Spezial
5 lb. 4 oz. (2.4 kg) Munich liquid malt extract
0.64 fl. oz. (19 mL) SINAMAR®
5.9 AAU Perle hops (60 min) (0.9 oz./27 g of 6.5% alpha acids)
0.1 oz. (2 g) Perle hops (10 min)
Bavarian-style lager yeast (your choice)
Step by Step
Mash the malts in 5.5 qts. (5.2 L) at 149 °F (65 °C) for an hour. While the mash is resting, heat 1.0 gallon (3.8 L) of water to a boil in your brewpot and stir in roughly half of the malt extract. Also heat 5.5 qts. (5.2 L) of sparge water to 169 °F (76 °C). Drain the wort from the mash tun. Pour roughly 2 qts./1.8 L of the sparge water over the grain bed and drain the wort again. Repeat twice. Boil wort for 70 minutes, adding hops at times indicated. Stir in remaining malt extract and SINAMAR® with 15 minutes left in the boil. Chill wort and transfer to fermenter. Top up with cold water to make 5 gallons (19 L) of wort at your fermentation temperature. Aerate and pitch yeast. Ferment according to instructions in the all-grain recipe.
Faust Schwarzviertler clone
(5 gallons/19 L, extract with grains)
OG = 1.052 FG = 1.013
IBU = 23 SRM = 27 ABV = 5.2
Ingredients
1 lb. 4 oz. (0.57 kg) Munich I malt
9.1 oz. (0.26 kg) Weyermann® Rauchmalz (smoked malt)
2.9 oz. (82 g) Weyermann® (dehusked) Carafa® I Spezial
6 lb. 10 oz. (3.0 kg) Munich liquid malt extract
0.64 fl. oz. (19 mL) SINAMAR®
5.9 AAU Perle hops (60 min) (0.9 oz./27 g of 6.5% alpha acids)
0.1 oz. (2 g) Perle hops (10 min)
Bavarian-style lager yeast (your choice)
Step by Step
Steep the grains at 149 °F (65 °C) for 45 minutes in 3.0 qts. (2.8 L) of water. Add water to make at least 3 gallons (11 L), add half the extract and boil for 70 minutes. Add hops at times indicated. Add remaining extract and SINAMAR® with 15 minutes left in boil. Chill, top up, aerate and pitch yeast as usual. Ferment according to the instructions in the all-grain recipe.
Brauhaus Faust resides in the schwarzviertel, or black block, in Miltenberg, Germany. This part of the city is in the shade of a large cliff. The brewery has been in existence since 1654, but currently brews with a mid-20th-Century brewhouse.
Photos by Horst Dornbusch
