Rebel Barrel 2015; Czech Dark Lager

[dcalnan]

If you're brewing during Christmas for this. I might try and get my all grain set up working, I have the coolbox, just have to get the valve and all the copper.

[LordEoin]

1. Garry 20L
2. Johnrm 20l
3. Dr. Horrible 20L
4. mr hoppy 20l
5. LordEoin 20L

When are we filling the barrel?

[Taf]

Stick me down for 20 litres as well.

[Garry]

1. Garry 20L
2. Johnrm 20l
3. Dr. Horrible 20L
4. mr hoppy 20l
5. LordEoin 20L
6. dcalnan 20l
7. Brian 20l
8. Taf 20l

dcal & Brian, I'll stick you down for 20l each. We won't hold you to anything. If you just want to brew 5l that's fine. You'll only get about 4l back though.

We'll aim to fill the barrel around the middle of January.  That will give us all a chance to brew over the holidays.

I have about 200g of saaz to spare if anyone needs hops?

[raindogxx]

You can put me down for 20 liters too.

[Garry]

1. Garry 20L
2. Johnrm 20l
3. Dr. Horrible 20L
4. mr hoppy 20l
5. LordEoin 20L
6. dcalnan 20l
7. Brian 20l
8. Taf 20l
9. Raindogxx 20l

[Taf]

I know that the recipe mentions leaf, but could we go for pellets instead, and get 1 Kg from tube, which should be approx the right amount for the barrel?

Can we also split this topic into a new one, so it's a bit tidier?

http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.com/forum/index.php/topic,8338.0.html

[johnrm]

Pellets should be fine, use 10% less pellets by weight.

[raindogxx]

First time doing one of these group brews. Are we using the barrel as a secondary or are we pitching the yeast in the barrel? Seems like the coordination could be a bit tricky to primary in the barrel. If we're doing the primary individually what yeast are we using?

Also how much does the barrel hold? I'm happy to contribute 20L but if somebody else wants in I can cut that down or even hold off until next time. I don't want to cut anybody out who was looking forward to the brew.

[Garry]

@raindogxx, You will brew at home and do the primary fermentation at home. The beer will secondary or tertiary in the barrel. The barrel is in my garage, so you will need to bring your contribution to my house. We'll sort that out in time.

Yeast
American brewers have a wide range of Czech yeast choices for this brew. Suitable strains include Wyeast 2000 Budvar™; 2001 Urquell™; 2007 Pilsen™; 2124 Bohemian™; and 2278 Czech Pils™; as well as White Labs WLP800 Pilsner; and WLP802 Czech Budejovice.

I've got a pack of Wyeast Pilsner Urquell 2001 so that's the yeast I'll use. Johnrm has a hape of mauribrew lager yeast if you need some.

The barrel holds approx 200l. We need 1 more contributer? Anyone interested?

[johnrm]

Are we happy to use Lager malt in place of Pilsner?
I have Carafa, not sure if its Carafa III

[raindogxx]

What color are we aiming for? I'm getting 41.7 EBC using Dr. H's recipe.

[Garry]

The style guidelines for Schwarzbier say 33.5 to 59.1 EBC so there's plenty of tolerance there!

Use the recipe as a guideline. One batch brewed with Carafa instead of Carafa III isn't going to make much difference.

[raindogxx]

Sounds good. Here's my BeerSmith recipe. I'm happy to tweak it if anybody has suggestions.

Jon

http://beersmithrecipes.com/viewrecipe/622614?&doid=54773644e5baa

[johnrm]

14 gal Boil down to 10 gal?
Have you leaks in your system?