Dinkelbier

Been doing some research on old German bier from the 18th century and decided to make a dinkle. Im pretty sure they were drinking alot of this because Germans love their wiesbier. We know this because in the 19th century Bavaria passed the Reinheitsgebot to keep people from using all the wheat for beer and causing a shortage of wheat for bread. The original law had nothing to due with “purity” as some suggest. Anyway spelt is what they used and what I’ll use. Im working on a recipe now and looking for input from anyone who has made a Dinklebier. Obviously using spelt malt and if i can get flaked spelt flakes.

2 Likes

I’ve never made one. But I would make it just like a traditional hefeweizen.

1 Like

What i was thinking except i was wondering about the flavor of straight spelt. Ive heard it desribed in bread as nutty

That’s my understanding as well. It’s supposed to be ‘nutty.’ If you want you can do a malt analysis using grain tea. It’s pretty simple. For each sample do the following:

  1. add 4oz of 170° water to a glass
  2. stir in 1.5oz of crushed grain
  3. steep for 30 mins
  4. drain the tea into another glass through a coffee filter. Squeeze it out!
  5. sample
    With this you could do this with any grains you want to use. Taste them separately then mix them to see if you find what your looking for.
2 Likes

Reinheitsgebot was a lot earlier than the 19th century. Version 1.0 was decreed just barely into the 16th century. It was also meant to insure that rye went to bread as well as wheat. Bavarian sausage laws like Weisswurstrechts did not have such far reaching consequences.

I picked up the dinkel malt for the beer. I’ve also just baked my sourdough using a bit of spelt flour. Has a richer flavor for sure. Similar to whole wheat. I definitely plan to use it in my historical beer. I’ll make Krutbier and Stangenbier with 20% the rest barley the weiss I’ll do a blend with regular wheat. I think

1 Like

Oooh now I see Spelt is Dinkel wheat. I’ve never heard the work Dinkel before this thread.