I will be taking a brew day next month and like the idea of doing another Dunkel.
Last year I did one more to the Munich side (mostly munich malt - very bready and toasty.)
This year I’m looking more to Bohemian or Northern German - but have no problem keeping a little of that breadyness - just a little more bitterness and hop preasence.
Anyway, If anyone has any good recipes or ingredient / % suggestions let me know.
Off the top of my head I would be shooting for 4.8-5 ABV.
70-80% + Geman Pils
15-20% German Munich
Carafa sp II for color
Can add any of: dark Munich / cara Munich / Cara Pils / Wheat etc.
That recipe has a lot of Pils in it. I prefer much more of the Munich II in my Dunkels.
I brewed this last year and it was quite malty and nice. Its only problem was that there was just a touch too much roast flavor when I made it with 2.4% Carafa III. The recipe below corrects for that problem. You could probably get closer to 2%, but don’t go over.
89% Munich II
10% Pils
~1% Carafa III
about 21 IBU Hallertau
[quote=“mabrungard”]That recipe has a lot of Pils in it. I prefer much more of the Munich II in my Dunkels.
I brewed this last year and it was quite malty and nice. Its only problem was that there was just a touch too much roast flavor when I made it with 2.4% Carafa III. The recipe below corrects for that problem. You could probably get closer to 2%, but don’t go over.
89% Munich II
10% Pils
~1% Carafa III
about 21 IBU Hallertau[/quote]
I certainly have no problem bringing the Munich up a little more. My last Bavarian style Dunkel was 80% I think. Might go 50/50 ish.
I would be using Carafa Special, so less roastiness from that. Last time I used chocloate and definately got too much roast and chocolate (though still pretty good.)
[quote=“brewingdan”]I actually like your original idea. The typical dunkle is the heavier Munich dervived and based beer, but northern German makes some great dunkles.
My favorite is Flensburger and it has a more drying pilsner quality with just enough richness to differentiate the two.[/quote]
It can be a hard choice to make sometimes. My original instinct was to go for the northern style and that is probably what I will still do. But since I brew so infrequently nowI have to decide between two beers that I want instead of just making both beers…northern and Munich style.
I have a lot of nice german pils malt right now and that is likely what will drive my recipe.
Is it worth adding too much else to this (wheat/ carapils/ caramunich / dark munich) or should I keep it fairly simple - say 80% pils / 20% munich as a base with a little Carafa sp for color?
[quote=“Brew Meister Smith”][quote=“brewingdan”]I actually like your original idea. The typical dunkle is the heavier Munich dervived and based beer, but northern German makes some great dunkles.
My favorite is Flensburger and it has a more drying pilsner quality with just enough richness to differentiate the two.[/quote]
It can be a hard choice to make sometimes. My original instinct was to go for the northern style and that is probably what I will still do. But since I brew so infrequently nowI have to decide between two beers that I want instead of just making both beers…northern and Munich style.
I have a lot of nice german pils malt right now and that is likely what will drive my recipe.
Is it worth adding too much else to this (wheat/ carapils/ caramunich / dark munich) or should I keep it fairly simple - say 80% pils / 20% munich as a base with a little Carafa sp for color?[/quote]
My first instinct is to go simple, but I was talking to a brewer in the small town of Norden Norddeich and they make their dunkle with pils as the base, then munich, chocolate wheat, and carafe as the specialty malts. At first he didn’t really want to talk to me because he was brewing (it was a really really small brewery and i’ve seen boil kettles bigger in some homebrew setups ) but once I mentioned that I was an American craft brewer, euro term for homebrewers, he immediately opened up.
Their beer was of course tasty, but it was uber fresh and unfiltered, so it had slightly more body and flavor than larger German breweries.
[quote=“brewingdan”]My first instinct is to go simple, but I was talking to a brewer in the small town of Norden Norddeich and they make their dunkle with pils as the base, then munich, chocolate wheat, and carafe as the specialty malts. At first he didn’t really want to talk to me because he was brewing (it was a really really small brewery and i’ve seen boil kettles bigger in some homebrew setups ) but once I mentioned that I was an American craft brewer, euro term for homebrewers, he immediately opened up.
Their beer was of course tasty, but it was uber fresh and unfiltered, so it had slightly more body and flavor than larger German breweries.[/quote]
Hmmm. Good to know. Won’t have any access to chocolate wheat. Wonder if I can get a similar profile from a little wheat and a dash of choclolate (or maybe pale chocolate), plus the carafa - Munich at 10-15%?
) but once I mentioned that I was an American craft brewer, euro term for homebrewers, he immediately opened up.