A question regarding Munich and wheat beers

Good morning everyone!
I am diving back into wheat beers this summer, and I am currently building the version 1 recipe. I was wondering what everyone thought about adding a bit (~5%) of Munich malt into my recipe. It was suggested to me but I’m unsure. Thanks in advance!

Cheers

Sure, you can add Munich to just about any beer. It will enhance the fullness and maltiness of the beer. At 5% you will get minimal color contributions.

I love adding munich to recipes. It’s kind of my version of adding crystal malt. I haven’t added it to a hefe but I add a bit to my wit beer and a bit to most other recipes. I say go for it. Then tell us what you think!

^^^^  Same here.

+2 - I use either Munich or Aromatic in a lot of beers to turn up the volume on the malt a bit. 5-10% of Munich in a hefe sounds reasonable.

+3 A little Munich is sort of a secret ingredient to give it a little more complexity sans sweetness without sacrifice of too much attenuation.

Thanks for the input everyone! I really appreciate all the help. I know it may be bad form but I also wanted to get your thoughts on WYeast 3638 for wheats?

I love it. It is my go-to hefe strain. It gives some sweet spice (hints of vanilla/sweet cinnamon), along with the usual banana/clove. Don’t overpitch and ferment around 66F for a balanced clove/banana character. Higher temps give more banana and lower temps tend to mute the flavor profile.

+1, that’s exactly where I ferment it as well for the balanced flavor profile

What rate would you consider to be overpitching? With the predicted OG I normally go one smack pack. Is this too much, too little, or just right? Should I ask goldilocks? Just kidding thanks for the help!

For a 5-gallon batch at around 1.050 OG, I pitch one smack pack with no starter. That’s a little under what the yeast calculators recommend, but I’m happy with the results.

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Big “depends” here. Better make sure you yeast is super fresh. If it is even half way to the exp date you would be better off “waking it up” with a starter.

On my German wheat beers I prefer the results (more balanced clove/banana as opposed to heavily leaning banana) so I pitch at 58 degrees and use a starter.

I have tried brewing a 50% Munich malt/50% wheat malt ale with a neutral yeast on a couple of occasions, and have been pleased with the results.  But its more of a cold weather beer, at least for my taste (I brew them for consumption around Christmas).

Is everyone aware that a Dunkelweizen is typically composed of at least 50% wheat malt and the remainder is Munich malt (with maybe a touch of Carafa for color)?

Well, I am, but I don’t like to use funky German wheat beer yeasts in mine, so I call it Munich wheat.  I suppose I could call it American dunkelweizen,  but that seems a little gimmicky (kind of like India pale lager).  8)

When I did one of my american wheats, I think I did
40% 2 row
40% wheat
10% Vienna
10% Munich

It turned out good if you’re looking for that bready flavor

Yes, that crossed my mind at the beginning of this post but I assumed he was just talking about a small percentage in a standard hefewezien. I also like to use dark wheat in my dunkels weizen.

I forgot about the Dunkel. [emoji15] I might have to make one of those as well this summer/fall. I really appreciate all the knowledge.

Dunkelweizen is a great fall beer. It’s also a good base for a spiced beer if you want to do something a bit different. Vanilla and cinnamon are really nice additions if you don’t overdo it.