Will be taking a leap into brewing a lager for the first time. Thoughts on this dunkel recipe? Any feedback is appreciated.
Munich Malt 10 lbs 12 oz 90%
Crystal 60L 8 oz 4%
Dextrine 8 oz 4%
Carafa I 4 oz 2%
Northern Brewer .5 oz 90 min Boil
Northern Brewer .3 oz 60 min Boil
Northern Brewer .5 oz 10 min Aroma
Munich Lager Wyeast 2308
O.G. 1.054
IBU 22.2
SRM 16.7
Est ABV 5.5%
Personally, I would not use either crystal malt or Northern Brewer hops in a Dunkel. You don’t want a caramel sweetness to the beer. It needs to be malty (toasty, bread crusts, etc) not sweet. Northern Brewer hops will likely yield a minty quality to the beer, not something desired in a Dunkel either. Go Noble for a true version.
FWIW, my recipe follows the others out there, 99% Munich, 1% Carafa II. Noble hops for 20ish IBUs. German Lager yeast. Easy peasy.
Amanda knows her stuff…
that said, I don’t think 4% is gonna hurt you too much here. I use 3-4% of something closer to 40L in my schwarzbier and from my results would strongly consider bringing it over to a 4B.
for a first lager though, I would go simple, as Amanda suggests. Especially on her hop advice.
good luck–
–Michael
To me, what makes a Dunkel is using Dark Munich for the majority of your base malt. Keep the hop character very low as well. My Dunkel that I brewed yesterday was something like:
(3 gallon batch)
4 lb Dark Munich
10 oz. Pilsner Malt ← (primarily for the enzymes to help the Munich convert fully)
1.5 oz Midnight Wheat
Mash at 153F for 75 minutes
20 IBU’s Sterling at 60 minutes (any noble hop will do ya fine)
WY2633 (Octoberfest Lager Blend) pitched @ 45F, and allow to free rise to 50F for the start of fermentation
Great suggestions. Thanks a lot. Cheers!
No need at all for either the crystal or the dextrin.
+1 to Denny and Amanda! No need for any crystal, dextrine or finishing hops in that beer. YOu want a majority of Munich and I’d blend in some Munich II as well. And 20% pils malt for the enzymes. If doing a single step mash, go against the inclination to mash high and do a mash around 148-150. You want a dry finish. There will be plenty of malt backbone in this beer. If you can do a step mash dough in at 148-150 for an hour and then raise it to 156-158 for 15-20 minutes.
This thread will likely help:
https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/forum/index.php?topic=17434.15
I personally like a little caramunich in mine, so I disagree a bit with the above, though I certainly wouldn’t use C-60L.
I’ve been working on this style and just brewed one a couple weekends ago. Off the top of my head I went with:
1.052
25% pils
70% munich II
3% caramunich
2% midnight wheat
20 ibus FWH Hallertau
no other additions.
I did step mash, but I struck at 147, then ramped up over 20 min to 158 and then rested there for 45 min before beginning the 20 min ramp to mashout. I thought kaiser had told us to do the rest longer at the low temp and short at the high temp for drier hoppier styles like pils and for styles where you want to emphasize the malt, reverse that doing the low temp short and the high temp longer. mine went from 1.054 (overshot the top a bit) to 1.012 using 833. of course dryness in the taste will need to be tested later on.
I found that to get the color right, 1% carafa/midnight wheat wasn’t quite enough. My dark munich is only usually about 9L (Best and Weyermann) whereas Beersmith has it listed at like 20L i think so you may want to check that, otherwise it may be lighter than you want.
I’d skip the late hops on this one, to be honest, and if you can, use hallertauer mittlefruh, tettnang or tradition, etc.
Fantastic. Thanks blatz for sharing the dunkel thread…lots of great information in there. Here is the recipe that I decided to go with. It is the exact recipe that Ron posted in the previously mentioned thread. But I am brewing with a buddy so we are doing a 10 gallon batch.
14.5 lb Munich Dark
4 lb Pilsner
12 oz Carafa II
8 oz CaraMunich
2.50 Domestic Hallertau @ 60
.50 Domestic Hallertau @ 20
Doing a 90 minute boil.
Thanks again for everyone’s suggestions and insights. Greatly appreciated.
In Germany there almost seems to be two sub styles based on the area you are in and the brewery you are at. Many in Franconia (northern Bavaria, Bamberg) are malty and dry. Around Munich (southern Bavaria) they have some sweetness.
I made one recently that was - from memory. To be a little more like the ones around Munich.
85% Weyermann Munich II
10% Weyermann Pils
4% Weyermann Cara-Munich II
1% Briess Midnight Wheat (no Reinheitsgebot here).
From Weyermann’s FAQ page.
"Munich Dunkles
Description: An authentic Munich Dark Lager Beer
Malt bill:
Malt type
Weyermann® Munich Malt Type 2: 60%
Weyermann® Vienna Malt: 30%
Weyermann® Caramunich® Type 2: 8.5%
Weyermann® Carafa® special Type 2: 1.5%
30 min 50°C (122°F); 30 min 62°C (144°F); 20 min 72°C (162°F); final mash pumping 78°C (172°F)"
As you can see, that is high on the Cara-Munich, and vienna in place of Pils. They comment 34/70 for the yeast.
One other thing that was only mentioned by the original poster was the yeast. If you use one that is drier, you might want some Cara-Munich. For the one I did recently it was split between good old WLP -833 German Bock (Ayinger) and WLP-835 Lager X (rhymes with Kloster Andechs). Initial sample of both are very good, but I might give a nod to the 835 right now. I will have some of my BJCP friends do a side by side and see which they like.
That looks great! I brewed a very similar recipe a couple weeks ago. I’d love to hear how it turns out - keep us informed.