Munich Dunkel Mulligan

My first dunkel is on tap now and is a pretty nice Vienna Lager. Wrong city

Tomorrow I’m trying a do over. I made a Modelo and I want an Ayinger
I’m being a bit sneaky though, and shooting for an Ayinger that you might find in a bottle shop in Portland. So it needs to have a hint of “imported” age. Just for beer geeks like me who will never know what its like fresh off the schnitzel.

Dunkel Kracker
10 lbs Weyerman Munich light
8 oz Melanoidin
8 oz Special B
2 oz Carafa II special
145-148º 90 min

14 grams Magnum at 60

Wyeast 2308 Munich Lager pitched at 48, set at 50º and walked up a degree a day after krausen slows

Think I’ll hit my target?

I know there are some who would disagree with me, but I think Special B makes every beer you put it in taste like a belgian beer. Skip it in a dunkel or bock.

To me, it’s Dark Munich malt that makes a Dunkel taste like a Dunkel. It has this really dark bread crust character that I just don’t get from any other malt. To me, I think a Dunkel made primarily with Light Munich would end up closer to an Ofest in flavor.

I agree with Keith completely, the Special B is way out of place here - unless by “imported age” you mean “sweet fig and raisin”. I like Special B, but not in lagers.

Glad I asked I guess. You’re talking me out of it. Maybe I’ll drop the spec b and sub a little Munich 20l

Last dunkel I made turned out great. I don’t have the recipe in front of me but it was something like 40% dark Munich (Best II) 40% Munich (Best I) and 20% pils and probably a little carafa II to adjust color (I like my grain bills to be over 100%!)

Those percentages are just a guess, it may have been only 10% pils and 50% Dark Munich. But I really think on a dunkel you can skip the crystal malts entirely. You want the rich, bready character of the Munich malt to shine. You don’t want “sweetish”, crystal malt flavors.

I have an Eastside Dark clone on tap for the Daytona 500 and bought a Warsteiner to compare. I had a friend try the Warsteiner and the first comment was “OMG that’s good. It’s not bitter at all. It’s sweet”. Of course, I replaced the term “sweet” with “malty”.

They describe it this way on their website: “It has a rich smooth taste and a lingering slightly sweet aftertaste.”.  Warsteiner Dunkel does have some sweetness, but not cloying.

My goal was to brew a good session beer and I think the Dunkel is a good choice for a long race.

This was my grain bill for 5 gal:

11.25 lbs 2 row pale malt
10 oz Munich
5 oz chocolate
.75 oz black patent

So ive listened and here’s what im going to do.
50% Weyerman light mu NJ 7ch
50% GW dark munich (cuz I don’t have weyerman dark)
2oz carafa 2

25 IBUs of Magnum

Definitley agreed

Another +1.  Love Special B in dark Belgians, though.

Several excellent brewers in my club have come to the conclusion that dark Munich malt can be overdone in a Dunkel. They are trending to much higher light Munich malt percentage with touch of carafa (around 1%) in the grist. Anymore carafa than that tends to impart a perceptable roast note in the beer.

Dang it! So what should I do? I’ve been cleaning kegs, kegging beer, cleaning fermenters. Havent milled yet.

I have 10 lbs of weyerman light Munich to play with. Tons of GW dark…

Now you have me thinking I should go 10 lbs weyerman and 3 lbs dark…

I’m locking that it.
10 lbs weyerman light munich
3 lbs munich 20
2 oz carafa 2

I think for my next beer we’ll do an IPA by forum consensus. That ought to be a nightmare lol

That recipe will make a good beer, Jim.  As for the IPA part, you’re probably right. :wink:

It’s milled so hopefully everyone is happy

i did not care for my last dunkel although it scored well at comps.  Had too much of that dark fruity malt driven flavor.  It had 52% munich II and I think 30% would have been a better target.

that looks good.  just make sure you mash longer due to lower DP.

Well, you can see my recipe suggestion above. I, too, find that too much dark munich is too much for me.

EDIT: I think that recipe looks fine.

for clarities sake. :wink:

I saw that but I want no Pilsner in there, for no reason at all. If I need a reason, I’ll throw Zainashef under the bus. No Pilsner in his.

I’m at 75% weyermann light, 25% GW dark, and 1% carafa 2 so it meets that math requirements.

I’m doing 90 min.