Anyone have a good recipe, tips, ideas they’d like to share?
Don’t be shy. 
I’ll try to remember to dig mine up, Ron. I’ve been working on something like Ayinger dunkel for years.
I think you want something like this for the malt bill.
75% dark Munich
20 % Pils
4% CaraMunich II
1 % carafa for color
Decoction if you wish, or steps at 133F for 10 min, 144F for 40 min., 158 - 160F for 20. Mash out.
Water should be from Martin’s NHC talk, Munich profile. Edit - the boiled profile.
18 to 20 IBUs noble hops of your choice.
I would use either 833 (Ayinger), 835 lager X (rhymes with Kloster Andechs), or 830. Ferment at 48 to 50F. Lager at 32F for 6 weeks.
You might conclude I am going to brew one soon and have been researching, and will split it between 833 and 835. There is a recipe on Weyermann’s FAQ page, that is similar, but has 8.5% CaraMunich II, and that is too much for my taste.
Hope this helps. Dunkel is a rewarding beer to brew and drink. The last one I did was 80% Dark Munich, 20 % Pils, maybe a touch of Carafa for color. That makes one more like what is served in Franconia, so a little more dry.
Good advice, Jeff! IIRC, that looks a lot like what I do. I have really liked the 833 for it, but haven’t tried 835.
As with a good doppelbock, the pils is for the enzymes. You want to be sure the beer dries out. Sweet german beers suck. I think a lot of american interpretations totally strike out here.
Yeah, I had some dark Munich once that must have been a little low on enzymes, it needed to be coddled along the mash process to get it to convert. Since then, a little pils malt gives insurance that the mash will go along smoothly.
Ayinger’s Dunkel has a nice malt complexity, and does not finish sweet. I really liked that one in Germany, in fact my avatar picture is drinking one at the Liebhardt’s Biergarten in Aying. The sun was shining, the food was good, and the bier was excellent.
Totally agree. I don’t think I’ve had a good American interpretation of a style such as Dunkel. I think most fail because they use American malts instead of authentic ingredients.
I typically brew dunkel with something like 93% Munich I, 5-6% Caramunich III, and 1-2% Blackprinz for color. But I think I’ll try adding some Best pils next time. Planning to brew one in a month or so with harvested WY2206 from a helles I have fermenting right now.
I’ve brewed a few of these and my preference is for 80-90% Weyermann Munich II, with the rest being pils and just enough Carafa Special to get the color where you want it. I choose to leave out any Cara malts, but a dash of CaraMunich might serve to boost the toasty characteristics a bit. Noble hops to hit 20 IBU or so. I usually add a half oz or so hop charge at 20-15 minutes for a tiny hint of hop flavor. WLP833 makes a nice dunkel and is great to repitch into a doppelbock.
I think exactly like you! Perhaps we are doppelgangers? 
I’d like to see this for comparison, if you have time Denny.
Last week I attempted my first Dunkel and went with 80% Munich light, 10% Munich dark, 4% Melanoidin, 3% Acidulated, 3% Carafa with 23 IBU Hallertauer on a cake of Wy2124 from previous batch of BoPils. Step infusion 130/142/156. The split of light/dark Munich was due to what I had on hand, otherwise I would have used all dark and skipped the melanoidin. Hit all the pH and gravity targets and it was a beautifully clear, deep mahogany brown. Can’t wait to savor this in the new year.
pH 5.4 with Ca 58, Mg 1, Na 6, SO4 16, Cl 32, HCO3 116, Alk 96, RA 54
No! Don’t use that profile. Consider the boiled Munich profile. It still has plenty of alkalinity that will pair nicely with the modest acidity of the grist. Don’t be surprised if you have to add a little acid to get the pH right, even with that less alkaline boiled profile. Be sure to use lactic since that would be more authentic. The base Munich water profile is far too alkaline for any brewing.
AHA members will learn much more about Munich water in a few months from the Zymurgy article I’m writing now. If you aren’t an AHA member…membership has its benefits.
Since you said don’t be shy, here’s my 2 cents. I decided to make my first lager a dunkel mainly to use some Munich II that had been siting a couple of months. That batch has lagered 1 week so far. I plan to serve by Christmas.
Since I have zero lager experience, I did some research, decided to “go with the flow” and went with what seems to be close to a typical recipe:
Munich II - 71%
Pilsen - 27%
Carafa II - 2%
Tettnang to 23 IBU, all 60 Min
WLP838, fermented at 49 DegF
I walked into my LHBS expecting to buy WLP830. With my luck, they were out of it. I choose the 838 from the White Labs chart, but in retrospect I might have considered using Saflager 34/70. I noticed the 838 may have slightly lower attenuation, so at the end of fermentation, I raised the temp slowly to 68. No perceived sulfur or diacetyl. Hopefully my Dunkel won’t be sweet as mentioned above. That would be a hard lesson for me. At least I’ll gain some experience with a new (for me) yeast.
I agree the Dunkel was rewarding to brew.
Sorry, the Munich profile boiled is what I had as the take away from your talk. As I said, under the Reinheitsgebot the can boil, teat with slaked lime, or one other way is acidulated malt.
That’s so much like my alt recipe that I could just use a lager yeast on the alt and cut back the hops a bit.
That’s pretty much what I did Jeff. I used 830 for the yeast. We will taste the results in about 5 weeks.
I’d like to see it Denny.
I like this recipe Jeff, although I’m on/off the fence with the Caramunich addition.
I’m definitely using my yeast slurry of WLP830 from my Schwarty. I have a lot of Best Dark Munich 2 and Best Pils.
Martin - what is your suggestion for the ppm levels of calcium, magnesium, sulfate, chloride, etc…?
Thanks for all of the good responses!
Mine looks a lot like everyone else’s. I’ve also done a dark Czech lager that has a bit more complicated grist. Here’s my ;atest Ayinger attempt.
#366 Dunkel
A ProMash Recipe Report
Recipe Specifics
Batch Size (Gal): 5.50 Wort Size (Gal): 5.50
Total Grain (Lbs): 11.63
Anticipated OG: 1.054 Plato: 13.27
Anticipated SRM: 15.3
Anticipated IBU: 25.5
Brewhouse Efficiency: 73 %
Wort Boil Time: 70 Minutes
Pre-Boil Amounts
Evaporation Rate: 1.50 Gallons Per Hour
Pre-Boil Wort Size: 7.25 Gal
Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.041 SG 10.18 Plato
Grain/Extract/Sugar
% Amount Name Origin Potential SRM
77.4 9.00 lbs. Munich Malt Germany 1.037 10
17.2 2.00 lbs. Pilsener Germany 1.038 2
4.3 0.50 lbs. CaraMunich 40 France 1.034 40
1.1 0.13 lbs. Carafa Germany 1.030 400
Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon.
Hops
Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
1.00 oz. Mt. Hood 2009 Pellet 5.20 23.6 70 min.
0.25 oz. Mt. Hood 2009 Pellet 5.20 1.9 20 min.
Extras
Amount Name Type Time
0.50 Unit(s)Whirlfloc Fining 5 Min.(boil)
0.50 Tsp Yeast Nutrient Other 10 Min.(boil)
Yeast
Wyeast 2782 Staro Prague
Mash Schedule
Mash Name:
Total Grain Lbs: 11.63
Total Water Qts: 10.00 - Before Additional Infusions
Total Water Gal: 2.50 - Before Additional Infusions
Tun Thermal Mass: 0.13
Grain Temp: 65.00 F
Step Rest Start Stop Heat Infuse Infuse Infuse
Step Name Time Time Temp Temp Type Temp Amount Ratio
sacc 0 90 148 148 Infuse 171 10.00 0.86
mashout 0 0 159 159 Infuse 212 2.56 1.08
Total Water Qts: 12.56 - After Additional Infusions
Total Water Gal: 3.14 - After Additional Infusions
Total Mash Volume Gal: 4.07 - After Additional Infusions
All temperature measurements are degrees Fahrenheit.
All infusion amounts are in Quarts.
All infusion ratios are Quarts/Lbs.
Great minds drink alike!
Here’s one I brewed earlier this year that took first place at the SoCal Regional Homebrew Championship (Tip: I don’t think category 4 gets a lot of entries).
10 lbs. Munich malt (10L)
.5 lbs. Belgian pilsner (I meant to use 100% Munich, but I realized on brew day I was a half pound short)
.38 lbs. Carafa II
1.25 oz. Hallertaur - 60 min
.5 oz. Hallertaur - 20 min
Wyeast 2352 - Munich lager II
Single infusion mash at 153 degrees
I brewed with 100% distilled water and added 5 grams of calcium chloride and 3 grams of gypsum to the mash. The mash and sparge pH were both 5.3 (I did not mash the Carafa but added it to the sparge).
I had read that people were having issues fermenting this yeast at lower temperatures so I kept it between 53 and 54 before letting it rise into the low 60’s for a D-rest.
This is more or less Jamil’s recipe from Brewing Classic Styles (except for the pils malt sub and the yeast selection).